Fii released a soft sigh as Quinn's hands expertly worked the knots out of her back. The warm glow of her small shack cast a cozy ambiance, and the firm yet soothing pressure of his massage helped to untangle the tightness in her muscles after a day of being in the spotlight—quite literally.

  A melodramatic yelp escaped her lips.

  "Ah, right there!" The tender spot he'd just found was both painful and satisfying, causing her to scrunch her shoulders in response. "My poor, poor back. So much stress today."

  "Still sore?" Quinn asked. He gently but insistently pressed his thumbs into the exact spot that gave her a jolt a few seconds ago, digging in more.

  "Nnngh... You're great." Her voice was barely audible, muffled by the thin pillow. "Please... keep going."

  In silence, she appreciated his generous gesture and let her mind wander. After Glimmerstrike's second attack a week after they met, she had considered swearing off rooftop chases. But that resolve didn't last long; soon enough, she was back to her high-flying antics. Over time, she realized something. Her day felt incomplete without one of these midair ballets.

  "Mmhm..." She couldn't help but make soft, contented noises. "Nnh..."

  Today's encounter had been particularly exhausting. There was something about having to maintain a constant watchfulness, ready to leap away at any moment, that really taxed her body.

  Not even the gangs were so relentless. Plus, her energy was sapped by all the gravitational pushes and pulls. Her muscles always ended up stiff and sore whenever her power affected her own body, an uncomfortable side effect. Which made this post-chase massage feel all the more delightful.

  "So..." Quinn began, his tone carrying an air of mischief, "Today was another wild chase, huh? Lasted a while too. Those are usually quite short."

  "Mhm."

  "Wanna tell me about it?"

  Fii craned her neck to look at him. "Do you really want to know?"

  "I live vicariously through you," Quinn admitted with a wry chuckle. He pushed and kneaded a specific spot under her left shoulder blade, coaxing her back onto the pillow. "Eyes back front. I'm not done. And yes, tell me."

  Rolling her shoulders, Fii puffed out her cheeks. "She's... getting better," she conceded, a hint of a whine in her voice.

  "Oh?"

  "And faster. She got close twice today. Real close."

  "How close we talkin'?" he asked, the interest in his voice as keen as his hands were on her back.

  "Really close. Too close. Don't laugh!"

  But despite her words, a muffled chuckle reached her ears. With a playful pout, she chose to ignore it. It felt too good to be mad.

  "Think she's... into you or something?"

  Her face turned hot. "Hey now—"

  "Sounds like some thrilling rooftop dates."

  "They're not dates! There's nothing... thrilling about it. Well, maybe a little. But only a tiny bit! Like, an itsy-bitsy amount."

  "You sure?"

  "Yeah..." she answered, sounding more like a question than a statement. She might have given Quinn an earful then and there, but when he finally hit that one perfect spot right in the middle of her lower back, all her resolve vanished into thin air. "Ah, stop bullying me. That's too... good..."

  "You like the bullying though," he said with a chuckle.

  "Sometimes," she admitted.

  "Every time."

  "Only when it feels like this."

  "Didn't even deny it."

  "Shush. Keep rubbing," she ordered in her best Glimmerstrike impression.

  It was all so wrong.

  But his hands were just the right kind of wrong. As one hand worked its way up to her neck, giving those tight muscles some attention, and the other found a new knot of pressure to work on, she nearly melted into the floor. Completely unaware, she started to let out a breathy moan, as if a built-up pressure was slowly dissipating from her body.

  She'd always been sensitive to touch, and this was no different.

  "Shhh, keep it down there," he tried to hush her. "You place's got thin walls. Your neighbors might... uh, get ideas."

  A couple more soft, short-lived moans left her throat, punctuating her otherwise stillness. Finally, she seemed to have gotten a bit more control over her voice. "Your—your fault," she mumbled back.

  "M-my bad. But keep quiet. Not that I mind, but you know, the walls."

  If the door could talk, it would certainly have stories to tell.

  But the door opened instead. Literally. It creaked and then suddenly swung open.

  A draft of cold evening air crept inside the tiny room.

