“You sure about this?” Kalden asked the shopkeeper. “It smells like lunch meat.”

  The man shrugged. “It’s fine, shoko. That’s how soulshine smells.”

  “No,” Kalden set down the bottle on the counter. “That’s how exinleaf smells when you let it oxidize for a week. And you see that color change? Light exposure reduces the potency by half. That’s why we don’t use clear bottles.”

  Akari listened with half-an-ear as she strolled through the aisles, taking in the rows of potions, pills, and elixirs. Before this week, she’d known basically nothing about alchemy. Not for a lack of interest, either. Bronze weren’t allowed to visit these shops back home. Well, maybe an older, wealthier Bronze could, but the clerks would have treated her like an escaped convict if she’d tried.

  Now, these smuggling jobs had opened a whole new world of possibilities.

  Most alchemy started with the mana from plants or animals. Humans couldn’t consume that stuff raw, but the alchemists sat down in their labs, did some science bullshit, and brewed the mana into pills and potions.

  These produced all sorts of physical and mental enhancements. Sometimes, you could even use techniques from a different aspect. For example, you could drink a dragon’s mana, then use fire techniques. A frostwolf’s mana would give you ice techniques, panther mana could turn you invisible, and so on.

  Unfortunately, you still had to learn and practice the techniques, which cast a storm cloud on Akari’s plans. Even a basic fire Missile took months to learn, and that meant chugging a hundred bottles of fire mana along the way.

  Finally, there was soulshine, the strongest and most infamous of all elixirs. Soulshine let you permanently expand your soul and let in more mana from the Ethereal.

  Free advancement, basically.

  Soulshine had been illegal back on Arkala, and the same was true for most of the outside world. But the Grevandi and Unmarked both used it to gain an advantage over the other. Enough soulshine could raise an Apprentice to Artisan, and one Artisan could turn the tide of a battle.

  “We should try some,” Akari had said on an earlier mission.

  “No way.” Relia gave her a stern look. “Never, ever mess with soulshine. It has some nasty side effects.”

  Akari snorted. “Okay, Mom. Talking from experience?”

  “No, but I know people who’ve used it. You can stunt your advancement for good.”

  “What are the odds of that happening?” Side effects would suck, but stagnation came with its own dangers. Especially here in Creta. Besides, Relia was clearly biased when it came to alchemy. She wouldn’t even drink liquid mana, and you could buy that stuff at a grocery store. Kind of ironic, considering her secret love affair with pills.

  “I don’t know the exact odds,” Relia said. “Ask Kalden.”

  They’d asked Kalden later that day, but he actually agreed with Relia for once.

  “Human bodies advance slowly for a reason,” he said. “Too much mana can overload your soul. Maybe even kill you.”

  “Okay,” Akari crossed her arms. “So why do Kyzar’s guys use it?”

  “Kyzar’s fighting a war. Soulshine might work on a larger scale, but not for individuals. A game of crowns never works out well for the pawns.”

  Relia nodded. “And short-term gains sacrifice long-term growth. Use soulshine to reach Artisan, and you might never reach Master.”

  “Oh.” Akari aimed to free her home someday, and that meant climbing a lot higher than Artisan. Higher than Grandmaster, even. Then again, mana artists advanced faster during battle, and everyone was cool with that. Why was soulshine so different? Maybe chugging a random bottle wasn’t the smartest plan, but there might be potential there.

  Akari was still browsing the shelves when Kalden’s voice brought her back to the present.

  “These aren’t worth more than sixty cretens per bottle,” he told the shopkeeper.

  “I don’t care, shoko. Someone else will buy it if you don’t.”

  Kalden brushed a layer of dust off the bottle cap and pinched it between his fingers. An awkward pause followed. “I’ll give you four hundred for everything,” he said as he pulled Kyzar’s bills from his money pouch. “Or you can wait another month until they go bad. Up to you.”

  The clerk muttered a Cadrian curse, then took the money.

  “Gratsio, se?or.” Kalden smiled as if the man hadn’t just insulted his mother.

  This had become their routine ever since they’d joined the Unmarked last week. Every morning, they followed a tunnel under the wall into Unida’s western territory. From there, they took a ferry to the eastern side of the river and hit the shops.

