I looked around for an attack. “What? What’s happening?”

“What do you mean what?” She grabbed my upper arm and hustled me along, jerking me to the side at the last moment. The tree climbed the wall not far away, its metal branches spreading across the ceiling.

Freezing cold stopped my breath and passed through my body, sucking at my energy. It passed out through my back, out of sight. Bria had found the alcove I’d been looking for, and it was occupied.

“Crap, no!” I jumped like I’d sat on a cactus, then spun away, hitting the fake tree. I stumbled backward and finally fell on my butt, way out in the middle of the hallway. Thankfully, the guys who were making their way to the end, about to turn the corner, didn’t look back.

She darted out, grabbed my arm again, and bodily dragged me to the side. “Get up, you donkey! I swear, I’ve never seen someone stick out so much in all my life. It’s like you are trying to grab people’s attention.”

“What did I do?” I asked, pushing myself up to standing.

“What did you—” Her mouth dropped open and she widened her eyes as she swung her hand back toward the way we’d come. “Oh nothing, just stared at those clearly well-paid guys with all the confidence and swagger of someone at the top of her game. It’s like you were challenging them to prove themselves, you nitwit. Around here, they just might. That’s a way to get noticed. We’re actively trying not to get noticed.”

I huffed out a laugh. “Those guys aren’t all that well paid, trust me. Decent paychecks, fine, but they suffer from small man syndrome. They have to advertise their coolness to get noticed.”

Her glower turned into a confused frown. “How do you know that?”

“It’s written all over them. Those nearly matching suits, the forced bravado, the attempted swagger—give me a break.”

Her head tilted, her eyes going distant as she probably replayed their images in her head.

I’d never truly appreciated how much insight I’d gained from reading people and their ghosts at the freak show until this moment. And while I could be wrong this time like any other, the ease with which I’d found Lyra’s skin had given me more confidence.

“Anyway,” I said, “I wasn’t staring at them. I was just noticing the one guy’s awesome hair. Did you see how shiny it was? I wonder what product he uses…”

“Genetics.” She stepped deeper into the alcove, right next to the teen girl I’d been looking for, with her large eyes and her fingers nervously picking at her large buttons. “You’re fucking with my chi, Alexis. You are really fucking with my chi, right now.” She took a deep breath, collecting herself. At least now I knew one thing could mess with that breezy calm of hers. Me. “Now.” She adjusted her backpack. “What are you looking for?”

I pointed at the girl beside her.

“It happened,” the teen said in a squeak, who’d clearly been waiting for a chance to speak.

“What?” I asked.

“What?” Bria asked me.

“I’ve been taking the calendar days,” the teen said. “From the desk. Today is the second. I knew you’d come back.”

“You’ve been taking the calendar days?” I shook my head in confusion. “I don’t know what that means.”

“Shit.” Bria braced herself like a spider, knees bent and arms out to the sides. “Is there a spirit around me right now? Why can’t I—oh shit, I do feel her! Damn it, Alexis.” She pushed away and flattened herself against the adjoining wall. “You’re taking me out of my game.”

“The little…” The teen made a box gesture with her hands, ignoring Bria. “Calendar days.”

Understanding dawned. “The joke-a-day calendar type things?”

“Today is the second,” the teen reiterated.

Adrenaline dumped into my body. “Meaning…it happened today? The guy came today?”

A woman glanced at me as she passed, her silk dress swimming around her legs. Another highly paid somebody-or-other, only this one had a shitload of arrogance to go with it.

I curled my lips in and ripped my gaze to the ground so Bria didn’t get any ideas about throwing me down the stairs or anything.

“What happened today?” Bria whispered, her gaze darting around. “The spirit trap?”

“I was downstairs,” the teen said, “watching people coming and going, and it happened. The white-haired man came. I snatched a calendar day and then came up here to get away from him. He tries to slice off parts of me. He’s not strong enough, but it still hurts. I hate it.” She shivered and pulled her sweater tighter around her body.

“Is she talking?” Bria asked, watching my face. “What’s she saying? Because if the trail is fresh, we can bag this bastard right now.”

“Hurry.” I gestured at the teen. “Show us the calendar days.”

She nodded and pushed forward into the hall. A moment later, she disappeared.

“Dang it,” I whispered, hustling toward the wide stairs that led down into the lobby.

“What happened?” Bria asked, right beside me.

“She’s an Apporter. She just teleported away. She clearly forgets other people don’t share her ability. She’s insanely strong. Or she used to be, at any rate. She was going to be in Valens’s Elite group but she got pissed off at a trainer one day and teleported him outside. She was on the fourth floor or something. High up. He went splat.”

“Oh shit,” Bria breathed. “I heard about that. That was like…four years ago, I think. She was extremely powerful and rare, but uncontrollable. Valens himself had to kill her. No one else could lock her down.”

