When we returned to our room we found the door open, which immediately had both of us on guard. Even if we hadn’t literally just been attacked by a home invader we would have been cautious, so seeing this now was just the icing on the awareness cake.

  Cassie drew her wand, which she had quite sensibly kept with her. I had, less sensibly, not brought my own weapon, but at this point I was about as dangerous with it as I was without it, so I just readied myself and stepped through the door as quietly as I could.

  I was not expecting to see Hansen, Jenny’s pet skeletal hand, sitting docilely in the middle of the floor clutching a piece of paper. I approached slowly, not wanting to spook the little guy. However, the moment I got too close he suddenly jumped up and scuttled away from me.

  I paused, not wanting to frighten him any further. As slowly as I could I lowered myself, trying to appear non-threatening. I didn’t really know how he saw, or even if he saw, but I had to imagine that a full-sized person had to be a bit intimidating for a creature the size of a hand.

  Now practically on all fours, I crept towards him. I let my natural reactions handle the slight structural changes my body needed to function properly in such a strange pose, hoping that I wouldn’t need to remain in it for long.

  To my frustration, Hansen scampered away again. This time his escape brought him closer to the window, which was open now. I saw that it was dark now, which really hammered home how long I’d been asleep for.

  After two more attempts Hansen was getting dangerously close to the window. I mustn’t have been the only one getting frustrated by the little guy, because before I could make another try he began to levitate into the air, letting off small sparks as he writhed wildly in panic.

  His note fell from his hand as he floated towards Cassie, who was pointing her wand at him with a triumphant look on her face. She was wincing slightly too, which made me a little worried, but I trusted her to know her limits. I snatched up the note and opened it up, quickly reading out the message contained within.

  “If you chase me, you owe Jenny two silver,” I read. “Did she really have that little faith in us?”

  Cassie scoffed as she waggled Hansen around in the air. “Probably. She doesn’t seem the type to have much faith in anyone.”

  I sighed. “What now, then? I mean, I assume that he was going to lead us somewhere, unless this was just a prank. Actually, that sounds quite likely too.”

  “All we have to do is wait,” Cassie instructed as she peered at Hansen. “I’m pretty sure she can see through this thing, so if there actually was something important then she’ll show. And if there wasn’t anything important, she’ll get over here anyway. We need an explanation, lest Hansen run into a little accident.” She spoke the last part directly towards the hand, which had stopped wriggling and now remained limp in her telekinetic grasp.

  I felt a bit bad for the little guy. “Did you really need to threaten him?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “Couldn’t exactly threaten her, could I?”

  I couldn’t find a fault in her logic, so I just flopped onto one of the beds. If we were waiting, then I would at least be doing it in comfort.

  I looked back up when I heard Cassie screech, which was followed by a dull thunk. By the time I was facing the right direction all I could see was fading teal energy and an escaping Hanson launching himself out of our window. I turned back to Cassie to see her shaking her hand while using the other one to pick up her wand, which she must have dropped.

  I raised an eyebrow as I stood again. “You good?”

  She waved me off. “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine, just a little tapped out still. Plus I didn’t know she could cast through that thing. Took me off-guard.”

  I wandered over to the window, seeing Hansen performing a surprisingly intricate celebratory jig on a rooftop below ours. “Yeah, he really is quite handy to have around, isn’t he?”

  The deafening silence from behind me was all the encouragement I needed. “I am surprised he doesn’t need a hand getting around, though. Maybe he-”

  “I’m gonna stop you right there,” Cassie interjected as she walked up behind me to peer through the window herself. “You going to get him or not?”

  I turned partly back to her, still keeping an eye on Hansen, who had begun to make a far more leisurely escape across the tops of buildings. “Why me? You’re the one with magic.”

  She shook her head. “I’m still tired from before,” she explained.

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  I tilted my head and made a deep, flat noise that I intended to use in place of a squint. “You just don’t want to go running across the city,” I accused.

  She chuckled. “Nope! Can you blame me?”

  I sighed. “No. Fine, I’ll get him.” Hansen had managed to make a jump he was struggling with, turning out to be a surprisingly adept climber.

  I placed my hands on either side of the window and, without further ado, leapt from it onto the rooftop a story below me. The wind rushing past my body was pretty exhilarating, even though it only lasted about a second.

  About halfway into the jump I realised that I had no clue how to land a fall from this height, so I just followed my instincts and tried to roll when I struck the roof.

  I did not succeed.

  When I came to stop I had a chitin to mend, a headache to nurse and what was for a moment a broken leg thanks to some terrible positioning. That hurt, although it thankfully wasn’t the worst I’d felt in the last while. I probably shouldn’t be thankful for that, but at least it impacted me less now. Yay.