  Once they bought everything from Kyzar’s list, he promised to get them a computer that worked across borders. They’d also negotiated a maximum time period of two weeks. This prevented Kyzar from slipping some impossible items on the list and milking them for more work. Their fake marks wouldn’t last that long, anyway. Elend had designed these things for emergencies, not long-term employment.

  “Alright,” Kalden said as they stepped outside. “Rubi’s is three blocks that way. What if we squeeze in one more stop and catch the eight o’clock ferry back?”

  Akari glanced down at her watch. “We already have two full bags. Why not split up? Two of us could take this stuff back to base.” They already spent most of their days on this side of the river, which hardly left them any time to sleep and eat, much less train their mana arts. One more hour could make a huge difference in that regard.

  Kalden frowned. “There’s safety in numbers.”

  “We’ll be fine!” Relia slapped a hand on Akari’s shoulder, causing her to flinch back. “I’ll go with Akari, and Arturo can stay with you. That still leaves one Apprentice in each group. No one’s gonna mess with us.”

  “Works for me,” Arturo said. “This district’s safe enough, anyway.”

  “Alright,” Kalden said with a reluctant nod. “Guess I’m outvoted.”

  The two groups went their separate ways, and sweat ran down Akari’s back as she walked. At first, she’d imagined smuggling as secret meetings in shady warehouses, but they spent most of their time walking in the hot sun.

  “So what’s up with you and Kalden?” Relia asked.

  Akari shrugged, clutching her backpack straps. “What about us?”

  “Seems like you’re avoiding each other.”

  “We literally spend all day together. And we’ve been busy.”

  “Yeah,” Relia said. “But you guys still found time to cuddle before.”

  She shot Relia a look.

  “Remember? In the backseat of Arturo’s car? You two were so adorable!”

  Akari’s look turned into a glare.

  Relia just laughed. “You know, I’m starting to think that’s your version of a blush.”

  Akari ignored her as they wove their way through the crowded urban streets. Overall, Unida’s side of town wasn’t so different from Liberta’s. Just a lot more dragons, and a much more imposing military force. The Unmarked wore whatever armor they found lying around, giving them a friendly, small-town militia vibe. But these guys all wore matching uniforms that sent shivers down her spine.

  Fortunately, they’d gotten through most of Kyzar’s shopping list, and they should be done in a few more days.

  “Sorry,” Relia said after a long silence. “It’s cool if you don’t want to talk about it. But Elend always told me not to keep stuff bottled up. It can literally stunt your growth as a mana artist.”

  “Funny,” Akari said, “Coming from the girl who pops secret pills.”

  Relia winced at that. “I’ll explain those sometime. Guess I’m not so good at the whole friends thing.”

  “Makes two of us,” Akari muttered. “What’s that about stunting growth?”

  “Oh, yeah. Your soul likes reflection. Two mana artists can train the same amount of time, but the one who reflects afterward will improve twice as fast.”

  “Makes sense,” Akari said. “You learn from your mistakes that way.”

  Relia nodded. “But it’s more than that. Your soul holds you back if it senses unfinished business. It does this to protect you, the same way your muscles hold back when you lift something heavy.”

  “Shit,” Akari muttered under her breath.

  “What’s up?” Relia asked.

  “I haven’t had any dreams since last week.”

  Relia nodded as if she’d expected that.

  “Remember how I dueled someone last time?”

  “Sure.”

  Akari drew in a long breath. “It was Kalden.”

  Her eyes widened. “And?”

  Akari balled her hands into fists. She’d rather not talk about this, but what if Relia was right? What if her soul considered this issue unresolved? She couldn’t let that hold her back. So Akari told Relia the full dream, including how awful her past self had been, and how badly she’d lost to Kalden.

  “That last part was bullshit,” she said as they reached the docks. “I thought we’d be equals someday. But then Dream Kalden strolls into town, and guess what? He’s the best Novice duelist in the whole freaking world.”

  That might have been an exaggeration, but oh well. Present-day Kalden seemed like more of a strategist than a duelist. What the hell was he doing with blade mana of all things?

  Relia mulled that over. “You said you hadn’t aspected your own mana yet?”

  “Nope. Never got the whole story, but I think my parents were holding me back.”

  “I’d bet they had something special planned for you.”

  They kept walking, and Akari’s muscles strained under the weight of the bags. She cycled her mana and tried to imagine herself reinforcing her body. She was still too weak for a proper Cloak technique, but this was good practice.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “So you had pure mana with limited practice,” Relia said. “And Kalden was training twelve hours a day, with an aspect specifically designed to win duels?”

