"So any mage can send a message to any other mage in the hive. In mere minutes," I said, overawed by the concept and still not quite believing what I was seeing.

  "To any hive, actually. And it only takes a few seconds," Skids said, looking appropriately smug. "You could have read this five minutes sooner if you hadn't got your fingers so sticky with ice-cream. When we get you your own scryer you can get it as sticky as you like, but not mine."

  "You said that already." I looked back at Skids' scryer to reread the message, particularly the 'recipient' part. "I'm not sure about going by 'Chloe She'. Can I change that later?"

  "Sure, it's just simpler for now since that's the name we gave the clinic. But you don't have to keep 'Chloe' if something else suits you better."

  "Or the 'she', right? That means 'seer' here, and I have no idea whether I'm one of those."

  "For sure, you're not locked into anything. I think you'd fit well as a seer, but it's up to you to find your place. Now, speaking of the clinic in Yiwarra, you'd better read your next message."

  "Well rall won't be taking any more samples from your hand," Skids said, either missing or ignoring the horrified expression I was certainly making.

  "My brain," I said, very quietly. "There's aether in my brain. Is that from the ABAMs? Did that mess up my brain somehow? Every time I was near one, I passed out," I realised in dawning horror. What had the magic done to me?

  "Hey, hey, Charity, don't run off into the shadows like that."

  "Huh?" I was more confused than comforted, but either way it helped.

  "Whatever was happening to you started before we met, remember? And I think there's meant to be aether in our brains," dro said, sounding a little uncertain. "Something might have messed yours up a bit, but the ABAMs never did anything to my brain."

  "Debatable," I said, finding a sliver of humour.

  Skids poked me in the shoulder. The right one, where I couldn't see it coming. "Point taken, but I never blacked out like you did. Something else caused this. I don't suppose you've been eating metal dust? Paint flakes?"

  "Not that I'm aware of," I said, half shrugging. "I think I need more ice-cream after that."

  "Don't have too much, or you'll get a brain freeze."

  "Maybe that's just what I need."

  "Trust me, it's not as fun as it sounds. But you should probably read the message from Blink He first."

  I nodded slowly and tapped on Skids' scryer. "I suppose. It can't be any worse than what I just read."