The sun hung low in the sky. Mouth hanging open, bruises all over his body, Rowan staggered over broken glass and sunk into an abandoned apartment, pressing his back against the cool sheetrock walls for a moment’s cool. A quick noise startled him back to awareness. He jumped and drew his spade.

“Dammit, this is my hiding spot,” Ikara complained, standing up from inside the ruined sofa. Bits of foam and torn upholstery stuck to her arms and undershirt. The leather jacket hung from her hips, long removed, and she only wore an a-frame under it. The fabric clung to her sweaty body, revealing her curves.

Rowan glanced over her, then wiped the sweat off his forehead and glanced away, too tired to enjoy the view. “How long is he going to keep doing this?”

“Until we die,” Ikara replied, shaking her head. She fanned herself with her hands.

Ikara sighed. “I’d kill for water right now.”

“Watering Can,” Rowan said. Water started to pour from his palm.

Ikara gave it a look. “That’s safe to drink? It’s not… weird?”

“Huh? It’s a spell, Ikara. Nothing weird about it.”

“If you say so,” Ikara muttered. She cupped her hands to catch the water and sipped out of them.

A flash of white outside. Rowan cut off the spell and motioned for Ikara to freeze. She dropped out of sight of the window, and he put his back against the wall again.

Kaidu stalked down the center of the road, staring left and right. He whirled and peered around a shattered window across the street, then kept going.

“How the hell do we get him to stop?” Ikara grumbled, once he was out of sight.

Rowan shook his head. “I don’t…” His eyes lit up.

“Think of something?” Ikara prompted.

A devious grin crawled over Rowan’s face. He pulled out his phone. “Oh, nothing. Just thought I’d call in a favor for a friend.”

Ikara grinned back. “Not a bad idea, my friend. Not a bad idea at all.”

He raised his phone to his ear.

--

Rowan stepped out into the street. “Kaidu! Where are you?”

A dry chuckle sounded, much closer than Rowan expected. “Done with that break I gave you two?”

Rowan jumped, startled, and whirled in time to watch Kaidu step out from the alley close behind him. “What the hell. Do you have some kind of tracking skill?”

Kaidu shrugged. Almost lazily, he brandished his razor blade in one hand and his scissors in the other. “I’m very familiar with the area.”

Rowan drew his spade. “I’m not going down without a fight.”

Dark eyes narrowed. Kaidu charged.

Watch. Don’t run. Rowan tensed, his whole body stiffening, but he held steady. Kaidu slashed. He brought his spade up and barely deflected the blow. The flat face of the razor slapped against his knuckles.

“I took your fingers there,” Kaidu said flatly.

Rowan grit his teeth and scraped toward Kaidu’s face with the hand claw.

Kaidu stepped back, unbothered. “Aim for my blade, not my face. If you catch a blade between those tines and twist, it ought to either disarm your opponent or shatter their blade.”

He slashed again. Kaidu stepped back. Pressing his advantage, he stepped forward.

In the space between where his spade fell and where he slashed back up again, Kaidu stepped into his stance. He shoved his elbow into Rowan’s solar plexus, then pushed him backward by his forehead. “I took your eye. You’re dead.”

“Not—yet!” Rowan jumped back, just as a beam of light squealed down from the heavens. He glanced up, smirking.

Startled, Kaidu fled backward a half-dozen steps.

A spear pierced the asphalt. Perched atop it, Katy giggled and hopped off. “Ohmigosh, it’s really him. Could I—”

Fierce light flashed in Kaidu’s eyes. He lunged, razor in hand.

“Kaidu, no!” Rowan shouted.

Katy staggered back, yanking at her spear. Buried in the ground, the spear didn’t budge.

Kaidu lashed out. Silver flashed for Katy’s throat.

Rowan jumped forward, raising his spade. No! It’s not going to make it!

“Unspool!” Ikara shouted desperately. Thread rushed out of her pockets and tangled around Kaidu, then ran out. He stumbled a step.

Rowan met Kaidu’s slash with his spade and barely deflected it. Blood spurted on the back of his hand. He fell back, and Kaidu fell back as well. For a tense second, they stared at each other.

“She’s friendly! Friendly,” Rowan said.

“She attacked me,” Kaidu snarled.

Katy flinched. She glanced at Rowan.

Rowan put his hands up. “Relax, relax. She didn’t attack, she just came in hot. Look, we met her earlier. She helped us out, and she’s a big fan of yours. We thought we’d just… call her here and have her distract you with getting an autograph while Ikara and I ran away, okay? Calm down.”

“I am calm,” Kaidu snapped, eyes narrowed almost to slits. He flicked the straight razor shut and vanished it into his sleeves.

Katy bit her lip. She held out the back of her phone case “Um… it might be a bad time, but uh…”

Kaidu glanced at her, then turned away for a second. When he turned back around, he was aloof once more, the hostility gone. Elegantly, he took the phone and flourished a marker from his pocket. “An autograph? Of course.”

Rowan stared. Who is this man?

A quick scribble later, he handed it back to Katy. She hugged it to her chest. “Thanks.”

There was a pause. With effort, the corners of Kaidu’s lips edged upward. “Come by the salon some time. I’ll be waiting for you.”

Katy squealed, waving her hands at her face. “Ohmigosh, he did it, he really did it! Thank youuuu!” She yanked her spear out of the ground and ran off into the distance.

Rowan and Ikara both turned to Kaidu. He let out a long sigh as the smile vanished, then glanced up and caught them staring. His eyes narrowed once more. “Shut up.”

“We didn’t say anything,” Ikara pointed out.

He squinted at them. After a second, he shook his head and turned away.

“Hey—Kaidu,” Rowan said, grabbing his arm.

Kaidu shook him off. “Practice is over.”

Rowan shook his head. “No, I mean… sorry. I didn’t think about how you would react, calling her here.”

“We didn’t. Neither of us did,” Ikara butted in. “I’m as much at fault as Rowan.”

“It’s fine.”

“Is it? I… feel like…”

Kaidu turned over his shoulder. He raised a single eyebrow at Rowan, the rest of his face blank.

Rowan shook his head and backed away. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“Good.” Kaidu stalked off.