Kyra carefully lifted the heavy bundle from the dog bed and set it on her kitchen table before peeling the blankets back. She had grown so used to seeing the mystic fox asleep like this that it was getting harder to think of it as a dangerous monster. A creatue doing all it can to stay alive—what more did they need in common?

  In a ritual she'd been performing every day, she laid her hands on its body and closed her eyes. She could feel its pulse, weak as it was, and trace its arteries in her mind. But the site of the damage keeping it in a near-death condition continued to elude her.

  Tristis had described to her how it felt when he used healing magic, so she knew she had to be on the right track.

  But half an hour passed. An hour. More. Still the magic didn't flow through her fingers.

  Was it her own desire that held her back? Like the football player needing to make the game-winning goal on the buzzer, who ends up flubbing it by overthinking.

  The longer this kept up, the more it held back Tristis's training, the worse the pressure on her to break through.

  Soon she may have no choice but to confess her failure and ask Benny for help.

  Such a dangerous thought was her cue to pack it in. She took great care in wrapping the fox and returned it to its bed before turning her attention to the stack of potential recruits she'd laid out earlier.

  There was no need to look through them further as she'd already picked out the second candidate. A young woman close to Tristis's age. The only problem was that her next known location wasn't until the end of next week. And there was no guarantee that she would be there, as the future can always change.

  Kyra's frustrations were making her impatient, and she didn't want to wait another week. When you're getting stalled in one area, you can make up for it with progress in another.

  It wasn't like people stopped existing when you didn't know where they were. Benny only made records of what he remembered, and memory sticks better to unusual events. Outside of that, she could search for a routine.

  It would have been easy, had the profile included a home address. But she didn't fault Benny for not remembering where everyone lived. She had a hunch about where the girl worked, and that was a good enough place to begin.

  She sent a message to Tristis and then met him at the pick-up point.

  "I hope I didn't interrupt your other plans," she said as she hopped into his car. She'd previously told him that he would get tonight off.

  "It's all right," he replied. "I know what I signed up for."

  "We aren't going into any dungeons. Instead we'll be searching for a certain someone."

  "The next recruit?"

  "I think we may find her at the Shark Tank. Do you know the way?"

  He suddenly grew nervous and said in a strained voice, "The nightclub? What is she doing there?"

  "It sounds like you don't like the place."

  "It's run by a crooked businessman named Rechus Rastane. A terrible man. He's a loan shark, you know. Lends money out to people who can't afford it. Traps them in a neverending cycle of debt."

  "Well, we aren't there for him," she said.

  Tristis shifted the car into gear and began driving. Once he turned onto an avenue, Kyra asked, "What's your personal beef with Rastane?"

  "Nothing," he replied. "It's about the sort of person he is."

  "Your feelings are a bit too strong to be based on reputation alone."

  A moment passed before he replied. "It's my parents. My father actually. He'd kill me if he found out I'd gone anywhere near one of that man's establishments."

  It was natural for a high-ranking government official not to want his family associating with someone as dirty as Rastane. Corruption was like a smear. Even if you didn't get any on you, others might think there's a smell.

  The Shark Tank didn't have its own parking lot, but there was a shopping center across the road, and most people used that instead. The line to get in was short as the night had barely begun. Tristis relaxed a bit once they got inside, where he was harder to recognize in the dimmer lighting.

  Surrounding the dancefloor was an aquarium. There weren't any sharks in there as it was much too narrow. For that you had to look to the giant skeleton suspended above, with the disco ball housed within its ribs like a psychedelic heart. Whatever the creature was, it wasn't quite a shark, but it looked like it might have eaten one a hundred million years ago. And that's as close as anyone will ever get to understanding the name of the establishment.

  Kyra picked a booth in view of both the dancefloor and the bar. She appraised everyone in sight but didn't find the name she wanted.

  But there were many booths and tables about the place, and she was about to get up to walk around when she spotted a waitress leaving one of the other booths. That was her. Lori Gascoigne.

  Lori saw her waving and came over. "Are you being served? I'll get one of the other girls for you."

  "Actually we'd like you to join us," Kyra said.

