The door creaked open. Finn breezed in on a burst of fresh air. I flipped the note over and placed it on the table. I knew he wouldn’t like it.

“Hello.”

“Hi.” I patted the chair next to me. “Tell me what is going on. I’ve been going crazy!” I moved to face him when he sat down.

He stole a quick, hot kiss, mouth slipping across mine tasting of mint and male.

I withdrew, lips tingling, and nearly fell off my chair. “Stop that.”

“Just wanted to take your mind off whatever it was you were thinking about. You looked sad; now you just look angry.” He pinched my chin as a quick slash of a grin zipped across his face. “But there is no news.”

“None?” I wilted.

He shook his head. “No, nothing on the body. She was not abused. From what I understand, there is a clean hole through the center of her chest. Nobody has ever seen anything like it.”

A knock sounded and Marin walked in.

Finn jumped up.

“You wished to help? How do you think you can help?” Marin asked, straight to the point.

Finn’s eyebrows rose. “She wants to do what?”

Marin smiled. “She sent a note, asking to help find Gia’s killer. We could use your eyes. It is hard to exclude anyone; most do not have guards who can attest for them.”

“Can I see the body? I don’t know. I might be able to help.” I watched a lot of CSI. That sounded dumb even in my head, but I might be able to tell them something.

Finn added, “I would like to see her…the body, as well.” He faltered at this last.

I grabbed his hand and squeezed. He squeezed back; my bones protested the force, but I didn’t let go.

Marin hesitated a second, then nodded. “We should leave now.”

Marin left first and we both followed. Finn tried to keep my hand, but I pulled it away and laced both my hands in front of me. Marin put his hand on my lower back and led me forward as Finn put his hand firmly on my ass, propelling me. It didn’t take us long to get where we were going; I was galloping.

As we neared the building with Gia’s body, I slowed. A bone-deep feeling of wrongness grew inside me, evil. The closer I got, the more I didn’t want to go any farther. Cold choked me, stealing my breath. My heart pounded. I had to get out of here. I bolted back the way we came. Empty laughter rang in my head.

Marin tackled me after a few feet. “What is wrong?”

Dirt, no matter the planet, tasted foul. I sputtered as I shoved him off and climbed to my feet, breathing hard. I couldn’t stay here. That laughter was bad.

Finn planted himself in front of me. “What is the matter with you?”

“Can’t you feel it?” I asked as I shifted from foot to foot. The pressure built; cold scraped along my senses. I attempted to dart around them. They held out their hands and kept me penned. A scream escaped me, surprising all of us. My head pounded. I heard the sound of my pulse.

“What?” Marin asked as he grabbed my arms, pulling me against him. Finn moved close to us, and we all observed the building.

The pressure eased.

Control.

I turned to look at the trees that encircled the building. We were in a part of level three I’d never seen before. Nothing seemed out of place, not that I’d recognize if anything were out of place.

The chill faded. I rubbed my hands down my arms. I shuddered and my skin crawled. The taste of wrongness lingered on my tongue.

“Nothing...nothing...never mind.” I tried to wiggle out of the man sandwich, but they wouldn’t budge.

“No, tell me what it was you felt,” Marin insisted as Finn surveyed the woods.

“I felt cold and I had to run.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I just had to get away. I just had to.” Tears pooled in my eyes. Marin’s hands ran down my arms. I covered his hands with my own.

“Finn.”

Finn nodded at Marin and we entered the building.

As I walked through the doorway, I looked back. They’re out there. It had to be the Imani. I wasn’t imagining it, was I?

A lantern glowed on the ceiling. The room was bare except for the body lying on the table in the middle of the room. We studied her. She was covered up, but I moved the sheet. She’d been a young girl, ten at most. I’d expected it, but it was still an unwelcome sight. She had blonde hair with blue stripes, and a light tan. With her eyes closed, her face appeared waxen and stiff. There was a gaping hole in the middle of her chest. The edges were crisped, burned. No blood stained the sheet or marked the body. She had no signs of anyone having cleaned her up, either; there was still dirt in her hair.

