Cass’s eyes flared open. She was leaning against the dragon’s flank. Its scales were hot, like her stove top when the oven was on underneath. She pulled away as the dragon shifted, its neck craning against its chains to reach her, but falling short.

  Salos, you there? Cass asked.

  “Here,” he said as he materialized on her shoulder.

  Cass breathed a sigh of relief. She knew it hadn’t been a dream, but she had still worried.

  He inspected the dragon beside them, his eyes ignoring her still smoldering campfire behind them. “What a sad sight.”

  “Yeah,” Cass agreed. She kept her hands to herself this time, not wanting to trigger the bonding process again. “We need to go, though.”

  “Agreed, you’ve done what little you can for him,” Salos said.

  With a heavy heart, Cass stepped over the magic circle. Again, there was a pressure on her body as she pushed across. It was heavier this time. Less curtain, more like water. She pushed across it anyway.

  But something knocked Salos from her shoulder. He landed on his feet inside the circle.

  “Come on, Salos,” Cass said.

  “I’m trying,” he said, his cat face pressed against the circle’s boundary. “I can’t get through.”

  “What? Why? There is barely any pressure.”

  “Barely any pressure, she says,” Salos huffed. “This looks unpleasantly like a soul confinement array.”

  “What does that mean?” Cass asked as she bent over and picked him up. She tried to carry him across, but it was like pushing a rock into thick clay.

  “OW ow ow ow, stop!” Salos howled. Cass dropped him.

  “I could have gotten you across,” Cass said.

  “And I would have had my face flattened in the attempt,” Salos muttered. “My soul is too weak to push across the boundary. Not all of us are freaks like you, with three times the ordinary soul.”

  “Is that why those barriers suck?” Cass asked.

  Salos rolled his eyes. “Come back to this side. I’m going to try dematerializing. Let’s see if you can carry me across in the necklace. If nothing else, I can try slipping into your soul well and that should definitely work.”

  Cass did as he asked. He settled into the necklace. It was nice to feel it warm again after so long with it cold on her chest. She stepped over the boundary easily. As easily as the first time.

  Salos materialized again once she was over the line.

  “Now we just need to break out of this room,” Cass said.

  “They locked you in with the dragon?” he asked.

  “Well, not intentionally.”

  He hummed to himself.

  Cass tried the door just in case they had somehow forgotten to lock it. They hadn’t. She was about to freeze the first of the door’s hinges when she felt bodies moving down the corridor outside. Cass scurried backward, flaring Stealth.

  What’s happening? Salos demanded.

  Someone’s coming! Cass explained. There still wasn’t anywhere to hide in this room. Stealth suggested she stand in the corner behind the door and make herself as small as possible. She hurried over there as the door swung open. Salos’s shadow skill draped over her as she got into position, the darkness deepening in the corner.

  A pair of paladins entered. Their eyes swept the room, glazing over her corner without incident.

  “I can’t believe the high priestess is making us prepare this one for tonight,” the first grumbled.

  “This is a priest’s job,” agreed the second.

  The pair of them knelt over the runes of the circle.

  “This is what I get for learning runes.”

  “Would you rather be searching for that escaped demon?” the second asked.

  “Maybe I would. When was the last time we got any action down here?”

  The second snorted. “I hear it’s got a nasty zap. Tollmen felt it through his Fortitude.”

  “Tollmen’s a big baby. He raises his Fortitude every chance he gets because he can’t stand pain, not because of his dedication to our Lady.”

  A mean-spirited chuckle escaped the second paladin’s throat. He paused and sniffed the air. “Is that smoke?”

  The first looked up from the runes. “Smoke?”

  They looked around again, straining around the dragon.

  Paladin number 2 saw her fire first. “What the!”

  He hurried around the room to the fire.

  This is our chance to leave, Salos pointed out.

  What are they preparing him for? Cass asked in return.

  None of our business.

  Cass didn’t like it. Sacrifice?

  Probably, Salos agreed.

  Why now? Cass asked.

  Probably a good night for it. All the gods have different conditions for an ideal sacrifice.

  But they’ve held him a long time to harvest parts of his soul. Why would that change now? Cass asked.

  They might think you are a better option for that now, Salos suggested.

  But they are looking for me, Cass pointed out. Would they prepare to kill him when they can’t even keep me contained for a day?

