Krouri banked hard and landed on a rooftop across from the Aethercorp complex just as her earpiece crackled. "Krouri? Where are you?" Her mother’s voice—anxious, not angry. "There’s talk of an explosion at Aethercorp!"

  "I’m there now," Krouri said, already scanning the smoke rising from shattered venting ducts. "I’ll let you know what I find."

  The street below was chaos. Police tried to hold back a crowd while fire crews argued with Aethercorp security officers holding the front gate. People were shouting—

  "What's going on?"

  "Are we in danger?"

  "MY BABY!"

  "When is the power coming back on?"

  "I'll sue!"

  Krouri descended to the street and pushed her way through the crowd, press pass held high. Arriving at the front of the squirming mass, she saw Fire Captain Rovert Trinity — a towering, soot-stained dalmatian with his coat flaring behind him as he barked at a nervous platypus security guard.

  "Let us in this instant!" he ordered. "Emergency services are trained to handle this sort of thing! Seismic readings are still coming in and I can smell the smoke from here!"

  "I-I'm sorry sir. Management requests this all be handled internally by our own staff. As head of security, I can assure you and everyone here, everything is fine and we will be back in operation shortly."

  Trinity didn’t buy it—and neither did Krouri. As she watched, a sharply dressed, tawny furred tabbi strode right up to the guard.

  "Ma'am, I'm sorry. We're not allowing any entrance at this time. Please step back and-".

  Krouri blinked as the woman vanished for a split second then reappeared inside the gate boundary, trails of mist left in her wake. Fire Lieutenant Yanni Corus was not one to suffer delays.

  Trinity gave up on persuasion. He lifted the guard bodily out of the way and pushed through the gate.

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  The guard sagged against the railing. "Oh man, I'm so getting fired," he whined.

  Krouri swept the scene. No Hazelnut. No Buck. No Sparks. She spotted a familiar police sergeant and jogged over. "Hey, Jim. Krouri Kukri, Crier Dispatch—what can you share with us?"

  He gave her a tight smile. "Not much, Miss Kukri. A seismic event knocked out power for three blocks. Smoke’s coming from inside but their security refuses to let anyone in. Claiming ‘private property’ or some nonsense. We're waiting for word from the higher-ups about our next steps."

  "Seismic?" Krouri raised a brow and took notes. "Are they saying this was damage from a quake? Should we be evacuating?"

  The sergeant leaned closer. "Off the record? It's not just seismic data that has a bunch of those university egg-heads in a tizzy. Their thaumic network caught other readings. Magical ones. Whatever this is…Aethercorp’s sitting right on top of it."

  Krouri’s quill froze. "Has anyone been seen leaving the plant?"

  "Only their guards. And...those." Krouri followed his gaze to the roof. Metallic constructs lined the rooftop. Blank faces. Four bladed limbs. Motionless. Watching.

  "Krouri!"

  She turned at her name to see Illani pushing through the crowd, breathless. "I felt the tremors—I came to help. What can I do?" the raven asked.

  Krouri pulled her behind a firetruck and kept her voice low. "Easy, Illani. Some people I know are inside. I need to find out if they're okay."

  Illani perked up excitedly. "I can help! I can find out for you!"

  "No way. Not with whatever those things are watching everyone." She directed Illani's attention to the disturbing rooftop constructs.

  "I can find them." She didn’t wait for approval—she crossed her legs on the pavement and closed her eyes. Power pulsed in the air. When she opened them again, both were glowing white. A clairvoyance spell.

  Krouri instinctively spread her wings to shield her from view.

  Illani gasped and looked through her mentor, eyes still blank. "Hazelnut! What is she doing there?" Her voice was distant, echoing. "She looks hurt. The detective...they’re being moved—wheeled on gurneys—someone’s helping them—" She stiffened suddenly. "Wait. Something else is—"

  She gasped.

  Her eyes snapped back to normal and she grabbed Krouri’s wrist. "He saw me."

  "Who saw you? What do you mean?"

  "I don’t know. There was this...this figure. He was covered in some kind of magical shadow. He saw me. He shouldn’t have been able to but he looked right at me! He raised a hand and I was cut off." She swallowed. "Krouri, Hazelnut's in trouble. We need to do something."

  Krouri didn’t hesitate. She brought Illani to the sergeant and quickly introduced them. "This is Illani," she said. "My protégé and licensed divinator. She’s just confirmed civilians inside, injured, along with unknown magical activity."

  The sergeant’s eyes widened as he keyed his radio. "Dispatch, this is KL-712. Confirmed civilians down inside Aethercorp. Request immediate breach authorization. Alert Lieutenant Zywrath—repeat—alert Zywrath."