  Note to self: Prepare better for a fall. That wasn’t fun.

  “You okay?” Cassie called from the window. I just stuck a thumbs up in her direction as I clambered to my feet. “Good. Can I laugh at you then?”

  I made a rude gesture to her as I started jogging across the roof, making the jump to the next one to the background noise of her laughter. There were worse ways to make an exit, I had to admit.

  Unfortunately for me, my clumsy landing had alerted Hanson to my pursuit, which had him speedily crawling across the roof he was on. Thankfully he was limited by his size, but he was still faster than most disembodied hands, so I couldn’t completely relax.

  I was glad that most of the buildings here were connected by at least one wall, because it meant that I didn’t need to do much acrobatics to start gaining on my prey. My longer stride meant I had a distinct advantage when it came to a footrace, but he was the one that knew where he was going, so there were allowances on both sides.

  Just when I was catching up to him, however, he made a sudden turn and began scampering directly down a wall, which had me briefly stopping. The street below was surprisingly populated for the middle of the night, to the point where a skeletal hand may even go unnoticed in the crowd. It also meant that I couldn’t just jump down at my leisure, since I was likely to land on and subsequently crush someone.

  Pausing at the edge of the roof, I considered my options. I briefly worried about losing Hanson in the crowd, but I dismissed that thought the moment it came up. I couldn’t let myself succumb to worry now, not when I was on a time limit.

  Instead I started thinking of ways to get to street level, preferably as inconspicuously as possible. Remembering how I got through the portal, I had a slightly disturbing idea that nonetheless may work.

  Rapidly shifting my body, I assumed the form of a ball. Specifically, a ball made of chitin and packed with soft flesh to protect my brain, since I couldn’t afford to lose my sense of urgency. I also had a single eye to direct myself with, as well as two small, stubby legs on the underside of my body. They were basic in design, but they had enough muscle and flexibility to launch my stubby self.

  Next I wove an illusion around myself. I may not be able to cover a human body with my illusions yet, but a ball the size of my head? That was doable. Cloaked in an admittedly rushed illusion that would reflect whatever was behind it to act as rudimentary invisibility, I took aim and flung myself from the roof.

  I flew through the air, removing my legs as I soared above the crowd and directly into a half-open window that I barely fit through. As I rolled across the floor I reformed my legs and brought myself to a halt.

  There was another window conveniently placed just opposite the one I had entered, so I shifted my form once more into a sleeker body, not unlike the one I had taken to kill Matthais, although it was a little more refined now that I wasn’t in such a state.

  I scuttled up a set of draws and hopped over to a desk, soon finding myself peering out of the window. It opened up into an empty alleyway, which was exactly what I had been hoping for. There was only one obstacle.

  The window was closed.

  It was one of those fancy glass windows too, so I couldn’t just try and slip through the gaps in the wood. Instead I reared up on my four hind legs and quickly formed rudimentary hands out of my two front legs. They weren’t exactly dextrous, but they could grip and that was what mattered.

  Grabbing hold of the bottom of the window, I heaved with all of my might. Unfortunately, all of my might was a little bit pathetic right now, since I was the size of an arm. With an embarrassing amount of effort, I managed to open the window enough to slip underneath it and start making my way down the wall.

  Walking sideways was an experience, and I was sure whoever owned this building would be rather unhappy with the trail of small holes that now ran down one wall, but I had bigger fish to fry. I had a dreadful feeling building in the back of my skull that my prey was getting away, and that simply wasn’t allowed.

  I turned right when I hit the ground, running deeper into alley rather than back out into the street. I wasn’t sure what was guiding me, whether it was some deep-buried instinct or if I was just trying to justify my guessing, but I had a feeling.

  Sure enough, another two arbitrary yet certain decisions later I ran directly into Hansen, barely having time to react before we collided. The shocked hand writhed on the ground as I finally dropped the illusion, wrapping my body around him to pin him in place.

  “Gotcha,” I muttered he slowed his wriggling. “Now, where were you going, buddy? When I let you go, you’re going to show me. There’s no point running, I’ll just catch you again. Got it?”

  He waggled his index finger, which I took as a yes. “Good boy. Now, I’m going to let you go in three seconds, okay? Three, two, one.” I disentangled myself from the hand, flipping him right way up with my back legs as I did.

  I watched him carefully, but he didn’t move. “Thank you. Now please, lead on,” I ordered. As he began to scuttle off, I couldn’t help but grin internally. It had been strangely satisfying to run him down like that, and I would be lying if I said I hadn’t enjoyed it.

  I quickly followed after him, making sure he didn’t run off again. A part of me almost hoped he would though, just so I could get another chase. Another hunt.

  That was fun. Now come on, what have you got for me, Jenny?

  slight rush to get there.

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