  Salos hummed next to her, only audible because he was right next to her ear. They may have other demons more manageable than both of you.

  That wasn’t impossible, she supposed. The priests had mentioned three containment circles, which implied three things they wanted contained, which in turn implied multiple demons. Even if the dragon was one of them, that still left at least one more.

  Except, as far as Cass could tell, no one else had seen a demon in this age. Well, no one had seen a non-dragon demon. Was this cult just that good at finding them?

  Or did they have more dragons?

  A thought struck Cass. A terrible, terrible thought. Like a dragonling?

  Salos’s humming stopped. Yes, perhaps exactly like that.

  Cass ran out of the room, the door still open, Stealth silencing her steps and decreasing her presence to little more than a whisper.

  Why do I get the sense you want to do something about this? Salos asked.

  I don’t approve of torture, Cass said, her hands clenching at her sides. I definitely don’t approve of torturing children.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Abyss. A long, low sigh hissed from Salos. His emotions twisted beside her, spilling over into her like water in a too full glass bumped across the table. It was cold and regretful. When you put it like that.

  Do they already have them? Cass asked, pushing out with Atmospheric Sense in every direction, forcing her awareness behind every door. No. The city would have been a war zone if one of the dragonlings was missing, right?

  Not if the grand duchess thought the issue could be resolved quietly, Salos said.

  The halls were quiet. She could feel bodies in distant corridors. She could feel the angry growl of the dragon they had left behind. But there was no sign of dragonlings.

  Or if one or more of the dragonlings had a habit of disappearing on their minders? Cass added, suddenly remembering Ahryn and the dragon in the library and Kohen’s loud complaints in the mansion.

  Yes, that would do it, Salos agreed.

  How would they have gotten a whole dragon down here? Cass asked. Even the dragonlings weren’t that small. Pony sized, at least. People would notice if you brought them through the front and didn’t bring them out again.

  Presence reduction—Salos began.

  —How much would you need to hide the biggest celebrities from half the city? Cass interrupted.

  I don’t know I’d go that far with their fame, but yes, I see the issue. It would require quite a lot of skills or specialization to achieve, especially if the dragonlings did not wish to be hidden.

  Cass stopped on a dime as she felt a paladin approaching. She cursed under her breath. Another was coming from the other direction, too. She Stormstrode away, Stepping on the summoned gust and ripping down the corridor as soon as enough air had formed.

  The paladin’s head whipped back and forth, clearly searching, probably for her.

  This isn’t working, Cass muttered. I don’t know where I am and I don’t know where they’d hold the dragonlings if that is what they are doing.

  Salos hopped off her shoulder, his feet landing silently on the glass floor. He frowned at it. Glass is not ideal, it holds memory poorly. But let’s see if I can find us some answers.

  He closed his eyes, listening to something only he could hear. Or perhaps seeing something only he could see?

  Meanwhile, Cass kept an ear on Atmospheric Sense, looking for the next patrol.

  Atmospheric Sense has increased to level 19.

  The increased level pushed out her range again. The air was strange down here. It didn’t flow the way it should. Instead, it circled in unnatural ways. Around and around.

  Abyss, Salos muttered. The glass suggests there is no exit, as ridiculous as that is.

  The air agrees, Cass offered.

  He frowned.

  Are there skills to warp space? Cass asked him, describing her experience trying to escape the paladins earlier.

  Salos cursed again. It’s a closed space.

  What do we do about it? Cass asked.

  Kill the skill owner or find the key to breaking it, Salos said. Either way, the skill owner will know when we do.

  I don’t think I can beat any of them. The lowest was at level 29. The captain was level 40.

  Almost double your level, Salos winced. You have managed that in the past, though.

  Sure, one enemy like that at a time. Because the other option was dying. Not this many of them. Not all at once.

  Well, don’t fight them all at once then.

  Cass groaned. It was simple when he said it like that.

  One more problem, Cass said. I’ve lost my staff.

  So? Salos said. You have my dagger, right?

  Well, yeah, but I don’t have a dagger skill. I have a staff skill.

  Whose fault is that? Everyone should have a dagger skill.

  Salos, Cass groaned. Do we have to do this now?

  Sorry, sorry. You don’t have a weapon skill for the weapon you have available. You are right. This is serious. It would be one thing if we had space for you to maneuver or a solid front line to keep them off you. Then you could use just your magic skills. In these corridors, however, you will struggle without your staff.