“That explains why he trapped her,” I said quietly. “Grudge match.” I walked down the stairs as quickly as would still appear natural. “I just hope she was going to the lobby desk or else we lost her.”

“I get the grudge match, but why trap her here, specifically?” Bria asked in confusion. “Why not transfer her to that warehouse and stick her in a body or two? With a strong enough Necromancer, she could be made to follow orders. Her power would be useful.”

“But they don’t have a strong enough Necromancer. He had to scramble brains or whatever to make the spirits easier to handle, remember?”

“Still, they could’ve tried. Or done something else. Trapping her in the government building doesn’t make sense.”

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, I scanned the lobby, immediately finding the teen beside the large information desk. There was no sign of a white-haired man or anyone who would meet her description of the caster.

Bria followed my lead across the spacious floor, ducking in and out of people moving about their day.

“The teen said she was in the lobby when she saw him,” I murmured. “And that today is the second calendar day she took. If it’s what I suspect, then this is the second time he’s been here since I last saw her. It sounds like he comes about once every two weeks. We’ll see if that’s exact, and if so, we can come back here in two weeks and catch him in the act.”

“Or we can just steal the security footage from earlier, get his face, and get Kieran to find him,” she replied.

I wasn’t going to ask how she planned to get the footage. I suspected I wouldn’t like the answer.

As we neared, the blue-skinned woman at the high desk glanced up with unnaturally green eyes, a welcoming smile adorning her lovely face. I had no idea what kind of magical creature she was, but wondered if she knew Valens’s penchant for killing lovely things and putting them in his trophy room…

“Hello,” Bria said, grabbing the edge of the desk.

I looked at the teen before shifting my gaze to Bria. “Where is it?”

Hopefully the teen would realize I was talking to her.

“That’s what we’re going to find out.” Bria smiled at the front-desk woman. “Can you tell me where the rock wall is? I have a hankering for climbing.”

The teen bent down, out of sight.

“Oops.” I clucked my tongue. “I dropped my pen.”

Bria frowned at me. “Well, don’t expect me to get it.”

“Lazy,” I admonished, scooting around her. “It was on your side.”

“I’m a climber, not a crawler.” Bria winked at the front-desk woman.

I bent and peeked around the side of the desk, gasping when my nose nearly touched the ghost’s. I pulled back a little.

The teen didn’t. She held out her two thick sheets of paper. A large black date graced the bottom of each page, leaving room in the middle for an inspirational quote.

I took them out of her hand with a quiet “thanks” before standing and checking the dates. Fifteen days apart… I squinted and shook my head, trying to remember the date I was here last.

“Oh!” The receptionist frowned at the calendar pages, rising up a little to see better. “Where did you find those?”

“Ummm…” I stared at her like I had been caught holding a stolen necklace.

“They were down there,” Bria said, pointing to the side of the desk. “I noticed them when I first walked up. I meant to pick them up, but…” She laughed and hit the heel of her hand off her head.

I handed them across the desk sheepishly.

“That is so strange.” A look of perplexed wariness crossed her features. “I was watching that spirit guy work”—she pointed at the far end of the large front wall of glass, way to the side of the double door—“and I heard this ripping sound. I swear I saw the page disappear…” She laughed, a forced sound matching her uncomfortable expression. “This was the second time it happened. I mean…” She swiveled to gaze vaguely at the side of the desk. “How did it get over there? And why haven’t I seen it all this time?” She wiped the pad of her finger across her forehead nervously.

“Weird,” Bria said, either exceptional at hiding the adrenaline raging through her body, or missing the huge clue the attendant had just dropped.

“Yeah,” the woman went on, blinking in confusion. She shook her head and lifted her pencil-thin, light blue eyebrows, moving on. “Honestly, they shouldn’t allow that spirit guy to work in such a busy area. Who knows what he’s dragging out of the depths, know what I mean? Both times this happened, he was here.”

“Yeah, that’s not right,” Bria commiserated, grimacing. “You have to watch him work?”

The woman waved the thought away. “He’s over in the corner, so it’s not that big of a deal. And actually, the weird dance he does is kind of neat. It reminds me of those dances the Native Americans do.” She grinned sheepishly. “Or maybe that’s just because his hair reminds me of this Native American guy I dated once. You know…” She made a flowing gestured down the side of her head. “That really pretty long black hair?” Her lips curled. “That air elemental with him gives me the creeps, though.” She shivered. “He tried to hit on me once at the solstice party, and no-thank-you.”

“Wait,” I said, holding up my hand. My heart thudded in my chest. The teen had seen a man with long white hair, but if she’d only glimpsed the spirit trapper while he was using magic, she’d probably seen him in the spirit plane, where the colors were neon, like negative images. That hadn’t even occurred to me!

“I think we just saw those guys.” Bria turned to me with excited eyes but an inquisitive expression. “Didn’t the arrogant guy we just saw have long dark hair?” She put her hand up to her chest. “He was with that gangly ginger.”