  Fii yelped in surprise, using her power to push Quinn away, maybe a bit too hard. The sound of him colliding with a nearby wall mixed with the squeak of the hinges and the heavy thump of the door against the interior wall. She'd jumped to her feet and turned to face the source of the disturbance in a blink.

  When she realized it was Virgil at the doorstep, her eyes grew wide, then quickly covered her exposed body.

  Right. They'd started the massage in a rather intimate way, with her only wearing her undergarments. Her clothes were strewn all over the floor.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  With a red face, she glared at him. "V-Virgil! Ever heard of knocking?!"

  "You left the door unlocked," he responded dryly, unfazed by the scene unfolding before him. He stepped inside and shut the door behind him. "Which is dangerous. And foolish. Didn't realize you were... busy."

  "Y-yeah, 'cause we thought no one else would come barging in like that!" She shot a glance at Quinn, who was picking himself up off the ground with a grimace. "Sorry! You okay?!"

  Virgil looked at her with a raised brow. "A backrub, I'm guessing? From the noises, I thought... Well, no matter. Consider this a lesson learned: lock your damn door."

  "Screw you! We were having a moment!" She stepped over to her clothes to pick them up and get dressed. The relaxing mood from before was well and truly shattered.

  Quinn had a dazed look on his face. He was still holding the back of his head with a wince. "I'm good, babe. No harm, no foul." Then, in a louder, more gruff voice, he added, "Hey, Virg. Uh... Haven't heard from you in a while."

  Virgil nodded in greeting, then moved to take a seat on the floor without so much as an apology. Fii threw a shoe in his direction. He swatted it away, unfazed. She ended up rolling her eyes and rushing to put her clothes back on.

  "Find anything yet?" she asked him, her voice still slightly irritated as she struggled into her pants.

  "As a matter of fact, that's what I'm here to discuss." He adjusted his old, worn hat. "Mind if I smoke?" A beat passed. "Ah. Right, your place." He pocketed his lighter.

  Fii finished putting on her tank top and sat down on the bed. She crossed her arms and gave Virgil a questioning look. "So?"

  Quinn sat down on a nearby chair, still rubbing the back of his head. He and Virgil exchanged a brief, knowing glance. But when Fii tried to catch his gaze, he seemed to intentionally avoid looking at her, focusing on something else in the room instead. It was odd; he wasn't usually shy around her.

  "Yesterday, I tracked down a contact who owed me a favor," Virgil started, ignoring the lingering awkwardness in the room. "Remember the two places I mentioned that Salvatore could have brought Edith to?"

  "Yeah?"

  "Getting into the Metropolis is still a no-go, so I focused on the second place," he continued, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "We're gonna have to check his facility in Merraco."

  Fii's eyebrows went up. "Isn't that super dangerous? Did you manage to get us a ride on an airship?"

  "No. Airships to and from there have extremely tight security checks. We can't risk it."

  Fii's excitement dimmed a little. "So... does that mean I'll have to fly us there while you navigate with a map or something?"

  "I couldn't find a map of the area, and you can't fly the entire way. There's a reason why only heavily-armed airships make the journey. The Wyrms would rip you to shreds in no time."

  "But I can just use my power to fight them off—"

  "Or, they could be faster than you and come from an angle you can't see. There are hundreds, if not thousands, in the Dead Zone. It's way too risky. Not to mention that I'd rather not risk you accidentally dropping me in mid-air if something happened."

  "I can just fly low though. I won't drop you."

  "Already thought of that. I told you that I couldn't find a map so even if we managed to not deal with a horde of wyrms, we could easily get lost."

  "Ah, so... what do we do then?"

  "The only way is to drive through the Wastes of Kurigali. They're between here and Merraco. And you need a sand buggy if you want any chance of crossing them."

  "You got us one?" she asked, her expression brightening again.

  "About to," Virgil answered, leaning back. "Once we can snag a guide that'll come with us."

  Uh-oh. She knew where this was headed. Her hands gripped the mattress beneath her a little tighter. "You're not thinking of—"

  "We're gonna need to ask one of the exiles who used to live there. Someone who knows that terrain inside and out, every pit and crevasse, so we don't run into trouble."

