My heart raced. Fuck. Fuck. I’d all but spelled out in flashing neon that he was walking into a trap. Miles should have been able to handle it. Realistically, he should have gone in prepared with a strong team, equipped to the nines, fully aware of the potential danger.

There was a pause between messages.

God dammit. Why didn’t he pick his people more carefully?

Because you rushed him. He’s only human. As infallible as the rest of us.

I thought of the fast-pass, nestled safely in my inventory.

It took me a second to grasp what she was driving at. The point of contacting Miles and luring him to the tower was to drag the Order, kicking and screaming, out of the shadows. If they killed Miles, it would arguably shine more of a spotlight on them and still accomplish that goal. Save us from the inevitable moment his suspicions shifted back to me. Turn him into a martyr.

I could decide what to do when I got there. For the moment, the question was, how the hell did I get clear of this without an alibi?

“Everything okay?” Nick asked. He was watching me, and though I’d tried to keep my face neutral, it was possible that something slipped through.

“Yeah. Zoned out.” I stood and shuffled the accumulated sand off my armor.

“I can see that.”

“Look, we’re going to talk about this more.” I looked him in the eye, trying to impart how serious I was. “But I realized we were so busy scouring the ripple for planners we didn’t really comb it over, after. Could be useful resources, items even. Rain Check for when I’m back?”

“I’d tell you to watch yourself, but I don’t think you need the warning.” Nick pursed his lips, then drew the collection bag out of his inventory and handed it to me. “Take it in case you find more crabby friends. Bring Halima if you want an extra pair of hands.”

“Thanks.”

If what I had in mind was going to work, I’d need to break the line of sight. I focused inward and spoke to Azure.

”Question.”

“Answer.” Azure chirped back.

“You can’t talk to a member of the Order without lying or act against its rules until we know the constraints of the geas.”

“That sounded more like a statement.”

“You were able to possess me with little issue.”

“Still a statement.”

“So my question is simple. Could we do the same in reverse, while you’re manifested?”

I could almost hear the gears in Azure’s mind turning. “You’re talking about swapping places.”

“Hm. Well, technically you can always assume direct control of your summons. Domination is the most basic form of summoning but it has serious drawbacks. You could make the plant eat a veggie burger, but you’d eventually lose your grip, and she probably wouldn’t like you much after.”

“Would the actions a dominated being took while under direct control trigger the geas?”

”… No.” Azure sounded surprised. “If you ordered me to do something against the code and I did it, that would trigger it. But if I wasn’t in my body, it would be like I wasn’t violating the rules at all. Same as when I took the oath in your stead—What kind of three-card monte shit are you cooking up?”

”Last question. Can I dominate you?”

I squinted after I said it, cringing at my wording, begging any god that happened to be listening that Azure wouldn’t make it weird.

“You can dominate me whenever you want.” Azure said, an impish lilt to his voice.

Clearly, the gods weren’t listening.

“Goddammit.” I rubbed my forehead. “Great. Thanks.”

With the rules clarified, I asked Nick if he wanted anything from the bar, reiterated that I’d see be back soon, sidestepped a pair of bare-chested men in swim-trunks and headed towards the one place that probably held the least amount of interest. The bar. There was a growing line filled with weekend warriors, the sort of people that said things like “Work hard, play hard,” and debated who in the office had a case of the Mondays. I bumped the internal workings of the mask up to maximum and manifested Azure when I was sure no one was looking.

“What do you think of twinning as a catchphrase?” Azure elbowed me.

Up ahead, some guy with a faux hawk straightened up, doing a vague impression of a meerkat. “Twins?”

“Over there,” I stuck my thumb at a group of girls passing by with similar haircuts, and Faux Hawk pointed them out to his friends.

Azure shot me an apologetic look.

“Forget it, how do we do this?” I asked.

We switched back to mental communication, and Azure walked me through the process. The steps I needed to take to dominate a summon weren’t all that different from things I’d been doing before. A combination of the methods I used to get the most out of and the out-of-body stuff. I had to imagine seeing the world through his eyes, while also commanding him to yield.

Azure stared straight ahead, helping the process while I fell into the summon bond. It felt like slamming my psyche against a wall, and within seconds, I had a headache.

I tried again, this time with more finesse and patience.

There was a noticeable shift, and I realized I’d been thinking about it the wrong way. It wasn’t like breaking down a wall exactly, more like my mind was shifting to encompass the wall, mimic it.

Slowly, I felt my mind warp, and the throbbing headache kicked into overdrive.

A feeling of displacement roiled my stomach, like I’d just teleported out of existence and back in.

The beach itself hadn’t changed, but it was awash in vibrant colors, moving shapes that I slowly identified as people. They were mostly blue, with some greens and yellows scattered throughout.

It suddenly reminded me of the color code we used to refer to my Mother’s mental state.

“This is how you see the world?” I asked quietly.

“Yep. Or at least, your mind’s interpretation of how I see the world.” Azure adjusted his hood, making sure his—my—face was hidden before he removed the and handed it to me. Azure himself was almost uniformly blue, the few strands of yellow and green slowly turning to indigo.

I snuck a glance towards where my party was sitting.

Keith glowed with a vibrant yellow aura, bordering on green. Halima was a light orange.

And Nick was entirely red.

If that meant what I thought it meant, I needed to fucking hurry. Every second I wasted here was a second Miles couldn’t get back, and every second away was a chance for Nick to slip deeper into whatever struggle he was hinting at.

“Time to bounce?” Azure prompted.

“Yeah. Get lost. Trail us but don’t stick too close. Be ready to swap back after I sell Halima the line.”

“Roger.” Azure said.

The quicker I locked in the alibi, the better.