The hover-car glided through Neo-London's upper atmosphere, rising above the commercial districts and residential zones until the city spread out below them like a circuit board, all glowing lines and moving lights. David pressed his face to the window, watching the familiar streets shrink into abstraction, and tried to ignore the knot forming in his stomach.
Becca sat beside him, silent, her hands folded in her lap in a way that looked natural but was probably deliberate. Everything about her was deliberate, he was learning, every movement and word and expression calculated for maximum effect. It should have been off-putting but somehow it wasn't. It just was.
"How much further?" he asked, mostly to break the silence.
"Ten minutes. We're entering restricted airspace now."
David looked out the window again and noticed other vehicles keeping their distance, a wide berth that suggested this corridor was monitored, protected, private. Below them the buildings changed too, becoming larger, more spread out, walled estates with manicured grounds and security checkpoints at every entrance.
"The clans live up here," he said, more statement than question.
"Some of them. The ones with enough history and power to claim territory before the city expanded." Becca's voice held no pride, just fact. "My family's been in this location for three generations. Before that we were further east, but the mana convergence shifted and we adapted."
"Adapted."
"We're assassins, David. Adapting is what we do."
The car began its descent toward an estate that looked more like a small fortress than a home. High walls topped with what David guessed were mana-conducting barriers, multiple checkpoints with armed guards, buildings arranged in a defensive pattern that left no blind spots. At the center, a traditional Japanese-style mansion sat surrounded by gardens and koi ponds, beautiful and serene and probably bristling with hidden weapons.
The car touched down smoothly in a courtyard and the doors opened automatically. Becca stepped out first and David followed, feeling exposed in the open space with guards watching from every angle.
"Don't stare," Becca murmured as they walked toward the main building. "They're testing you. How you react, what you notice, whether you show fear. Just act normal."
"What's normal in this situation?"
"Pretend you're annoyed by the whole thing. That usually works."
David almost smiled. "You've done this before."
"I've been doing this my whole life." She glanced at him sideways. "Follow my lead, don't speak unless spoken to first, and whatever you do, don't accept tea."
"Why not?"
"Because the tea service is a test. Accept too quickly and you're eager, desperate. Refuse too bluntly and you're rude. Wait for the right moment and you're strategic. My grandmother invented this particular game and she's been playing it for seventy years. You won't win."
David filed that information away and kept walking.
The mansion's interior was gorgeous in a restrained way, all natural wood and sliding screens and carefully arranged flowers. No ostentation, no obvious wealth, just impeccable taste that screamed money without saying a word. Servants appeared and disappeared silently, bowing to Becca and ignoring David completely.
They were led to a large room where three people waited.
An older woman sat at the center, her silver hair pulled back in an elegant knot, her face lined with age but her eyes sharp as blades. Beside her, a man who looked like an older version of Becca, same silver eyes, same sharp features, same controlled posture. And on her other side, a younger man, maybe mid-twenties, who studied David with open curiosity and no hostility at all.
Becca bowed formally. "Grandmother. Father. Kaito."
David bowed too, copying her movement, and when he straightened the older woman was watching him with those blade-sharp eyes.
"Sit," she said.
They sat.
Silence stretched. David remembered Becca's advice about tea and waited, saying nothing, meeting the grandmother's gaze without flinching. The old woman's expression didn't change but something in her eyes shifted, acknowledgment maybe, or just continued assessment.
Finally she spoke. "You're bold, boy. Most people can't hold my gaze for more than a few seconds."
"I've been told I'm stubborn."
"Stubborn and bold. Useful qualities if channeled correctly." She gestured and a servant appeared with tea, setting cups before each person. David waited, watching the others, and only reached for his cup after Becca's father did. Not too quick, not too slow.
The grandmother's lips twitched. "Becca warned you."
"She mentioned tea might be complicated."
"That girl." But there was affection in the old woman's voice, buried deep but present. "She also mentioned you're worth watching. My granddaughter doesn't say that about anyone. So I wanted to see for myself."
