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“Someone showed up,” said Loren. “A guy named Hector. Doesn’t seem hostile, but I also can’t get a good read on him, either.”

“Aha,” said Caster with a smile. He had a tendency to look quite pleased with himself at all times, but at the moment, Loren couldn’t help thinking that he seemed even more so than usual. “So he returned, after all. I was hoping he would.”

“You know him?”

“A bit. We met for the first time recently, in fact, though it was only in passing. But since that short time ago, he’s been making quite a name for himself, especially among the Abolish higher-ups.”

“He’s with Abolish? His reaper said he wasn’t.”

“Oh, no, no,” said Caster with a chortle. “He’s been making a name for himself as one of our great enemies.”

Oh.

Uh-oh.

“His reaper must be recognizing my soul signature by now,” said Caster. “I wonder if they will attack.”

The tension that Loren felt earlier was back and somehow worse than ever, despite Caster’s presence.

“It seems they’re mulling it over,” said Caster. “A good sign, perhaps. They’re not blinded by rage, at least.”

“Why would they be blinded by rage?”

Caster ignored the question. “You’ve heard about Ivan being captured, yes? That was this man’s doing.”

“What? I heard that was the Sunsmith.”

“It was both of them.”

Fuck.

“We thought his involvement might’ve just been a fluke, at first. Then we heard about him slaying the Man of Crows, and most recently, Banda Toro.”

Double fuck.

“Did you tell him we were with the Freemen Fellowship?” said Caster.

“Y-yes.”

“Good. Maybe that’ll help smooth things over. Assuming Zaman hasn’t cocked up our relationship, already.”

“They mentioned a Zaman. You know him, too?”

“Never met him.”

“What? But then how do you--?”

Caster looked up at him with a side eye, as if to say that there was no point in asking that next question.

Loren held his tongue. Of course. Despite the fact that they’d been traveling around the continent nonstop, Caster always seemed to know much more than he should have. The man didn’t have a phone, either, so it wasn’t like he was researching things online in his free time.

That was just another mysterious thing that made this little man so frightening. It was impossible to tell how much he knew about anything--even things he shouldn’t conceivably know about at all.