“Where was she found?” My voice sounded loud in the quiet room.

“Out by the farmlands, beyond the Forg encampment. Not sure why she was out there, but her father said she liked to take walks. Probably to meet a boy. I do not know.”

“Was there much blood?”

“They said there was none.”

“On Earth, we have guns that, if held close enough, could cause burns like this, but there would still be blood, and it would just be charred at the front here, not all the way through. We have nothing, where I’m from, that could do this.” This was also beyond the Fost, from what I’d seen. They carried knives, swords, arrows. Some maces, some axes. Nothing that could have made this wound.

I looked up.

Marin palmed his eyes. “If I remember my history, the Imani have a weapon that could do damage like this. Ute might know what it is called. We will have to ask him, but he is upset right now and with his family. She was an only child.”

Finn squatted down, close to the body. He took a deep breath. “There is a strange odor around her. Do you smell it?”

Marin and I both leaned down and sniffed.

“No,” we replied together. Jinx. I smiled at him and he squeezed my shoulder.

Finn inhaled again, moving around the body. Something someone missed?

“Show me where you found the body.”

We traveled outside with the guards trailing us. The farmland wasn’t far away. The area wasn’t blocked off, but there were guards milling about. Finn bent down and started to crawl on all fours. Without a word, he stood up and began to run. Unlike my panicked bolt earlier, he moved with a purpose. We raced to catch up. He kept going up into level two. We were near the gate when he stopped abruptly and slowed as he approached an outcropping of rocks.

In front of us was all the blood we’d been missing.

“Maybe she was going for a walk or coming back from one. Maybe, as you said, a date with a young man. Was her dad on watch?” I walked to the back of the rocks.

“No.” Marin answered.

I continued my thought. “Whoever killed her, killed her here, then picked her up and took her to the farmland and dumped her body.”

“So she was found right away,” Finn mused.

“What were you smelling, Finn?” Marin asked

“I could smell him.” He struggled to put words to what he smelled. “Or her. But I think it is a man. I would know him if I came across him.”

“How can you smell him?” Marin asked.

He glanced at me, then Marin.

“I just can. And he smells…sick.” He shrugged his shoulders and leaned closer to the blood in the grass.

I looked around. A little girl was killed with an Imani weapon within a few days of my own arrival in Imani clothes. This was no coincidence. They were here, the Imani. Were they after me or the Fost? Did I lead them here, or did they lead me here?

“Can you track the scent any farther than here?” Marin asked.

Finn took his time walking a circle around the murder site. “No. The scent starts here.”

I’d knelt down while they were talking. My hand reached out and touched the edge of the grass near the blood. I wished I could see what happened here.

All around us, a golden fog accumulated on the ground. I jumped back. A sweet-looking Gia formed in the mist. She was playing with her hair and walking toward the spot where she died. A cloaked figure dropped down in front of her. She didn’t appear to notice, lost in her daydream. Everyone looked up to see where the figure came from, but the haze didn’t extend up that far. The figure pointed a weapon and shot her, no warning. Gia died without even realizing the danger. Her arms flew out; her outline was clear in the blood, through the haze. It was a clean hit. The cloaked figure leaned over, ran a hand along Gia’s face, plucked at something on her neck, then picked her up and strode off toward the farmlands.

As the figure faded away, Marin turned to me. “What was that?”

“I don’t know. I wanted to know what happened and then that.” I gestured at where the image had been.

There was murmuring from the guards.

Marin approached me; his hand grazed my cheek. He raised his voice and spoke to his men. “I am clan chief. You will tell no one of what you saw here today. Do you understand me? If I hear of any talk, there will be repercussions.”

He made sure to meet every guard’s gaze.

We found nothing else at the scene. He’d executed that little girl. We knew where he did it. We knew most likely who did it, but not the why. I let my head drop onto Marin’s shoulder. The only thing we could do was batten down the hatches and wait for another body.