David held the cup but didn't drink. "And?"
"And you're interesting. Two S-ranks, unprecedented, historic, all the words the news is using. But power without direction is just chaos. The question is what direction you'll choose."
Becca's father spoke for the first time, his voice as controlled as his posture. "The clans are already moving. Vane is gathering support for a formal approach. The government wants to recruit you publicly. Others are watching, waiting to see which way you lean."
"I'm not leaning anywhere," David said. "I just woke up yesterday."
"And yet here you are, in our home, drinking our tea." The father's eyes were cold. "That's a statement whether you intend it or not."
Becca shifted beside him, almost imperceptibly, but David caught it. A warning. Careful.
"I'm here because Becca asked me to come," he said carefully. "Nothing more, nothing less. If that's a statement, it's one about trusting her, not about choosing sides."
The grandmother smiled, and it was not a comforting expression. "Smooth. Very smooth. You've taught him well, granddaughter."
"I've taught him nothing," Becca said. "He's like this naturally."
"Even better." The old woman set down her cup. "Here's the situation, David Ashborn. You're valuable, which means you're a target. The Moon Clan has protected valuable people before. We have resources, connections, training facilities that rival anything the government can offer. In exchange for your... consideration... we're willing to extend that protection to you."
"Consideration."
"A polite word for alliance. Marriage, eventually, if things progress that way. But initially just consideration. You stay close to Becca, you train with our resources, you let it be known that the Moon Clan has your ear. In return, we keep you alive while you figure out what you're becoming."
David looked at Becca. Her expression gave nothing away but her hands were clenched in her lap.
"And if I say no?"
The grandmother's smile widened. "Then you walk out that door and we wish you well. No hostility, no threats. We're not the Vane Clan. We don't make enemies of people who might become powerful. But the offer stands, and I hope you'll think carefully before refusing."
David thought about his apartment with the cracked ceiling, about the crowd outside, about Lucas waiting somewhere wondering if he was okay, about the second system humming quietly in the back of his mind.
"I'll think about it," he said. "But I won't decide today."
"Smart." The grandmother rose and everyone else rose with her. "Kaito will show you out. Becca, walk with him. We'll talk later."
The audience was over.
---
Kaito turned out to be Becca's older brother, twenty-six, ranked B-plus in shadow affinity, and apparently the family's designated friendly face. He walked them through the gardens with easy charm, pointing out different plants and explaining which ones had medicinal properties and which ones were poisonous if prepared wrong.
"Most of them are both," he said cheerfully. "Depends on dosage. Assassin training, you know how it is."
"I'm learning," David said.
Kaito laughed, genuine and warm. "I like you. You're not scared of us, which is rare. Most people who come here can't stop sweating." He clapped David on the shoulder. "My sister's got good instincts. If she says you're worth watching, I believe her."
They reached the courtyard where the hover-car waited. Kaito shook David's hand firmly, nodded to Becca, and disappeared back into the gardens.
Becca stood beside the car, not getting in yet.
"He's the nice one," she said quietly. "The rest of them, including me, are the complicated ones. Remember that."
David looked at her, at the tension she couldn't quite hide, at the walls she kept so carefully maintained. "Why did you bring me here, Becca? Really?"
She was quiet for a long moment. "Because I wanted you to see what you're dealing with. The clans, the politics, the games. If you're going to survive this, you need to understand. And I wanted you to know that whatever you decide, I'm not my family's offer. I'm just... me."
The words hung in the air, simple and complicated at the same time.
David nodded slowly. "I know."
Something flickered in her eyes, too fast to read, and then she was getting into the car, all business again. "Come on. Lucas is probably losing his mind wondering where you are."
David climbed in beside her and the car lifted off.
Below them, the Moon Estate shrank into just another piece of the sprawling city, beautiful and dangerous and full of secrets.
Just like the girl sitting next to him.