  Lori glanced back over at the booth she'd just come from. "I'm sorry but I'm already helping another customer."

  Kyra slipped her a hundred-cord note. "We really want you to join us."

  There was some hesitation as Lori regarded the both of them nervously. "I'm sorry, but we don't offer those sorts of services here."

  Tristis blushed and Kyra laughed it off, realizing how the note was just the right value to cause confusion.

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  "Just talk," Kyra assured her. "No funny business."

  Lori tentatively took the money and folded it away. "In that case please wait a moment while I find someone to cover the other table. While I'm at it, can I get you any drinks?"

  Tristis was smart enough to follow Kyra's cue and order something nonalcoholic.

  "Get something for yourself too," Kyra said.

  "Sure thing!" The girl beamed and headed toward the bar.

  Once they were alone, Tristis turned to Kyra. "Is she the one we're here for?"

  "What do you think of her?" she replied.

  He watched as Lori finished exchanging words with the bartender and then disappeared into the kitchen. "Since you picked her out, she must be very special."

  "More special than you, maybe."

  His focus snapped back to her. "Really?"

  "Jealous?"

  "But you recruited me first."

  "Your opportunity came up first," she said.

  Tristis didn't seem at all bothered by the suggestion that he might not be the favored disciple. If anything he seemed a bit more relaxed.

  Lori returned with their drinks and slid in next to Tristis. "What brings you folks here tonight?"

  Kyra had learned from her experience recruiting her first disciple and decided to take a page out of Benny's book for this one. She withdrew a skill sheet from her bag and passed it across the table.

  "See if you can read this," she said. "It may not make any sense at first, but keep trying until you get the message."

  Puzzled Lori picked up the sheet and scanned down the page. It wasn't long before it abruptly disintegrated in her hands.

  Lori turned to her in a panic. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what just happened there."

  "Nothing to worry about, it's all perfectly normal," she assured the girl. "Tell me, what do you think?"

  "It looked like a pretty interesting theory."

  This wasn't the answer she was expecting. "Hold on. You could read it?"

  "Not read so much, but the diagrams were easy enough to follow along."

  Putting aside the fact that she'd never seen anything resembling a diagram on these skill sheets, the thought had never crossed her mind that they might contain real information. She'd always thought of them like those magic-eye puzzles, except instead of a picture, your reward was actual magic.

  She wanted to grill the girl on what exactly she had seen, but that would have to wait. There were more important matters right now. "What about the skill? Did you learn it?"

  Lori nodded slowly as her gaze shifted from Kyra to Tristis, taking on a faraway look as she read the appraisal notifications.

  She leaned in. "Do you like what you see, Lori? Come work for us and learn powers beyond your wildest fantasies."

  Doing it this way made it impossible for the girl to deny the existence of magic. And magic was the sort of thing where once they'd been given a taste, their imagination did the rest.

  Lori's eyes fixed on Tristis. "Gift of healing. Is that what it sounds like?"

  Before coming here, she'd made sure to memorize Lori's profile and understood exactly what was on the girl's mind.

  "Unfortunately what we have won't do anything for your mother," she said.

  She'd already checked with Benny, as it would have been the most effective inducement. But there was no way for them to wake the woman from her coma.

  Lori bit her lip thoughtfully. "Maybe at a higher level? Or there are other magicks?"

  "We can teach you," she replied. "And give you the chance to find something that might work."

  She could see the possibilities swimming behind the girl's eyes. What she was offering was a solution to the very problem that had landed Lori in the Shark Tank. A very distant solution, one that could turn out to be a mirage, but a better hope than anything else within the girl's grasp.

  "What do you want in return?" Lori asked.

  Kyra smiled, impressed that the girl was able to keep a clear mind under the circumstances. "Join us. Give us your complete devotion."

  Lori said uncertainly, "Are you asking me to join a cult?"

  "Not a cult. A mission to save the world."

  After a thoughtful silence, Lori said, "Something as important as saving the world, you must be paying really well."

  "Well . . ." She hadn't anticipated this particular line of questioning.

  Lori continued, "With what's at stake, I imagine that the government and all the wealthiest people in the world are pitching in."

