65

Alvis agrees readily enough.

Pasema is too small a city to have its own walls. The presence of the portal might have been an argument in their favor, were it not for the fact that demons could teleport past them. You make your way past the scattered outlying farmlands and into the village proper.

It's barely more than a few steps into Pasema before you reach the village market. The moment there's a reasonable crowd, you stop in the middle of the beaten dirt path and fling your arms wide. "People of Pasema!" you declare, lifting your gaze to the sky. "Your saviors have returned!"

No one looks up from their shopping, and it occurs to you that you didn't say it very loudly. You clear your throat and try again, to no better response.

You're still standing in the middle of the street, and a woman with a wheelbarrow nearly runs you down. "Quit playing games," she calls back over her shoulder. "The portal's about to split open again. We've all got things to do."

It's probably not a good sign for your status as legendary heroes if even the people of the village you saved three years ago can't recognize you.

Next

You turn no more heads as you make your way through Pasema, despite your best efforts. You do overhear several worried conversations in the streets speculating about the prophecy's return, and at least one galling question about when you're going to arrive to save the town.

"Right," Alvis murmurs, once you've made your way to a quieter back street. "That's saved us some time chattering to the masses, if nothing else. We should get to the library. It isn't worth much, but it's good enough for studying demons if it's good for anything at all."

"It's not, though."

The voice is familiar and yet not. It's stronger than the last time you heard it, less dull, more alive. Slowly, you turn to see Meredith leaning against a wall in a nearby alley, looking almost as though she's just emerged from the stone.

"The library here would be a waste of time," she says. "You can't afford that. None of us can, not with the portal opening tonight." She summons a desperate but earnest smile. "Can we speak for a moment?"

You shake your head at her as you leave. "There are things you don't understand," Meredith protests from behind you. "But I can't just—but you need to…" She trails off with a frustrated noise. "Speak to the mage who follows you around, if you won't speak to me."

That's odd enough to give you pause. What does that mean? Did a mage follow you from the Academy? "Do you mean Alvis?" you guess.

When you look back over your shoulder, Meredith is rolling her eyes. "The Sienhan singer," she says.

That raises more questions than it answers, but it does considerably narrow the list of suspects. "You know that singer Min? Did they follow me here? They never mentioned being a mage."

Meredith shifts uncomfortably against the alley wall. "You should ask them," she says. "Jun, I only need to tell you two things. Go to Agatha Carras. You'll learn more from her than from anything left in the library here. And when the portal opens tonight, please let me speak to whoever comes through. If things don't go as I intend, you can do as you will, but let me try."

Alvis raises his eyebrows. "Dangerous thing, speaking to demons," he says. "You know they try to get into people's heads."

Meredith's whole expression goes dark, her brows furrowed and her jaw set. "They aren't alone in that, prophet," she says. You wonder again if she can possibly mean that the way it sounds.

Alvis's jaw works for a moment, as if he's trying to summon a response, but eventually he just returns to your side. He doesn't turn his back on Meredith. "Shall we be off? I think you had the right idea," he says.

Meredith is already turning to walk down the alleyway, so you only have a few moments to think of a plan. You decide to summon the image of a pile of debris in the alleyway, one noticeable enough that any passers-by would near-automatically walk around it. If Meredith steps through it, she can recognize illusions.

You see Meredith turn her head to your false pile of rubbish while she's still turning around—almost precisely the moment you summon it. She glances back at you, gives a short huff that's either amused or resigned, and steps straight through the debris, her legs passing unnaturally through it. You're certain now—she saw what your illusion was, and she wanted you to know.

Alvis doesn't seem to have noticed the exchange, which you suspect is for the best. He says, "I don't know what she knows or how she knows it, but I'm inclined to think she's right about the Carrases. It's not like they haven't had reason to take an interest in the subject. Though I'd hoped to escape this without seeing them."

"Why?" you ask. "Who are the Carrases?"

Alvis halts in the road for a moment, looking genuinely startled. "You really don't know? I'd have thought she'd have told you."

You shake your head.

"Verity's parents," Alvis says, frowning as though you've somehow been deliberately concealing your ignorance. "They aren't Fairgrieves, remember? Everyone in town knew who she was, of course, but she actually went by Verity Carras for most of her life, until…" Alvis hesitates. You're still in the middle of the street, even if no one's paying much attention just now. "Until her true nature came to light."