  “I get it,” Akari said. “I’m being stupid. Why do you think I kept quiet?”

  “I didn’t say that!” Relia held up her hands. “No one likes losing. But you should tell Kalden. Maybe he’s working through some stuff, too?”

  She’d been afraid of that. Akari and Kalden had gotten close these past few months, and he was the best friend she’d ever had. But what if he’d also met Dream Akari? She’d been a different person back then, but would he realize that? Would he look at her differently now?

  She’d been annoyed at Kalden all week, and most of that annoyance came from her past self. That proved these dreams were strong enough to alter their present reality.

  Either way, Relia was probably right. It was stupid to get this mad about a dream, but it was even stupider to keep it all bottled up. Even this short talk seemed to make her mana flow smoother.

  They reached the ferry just in time, trudging up the ramp and showing their fake IDs to the attendant. It was busier than usual, with more than forty other people scattered between both decks. They climbed the center staircase toward the upper deck which was far less crowded.

  Akari and Relia unshouldered their packs and found some seats in the back. Her shoulders and core ached from the effort, but she kept cycling her mana. The more you stressed your body in the Novice realm, the stronger you’d be as an Apprentice.

  Apparently, Relia’s first master—the woman who’d taught her life arts— had broken and healed every bone in Relia’s body before she’d advanced. She sounded like even more of a badass than Elend.

  The captain gave his usual speech over the intercom, then the ferry broke off from the dock, leaving a trail of white foam in the dark green waters. By now, the sun was setting over the skyline ahead, and the air grew cooler as they drifted. The wind felt good on her face, especially after walking all that time in the spring heat.

  The upper deck was quiet except for a few teenagers who kicked a surgeball back and forth. No one wore badges in Creta, so Akari switched to her Silver Sight to see their ranks.

  Two Golds and one Silver.

  It still felt strange to see Golds and Silvers acting like equals. Sure, Kalden had been close with Darren and Maelyn, but they’d been the exception back home rather than the rule. In this world, anyone below Apprentice was still considered a Novice, and no one got hung up on the differences. Especially because those differences were the result of birth mana rather than something they’d earned.

  No wonder the Martials had been scared to leave.

  They rode in silence for another ten minutes before the ferry slowed down at the western dock. Relia took that moment to stand. Her red hair thrashed in the wind, and she stretched her arms above her head like a cat.

  Then her knees buckled beneath her, and she collapsed on the deck.

  Akari stared at her for a second, certain the other girl was joking. Then a sound of pain escaped her lips, and she gritted her teeth

  “Shit.” Akari scrambled out of her seat and tried to roll her over on her back. “What’s wrong?”

  Sweat covered Relia’s face, and her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. Her skin shone with green light as she tried to flare her life Cloak. Damnit. This was bad. Even worse than last time.

  Akari grabbed Relia’s leather pouch and went to unzip the top pocket. “Need your pill?”

  “No.” The other girl shook her head. “I’m fine.”

  “You sure as hell don’t look fine.”

  “It’ll stop.” Relia gritted her teeth and propped herself up on her elbows. “Just give me a second.”

  “Hey,” a voice said from over her shoulder. Akari turned to see one of the boys who’d been playing with the surgeball. He had close-cropped black hair, and several gold piercings on his lower lip.

  “Is she okay?” Another boy knelt on the wooden deck beside her. He jumped back when he saw Relia’s face. “Wait—where’s her mark?”

  “Huh?” Akari glanced at Relia’s forehead. Her mark had faded, and the crowd grew closer.

  “She’s an Unmarked,” the boy muttered the last word like a curse.

  Relia lowered her head, letting a curtain of red hair cover her pale face.

  Another of the boys knelt down and tried to brush the curtain aside.

  Hell no, Akari thought. A crowd had already gathered around them, but no one else had heard the boy’s accusation. Best to keep it that way. They’d passed a few Apprentices on the lower deck, and she and Relia might never escape if this went south.

  “Hey!” Akari shoved the boy in the chest, and he fell back on the wooden deck. “Quit groping my friend!” She’d learned this trick back home. Crowds sided with Golds by default, but they had a weakness for defending a young girl’s purity. The Golds got away with a lot on Arkala, but not that.

