The second man's head turned.
His dark green signature flared briefly in Kael's vision as his eyes swept toward the alley's entrance—toward the exact spot where Kael and Sage stood hidden behind Sage's illusion barrier.
Kael's body tensed.
Sage's tails went rigid.
One second. Two.
The man stared at empty space.
"The fuck are you looking at?" the first man asked.
A pause.
"Nothing."
The second man turned back to the floating map. The crystal pulsed. The red marker blinked.
Kael opened his mouth to whisper a retreat order—
The world shifted.
One moment he was in the alley. The next he was somewhere else entirely—a rooftop, open sky, wind whipping through his hair, the skyline of Thornwick spread out below them in the gray morning light.
And beside him stood a woman who hadn't been there a heartbeat ago.