“Yes! That’s him. He’s gangly, right? And such a jerk. I mean, please, I have fae blood. Do you really think I need to lower myself for an air elemental that can only get a job with a spirit person? No.” The woman smiled at someone passing by, easily masking her haughty tone. Clearly my freak show training wasn’t a catch-all, because I had not seen any of this coming. “They just finished up not that long ago. They have to go to the back of the building to get the other half done, whatever that means. All I know is, good riddance. I wish they’d just stay back there all the time. I mean, we have guests coming through here.”

“How often do they come?” I asked.

Bria shoved me and stepped in my path. “I know, right? How often do you need to deal with that?” she asked the woman. Clearly, I was way too blunt in my approach. Subtly, that was the key.

“Every two weeks about.” She plastered on a welcoming smile, perking up as a flustered older woman with a large knit purse approached the desk. She looked back at us. “Oh, right, you want the rock wall. Well, you just go—”

I stepped away, my mind racing. They were here. Right now. Two of them. We could go after them and…

And what? They were Valens’s guys and employed by the magical government. We were rogue rebels who needed to stay under the radar. If anyone saw us, we would be the ones apprehended, not them. In a building full of professionals, a couple of oddly dressed girls attempting to hog-tie a couple of suave guys in suits would certainly get noticed.

“Let’s make that appointment before we hit the rock wall,” Bria said, grabbing my arm and jerking me away. Halfway through the lobby, she said, “Get a grip, would you?

“What’s the plan?” I asked, ignoring her. My legs and arms trembled and anxiety squeezed my chest.

“We know what they look like,” she said quietly, climbing the stairs we’d just come down. “All we have to do is find them.”

“Yes. But then what?”

“What do you mean?” She pulled me into the alcove again, blasting a hard scowl at a woman looking our way. The woman ripped her notice to the ground and quickened her pace.

Oh yeah. We’d get noticed.

I said as much.

Bria slipped her backpack off of her shoulders and dropped into a crouch, ignoring me. She shoved her hand down into the bag. “A little stalking and then springing up unexpectedly will work perfectly for those clowns.”

The teen appeared right next to Bria, her eyes staring solemnly at us.

“Why is Valens keeping you here?” I asked her, shifting from foot to foot as my adrenaline surged uncomfortably. “Did they ever try to move you?”

“We need a code word for when you start randomly talking to a ghost,” Bria mumbled. “Did they ever try to shove you into a different skin?” she asked, pulling a small shoe box out of her pack.

The teen picked at her button, her gaze shifting down to Bria. “Twice. I hated it. It felt weird.”

I relayed what she said.

“I can imagine,” Bria said, setting the box down and digging into her bag again. “Then what happened?”

“It was like trying on gloves that didn’t fit,” the teen said. “They felt slimy. I tried to push away, but I kept getting forced back in, so I dropped a chair on them and left.”

After I relayed the information, Bria paused with a candle in her hand. “She left? How?”

The teen shrugged. “Teleported to the other side of the building. When they came for me, I just teleported again. Finally, they stopped looking.”

Bria braced her forearms on her knees after I’d relayed the girl’s answer. “Huh. They clearly didn’t have someone strong enough to control the soul.” She tilted her head and pulled back the lid on the shoe box. “Stands to reason, I guess. They said she was a strong class five. Still, moving something as big as a chair in the afterlife?” She lifted her eyebrows and pulled out something furry. “That’s intense. No wonder Valens wants her trapped here. He probably wants to keep her in the rafters in case he can scrounge up someone strong enough to use her.” Bria glanced up at me. “Like you.”

I recoiled. “Ew. I wouldn’t want to force a soul to do something like that.”

“How do you think you’ll ever make money?” Bria gently pulled out another furry thing and set it next to the first.

“Not like that,” I mumbled. I squinted through the low light of the small alcove, trying to make out the shapes she was lining up on the ground. Bria added a third before closing the box and putting it away. “What are those?”

She glanced at the people walking by in the hall. “Rats. And we have to do this somewhere more private.”

“Rats?” I took a step away. The teen’s eyes widened and she blinked out of sight.

Bria looked up in confusion. “What’s the matter? They’re dead.”

“What are you doing with dead rats in your backpack?” I asked, trying to keep my voice down but having a hard time of it.

“To seek so that I can destroy. I just need to animate them, set them on the trail, and hopefully they’ll find our guys before they leave the building. I have a couple standby souls who love scurrying around in these little bodies. I just let them have at it until the bodies decay out from under them. Least I can do, right?”

I took another step back as she collected the bodies and stood, looking down the hall. “Let’s find a bathroom, and then let’s find our guys. We’ll get them today, I know it.”

I had no doubt she was right. My problem was, what would we do when we did get them? And how would we keep from setting Valens on our trail?