  It was an outrageous lie in this case, but this was war.

  “Easy, shoka.” The boy staggered to his feet, brushing some invisible dust from his jacket. “Just checking her—”

  “Piss off.” Akari jabbed a finger at him. “Won’t tell you twice.” She had to keep things heated. If they had a reasonable talk, then he might convince the crowd of what they’d seen. Better they saw a private dispute between a bunch of teenagers.

  “No.” He narrowed his eyes and stepped forward. “You’re hiding something.”

  Akari forced herself not to shake as the boy’s friends stepped closer. The guy on his left was built like a tank, and he probably outweighed Akari by a hundred pounds. The girl on the right was much thinner, with the same gold piercings as the boy in the middle. But even she had a good four inches on Akari.

  On the bright side, they probably wouldn’t kill her. Just as long as they didn’t get a closer look at Relia’s face.

  “You want to apologize?” Akari fell into a combat stance. “Or should we do this the hard way?”

  All three of them cycled their mana. Even without her Silver Sight, Akari saw the bright glowing channels beneath their skin.

  The boy on the left laughed. “We’d knock you out, shokita.”

  Akari glared at him and gathered mana in her palms. “Come and try.”

  “You asked for it.”

  Lightning mana surged forward from the boy’s palms. Akari’s own mana flew free in the same moment, and she flattened it into a shield. Talek, but that felt good. She hadn’t expected her Constructs to work in combat so soon, but her instincts knew what to do.

  She forced more mana into the shield and blocked two more lightning Missiles. The impact forced her back, but she held her ground with a solid stance.

  Movement flashed at the edge of her vision. Akari ducked her head, barely avoiding a punch from Piercing Girl. The girl overextended on her punch, and Akari swept out with her leg, knocking her opponent to the deck. The girl responded with a blast of invisible mana that pushed Akari backward

  Akari twisted her body in midair, passing over two rows of seats and landing on her feet.

  What the hell was that? Air mana? Force mana?

  The crowd parted as she landed, but no one intervened. They had no idea who to side with, so at least that part of her plan had worked.

  Several more attacks passed between them, almost too quick to see. Akari formed a shield with her left hand, absorbing Lightning Boy’s Missiles. She also pressed her back against the nearest wall before Piercing Girl knocked her off the boat.

  Her instincts screamed at her to look left, but no one was there. She activated her Silver Sight and spotted the mana from a human soul. One of the kids could turn invisible? The middle boy hadn’t been wearing armor, and he was too weak to have a Cloak technique. Probably a mana potion of some sort.

  Either way, Akari kept her eyes straight ahead. The boy didn’t know she’d seen him. Best to keep it that way for now.

  Both opponents struck Akari’s shield in a joint attack, slamming her hard against the wall. Akari forced more mana into the Construct, but her channels strained from the effort. Still no sign of Relia, either.

  Time to stop playing defense.

  Akari dropped her shield and lashed out with two Missiles of her own. At the same time, she sprinted forward and took cover behind a row of seats. This lowered her center of gravity and sent her mana skyward.

  She retrieved both Missiles a heartbeat later, and one struck Lightning Boy in the back.

  The shadow artist chose that same moment to strike, but Akari saw him coming in her Silver Sight. He threw a punch with his right arm, and she dodged to the side, causing him to overextend.

  Akari hurled a Missile into his stomach, and his shroud faded. She swung up with her other hand, landing a solid punch in his windpipe.

  No sooner had Shadow Boy fallen than a lightning Missile struck Akari’s chest. Her hoodie absorbed the first blow, but the next one took her in the ribs.

  The world went white as she fell back, and pain surged through her as her body shook and burned.

  The world slowed as Lightning Boy stepped closer. Akari struggled to move; something was smoking, and it was probably her clothes. Or maybe her hair. Her opponent loomed above her. He didn’t attack, but the sight of him dragged older memories to the surface of her mind—memories of being helpless and weak.

  Akari still couldn’t feel her limbs, but she cycled her mana. Then her body moved on its own, led by some primal part of her mind.

  Her Missile took Lightning Boy in the knee, and he staggered forward.

  Piercing Girl hit Akari with another wave of mana, but Lightning Boy got caught in the blast, and they both flew across the deck.

  Akari grabbed the boy’s jacket as they soared. Lightning sparked around them, but she didn’t feel the pain this time. Instead, she hurled her own mana into his ribs, and the bones cracked beneath the impact.