  Maybe she could take a few of them out under the cover of Confounding Mists? It was expensive, but she had a lot of Focus these days. She checked her resources:

  Stamina: 91/138

  Focus: 201/549

  Health: 68/133

  She could probably squeeze two uses of that skill? Probably.

  There were a lot of paladins.

  The math didn’t look good.

  Truthfully, you would struggle even with your staff, Salos continued. The corridors are too tight to get good swings going. Though, I suppose thrusts would be fine. You don’t thrust much, though.

  The dagger would be better in this environment. If she knew how to use it.

  How does one usually get weapon mastery skills? Cass asked. Maybe she could stab a wall or something until it unlocked. She didn’t want it, but it would be useful right now.

  One generally trains with a master for a couple of years. Children pick it up faster. You’re special, you might get it even still faster. Even for you, I would expect it to take a few days—short of the System rewarding you with it for completing a trial or quest.

  So you’re saying I definitely can’t get it in the next five minutes? Cass confirmed.

  He snorted. Something like that, yeah.

  An idea flickered at the edges of her mind. But you have a dagger skill.

  Blade Mastery, not just daggers, but yes.

  I want to try something, Cass said. The question was, how did she activate it? Was it the same as any skill?

  She felt around for it, unsure if it would be with her skills in that ineffable place not in her chest but also not-not in her chest.

  She reached and found it.

  Shifting Mind.

  The world twisted around her, disorienting, dizzy. One moment she had been standing tall, listening to the air around her. The next the world was huge. Colors shifted, the shadows becoming shallow, promising things. Her paws could feel the thrum of ghost feet over the glass, indistinct and hazy. Her tail flicked back and forth, releasing a fraction of her pent up anxiety.

  She stared up at herself.

  No, not herself. Not really, not anymore. Not right now.

  “Oof,” her body—Salos—grunted, staggering. He stumbled back, leaning against the wall. “What did you—” he cut himself off, switching back to telepathic communication as he gathered himself. Warn me next time.

  I said I was going to try something, Cass said.

  He glared down at her. To Cass’s surprise, his eyes in her body were still his usual gold, rather than her blue.

  Be more specific next time, he said.

  Her stealth skill had stopped when they’d switched. She reengaged it. But the telltale signs of wind she’d come to expect barely flitted around her.

  He stared down at her, alarm on his face. What’s with all the wind?

  What? Cass asked.

  It’s like a cyclone around you.

  Cass looked around, shaking her head. There is usually way more than this when I activate Stealth.

  Your Stealth? Wait. At this size, I should activate mine too. A pool of shadows appeared around him, unnatural to Cass’s eyes. He grunted. Why are they laying so thick?

  Are the shadows around you when you activate your Stealth skill always so defined? Cass asked. She’d never paid much mind to Salos’s version of the skill.

  He shook his head. They are usually—He stopped mid-sentence. Cass, check your skills list.

  Understanding immediately dawned on Cass. Most of her skills were the same as always. Only a few were missing—no, they had been replaced.

  Unavailable Skills:

  Atmospheric Sense

  Confounding Mists

  Wind Step

  Temporary Skills:

  Stone Memory

  Dark Vision

  Shadow Step

  Abyssal Aura

  Their racial skills had been swapped. Or, perhaps more accurately, been left behind in their swap.

  But that explained just about everything. Her Stealth winds were still there, she just couldn’t feel them as well without Atmospheric Sense pointing them out to her. Similarly, with Salos’s Dark Vision, she could easily see through the shadows. Meanwhile, Salos struggled with the opposite, feeling more of the air and seeing through less of the dark.

  I don’t like it, he said.

  Cass nodded. She felt blind without Atmospheric Sense.

  I think I am going to get a headache from your Atmospheric Sense skill. I do not have the Alacrity to process this much information. Not with how much my Perception is pulling in.

  Let’s get out of the hall, Cass said. This is more disorienting than I expected.

  Swap us back, I don’t trust myself to find us an empty room with Atmospheric Sense yet.

  Cass engaged the ability again and again, the world twisted around her. This direction was easier, or maybe just more familiar. She returned to her body without stumbling. Stealth hadn’t even slipped, the surrounding shadows seamlessly traded for her winds again.

  Ugh. That’s unpleasant, Salos muttered.

  Come on, let’s find a spot to practice.