  Quinn blew a low whistle. "You're gonna ask for a favor from the Kurigali exiles? Good luck."

  Fii ran a hand through her hair, sighing.

  The slums have a pretty diverse population. With each passing year, people trickled in from different parts of the country, each of them running from their own set of troubles. It was a bit of a melting pot, and everyone had to learn to live together or find a spot where their group could call home, making the best of it.

  The Kurigali have their own sector in the slums—and not even the major gangs dared to mess with them. Clubs, knives, and pipe guns might intimidate a lot of folks, but they were nothing compared to what the Kurigali practiced.

  Voodoo.

  "We really gotta go ask them for help?" she asked, looking down at the floor.

  "I did say 'we', but what I really meant was 'you'." Virgil scratched the stubble on his chin, giving her a look. "You're one of their own."

  Fii blinked. "Wait, what?!"

  Quinn's eyes snapped to her as well. "Really?"

  "That's news to me!" Fii exclaimed, holding a hand to her chest. "How'd you figure?"

  "I checked with Sheri and Helix at the clinic. Your DNA test came back a little while ago. Turns out you're a descendant of the Kurigali people." Virgil sounded almost amused by the revelation. "Well, half and half, anyway. Thought you knew."

  "No shit," Quinn remarked, eyes still on Fii.

  "I didn't know! Seriously, I didn't."

  "Don't worry about it too much," Virgil waved a dismissive hand. "There's always mixed blood in the slums. What's important here is that you can use that connection. They might listen to you. I would just get stonewalled. I need you to ask them for a guide."

  "Seriously?"

  "Otherwise, no dice on our trip. They're our only shot at this."

  Fii bit her lip, thinking. If this was their one shot at rescuing Edith... she couldn't afford to hesitate.

  "Okay, okay, I can try," she relented, though her agreement came with a sigh. "Just... really don't wanna get cursed."

  "It's not the actual, mind your superstitions." Quinn offered a reassuring pat on her shoulder, although there was a hint of a tease in his voice.

  "It's real! Well, kinda real... at least!" Her eyes darted between the two of them. "Have you heard about what happened when one of the Reaper Posse tried to muscle their way into their turf?! Bad stuff went down, man."

  "That was probably them using poison, not magic," Quinn countered.

  "I'm telling you, it's real. Do you wanna get into bed with your feet sticking out of the blankets or something?! You're asking for it!"

  "Pointy-eared superstitious half-blood," he taunted, booping her on the nose with his finger.

  Fii playfully tried to bite it.

  "Focus," Virgil interjected with a glare. "Quinn, mind keeping your hands off?"

  A twinge of red colored Quinn's cheeks, and he murmured an embarrassed apology. He still managed to steal a kiss on Fii's cheek, though.

  "I'm gonna... wait outside." Quinn got up with an awkward cough, heading out the door and into the alleyway.

  As soon as the door closed, Fii turned to Virgil. "Ahh, I was so relaxed... then you had to ruin it," she grumbled. But she couldn't stay annoyed. She knew he was just looking out for her and trying to help her save Edith. That's just who he was, and he wouldn't apologize for his approach. "So... tomorrow?"

  He shrugged, getting up and stretching. "Sure. You don't need to rush things with the Kurigali, though. We're in no hurry. Quinn and I can start rigging up a sandbuggy in the meantime."

  She leaned back a bit, studying him. "Oh?"

  "A man's gotta keep busy, and the kid needed a break from work."

  Fii let out a light laugh. "I'm sure Quinn would love spending time with you."

  "Don't be a smart-ass," Virgil grunted, standing up and turning to leave.

  But he paused at the door, his hand resting on the handle. "About earlier..."

  Fii held her breath, looking up at him expectantly, waiting for the lecture she was sure was about to come.

  "...Lock the door next time."

  And with that, he walked out, closing the door behind him. She was left sitting there, cheeks slightly reddened, not knowing whether to laugh or groan.

  Why did he always have to get the last word?