  They crashed into the side of the boat, and Piercing Girl ran to her friend’s defense.

  Shit. Akari tried to conjure another Missile, but her soul was dry. Instead, she drew the Martial dagger from the small of her back.

  Another wave of force closed in. Akari dropped to her stomach and let the rush of air pass over her. A third blast followed. Akari saw it coming in her Silver Sight, dodging right as she closed the distance.

  The girl retreated, but Akari leapt over a row of chairs to block her path.

  “Akari!” Relia sprang from the other aisle, landing between her and her opponent.

  At first, Akari tried to dodge past the other girl, but Relia grabbed the wrist that held the dagger.

  “I’m okay,” her friend said. “You can put the knife away.”

  Akari furrowed her brow, trying to pry her wrist free from Relia’s vice grip. Then she stared at the blade in her hand, seeing it for the first time. Her eyes moved to her opponent—a girl who was barely older than her, cowering in the corner behind Relia.

  Talek. She’d been about to slit her throat.

  Her gaze flickered to the two boys who still hadn’t gotten up, then to the surrounding crowd. Most had retreated to the lower deck, but the rest stared at Akari with the same look of shock.

  “It’s okay,” Relia let go of Akari’s wrist. “We’re safe.” The marks on her forehead had returned, and her face seemed as lively as ever.

  Ice filled Akari’s veins, and she tried to return her dagger to its sheath. Her strength left her before she could, and the blade clattered to the deck.

  That wasn’t her. That was Dream Akari. The lightning had messed with her brain . . . her past self had taken over. But no … it wasn’t just the lightning. She’d felt this way when she’d killed the Artisan in Costa Liberta, and the Martials back on Arkala. But those had been real battles against stronger opponents.

  Relia knelt by the shadow artist, pressed a hand to his sternum and filled him with life mana before he could object. Then she healed the lightning artist with the broken ribs.

  “I forgive you guys for the misunderstanding,” she said with a cheerful voice. “Hope the rest of your day goes better!” And with that, she retrieved both backpacks from the bench, grabbed Akari by the hand, and hurried off the ship.

  The next few minutes passed in a blur as they rushed out of Unida territory and through the familiar underground passage below the mana wall.

  “I feel dizzy,” Akari muttered as they walked. “Your condition’s not contagious, is it?”

  “Could be the adrenaline,” Relia said. “Take some deep breaths—in through the nose and out through the mouth.”

  “Already tried that.”

  Relia led them over to a thick mana conduit, more than two feet in diameter. She sat down and patted the spot beside her. “Try putting your head between your legs.”

  “What’s that gonna do?”

  “It helps blood flow to your brain, and it activates the parasympathetic nervous system.”

  Akari complied, and she felt her heart rate slow over the next few minutes.

  “You did the right thing,” Relia said when she sat back up. “We’d be screwed if they kept talking.”

  Akari gave a heavy nod. “Minus the part where I almost killed that girl?”

  Her grin faded. “I get it. You’ve been through some tough stuff.”

  “So have you.”

  “Yeah, but I have years of training. No one ever taught you when to hold back. You’ve probably never had to before.”

  True. She’d always been the underdog before today, fighting opponents with more power and training. Still, she shivered at the thought of becoming that ruthless. Those kids had tried to help before they saw Relia’s forehead. They might be brainwashed, but they weren’t evil.

  Then again, what if Relia hadn’t gotten back up? What if her mark hadn’t returned when it did? Killing wasn’t the answer here, but what was? The others would have exposed them if they’d lost the fight, and Unida’s military would have swarmed them at the dock.

  Actually, that still might happen if they tried to use the ferry again. Kalden was right; they never should have split up. But this was Relia’s fault, too. Akari had tried asking about her condition, but she’d always dodged the questions.

  Akari took a deep breath and turned to face the other girl. “Your mark faded on the boat. The same time you collapsed.”

  “Yeah,” Relia bit her lip and looked away. “Sorry. I didn’t know that would happen. My mana got blocked. I guess it’s obvious in hindsight, huh?” The other girl’s tone was still too cheerful, and that rubbed Akari like a stone in her shoe. Apologies wouldn’t save them if this happened again.

  “We need to talk,” Akari said. “You, me, and Kalden. No more excuses this time.”

  Relia met her eyes and nodded.

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