  She shuffled in her seat. "You've got enough life experience not to have such wild fantasies."

  "I've got enough life experience not to work for free."

  She didn't understand how the conversation had taken such a turn. Was the chance to help her mother not enough?

  "What's the opportunity to learn magic worth?" she said.

  Before answering, Lori took a long pull from her drink, draining it all the way down through the straw. Once the glass was empty, the girl said, "Buy me another drink and I'll tell you."

  Kyra said evenly, "You get paid for every drink we buy you, don't you?"

  "That's the game," Lori confirmed.

  "You're willing to spurn the opportunity to learn magic over a couple of cords?"

  The waitress crossed her arms. "Want to know why? Buy me another drink."

  A long silence stretched between them. Neither woman budged.

  Tristis stood up. "I'll buy it."

  "Sit back down," Kyra ordered.

  Tristis sank back into his seat.

  "This isn't about the drink," she told her disciple. Turning back to the girl, she said, "Okay, we get the point. Money is important to you. Why don't you tell us why and maybe we can help."

  Lori looked down at her empty glass. "You already know about my mom. She's currently on life support. I'll join your . . . mission if it might find a way to save her. But there's no point if she's already dead."

  "She should be stable," Kyra said.

  "She won't be if they pull the plug."

  "Doctors in Charais Gamor don't pull the plug on coma patients."

  "She isn't in Charais Gamor."

  "Where—"

  "Salomanta."

  It all made sense now. Unlike Charais Gamor, healthcare in the Salomantic Union was only available to those with the means to pay. This explained why in the other timelines Lori had turned to hunting. It was one of the few ways a girl like her could raise the money she needed.

  When Lori looked up, her eyes were brimming with tears. "Ever since Dad died, she's all the family I have left. I don't care what happens to the world if I lose her."

  The insistence on the drink, it had been a test. If they couldn't spare a couple of cords here, how could they afford to keep her mom alive?

  Kyra turned to Tristis. "What if we returned Mrs Gascoigne to Charais Gamor?"

  "A medical flight will be expensive," he replied uncertainly.

  "I can dig up some gold I've squirreled away," she said.

  "I don't think you understand how expensive." He added tentatively, "I've been saving up a home deposit. And can probably get a couple of months' advance on my salary."

  "How are you still finding time to pass your classes?" she demanded.

  "Let's leave my grades out of this," he said defensively.

  Lori, who had been listening quietly, cut in. "Stop it. Please stop it. I know you want to help, but I'm a waste of your time and money."

  "I assure you, you aren't," Kyra said gently.

  Lori was shaking her head. "I know what you're trying to do. You want to bring Mom back here so I don't have to worry about her medical bills anymore. But even if you do all that for me, I still won't be able to work for you."

  "What else is stopping you?" she asked.

  "Mom needed treatment," Lori explained. "The doctors here said she was terminal. There wasn't anything they could do. But in Salomanta they had an experimental treatment. It wasn't a guarantee, wasn't close to a guarantee. But it was her only chance."

  Lori let out a long sigh and continued, "The banks won't lend you money for something like this. I had to find someone who would."

  Kyra exchanged a horrified glance with Tristis and said, "You borrowed money from Rastane."

  Lori simply nodded.

  She forced out the next question. "How much?"

  The reply was barely a whisper. "One and a half million."

  For a long moment no one spoke. Kyra could hardly breathe. The medical flight was chump change compared to this.

  At last she found her voice. "The treatment didn't work?"

  "It worked," Lori replied. "Mom's illness is gone. But she hasn't woken from her coma. She's alive . . . and yet . . ."

  When she turned to Tristis, he quickly put his hands out and said, "There's no way I can pull that kind of money together."

  "What if we only have to cover the interest for a couple of months?" she said.

  "That isn't how it works," Lori interjected. "It isn't like a bank loan. There aren't simple rules like that."

  Kyra turned her attention to a door beside the bar. The bouncer guarding it hadn't left his post all night. It must lead to the backrooms where they could find the loan shark who owned the establishment.

  She said, "Then I say we go and change the rules."