The scent of stale incense and cheap lavender hung heavy in the cramped parlor of ‘Divinor’s Cosmic Insights.’ Cassian sat slumped in his velvet-backed chair, his eyes rolled back so far that only the whites showed. His hands trembled over a crystal ball that was, in reality, a highly polished hunk of cheap glass he’d bought at a flea market.“I see it… yes… the resonance is shifting,” Cassian groaned, his voice dropping an octave into a gravelly faux-baritone. “The spirits of the Great Beyond are whispering your name, Mrs. Gable.”“Oh, heavens,” the elderly woman whispered, clutching her floral handbag. “What are they saying? Is it about my Milton? Is he happy in the afterlife?”Cassian let out a long, shuddering breath, tilting his head as if listening to a frequency no one else could hear. “Milton says… he says he finally found his favorite pipe. The one you thought you threw out in forty-two. He’s laughing, Mrs. Gable. He’s laughing and eating a very large ham.”“A ham? He loved h

“Smile, Cassian,” Saphielle whispered, her voice dripping with mock sweetness as the High Chancellor approached them with open arms. “You’re a hero now. Try to look like you aren't imagining your own head on a pike.”“A miracle! A genuine, star-sent miracle!” High Chancellor Vane bellowed, his belly silk-clad and shaking with every step. He grabbed Cassian’s hand, pumping it with terrifying enthusiasm. “Young man, I haven't seen a localized prediction that accurate since the Great Eclipse of '84! To see the structural failure of the Grand Chandelier? Simply inspired!”Cassian forced a grin, though his teeth felt like they were vibrating in his gums. “Oh, you know, Chancellor. When the spirits shout, I just… try to make sure nobody gets hit by a three-ton piece of decor. It’s a gift. And a curse. Mostly a gift, though, if we’re talking about the fee.”“The fee! Ha! Alistair said you were a character,” Vane laughed, clapping Cassian on the shoulder so hard his knees buckled. “Saphielle,

“Well,” Cassian whispered to the empty room, his fingers tracing the cold, glowing edge of the sapphire. “At least the suit is a rental.”He didn't have long to mourn his status as a sacrificial lamb. Saphielle didn't give him the luxury of a breakdown. She grabbed him by the collar of his expensive, pinching tunic and dragged him toward a side exit, far from the prying eyes of the High Chancellor’s lingering party guests.“Where are we going?” Cassian hissed, stumbling over a loose cobblestone as they hit the damp air of the Academy’s back alleys. “I thought we had until dawn! I need to pack! I need to write a will! I need to find a way to forge a death certificate!”“We’re going to get an edge,” Saphielle snapped, her eyes scanning the shadows of the street. “If Lucien thinks he’s going to use a Bureau asset as a meat shield without me having a say in it, he’s even more arrogant than I thought.”“Asset? You were calling me a fraud ten minutes ago!”“You’re my fraud now, Cassian. Kee

The darkness of the temple swallowed them as they dove behind the massive statue of the forgotten god, the bronze cylinder tucked under Cassian’s arm like a stolen ham. Behind them, the air sizzled with the ozone scent of Dorian’s missed lightning bolt.“Through the drainage grate! Go, go, go!” Saphielle’s voice was a frantic whisper, her hand shoving Cassian toward a rusted iron lattice in the floor.“A sewer? Again? Saph, my dry-cleaning bill is going to be higher than the national debt!” Cassian grunted as he kicked the grate loose.“Just move your feet, Cassian!”They dropped into the muck, sliding through the cold, damp dark of the Iron Sink’s underground arteries. By the time they emerged two miles away near the edge of the merchant district, the sun was beginning to bleed over the horizon. But the dawn didn’t bring peace. It brought the morning edition of The Oracle’s Eye, delivered by a fluttering mechanical owl that dropped a scroll directly onto Cassian’s head.Cassian unfur

The blue lightning from Dorian’s rod didn’t just strike the ground; it detonated, sending a shockwave of ionized air and pulverized stone through the mist."Get your head down, Cassian! Move!" Saphielle’s voice was a jagged scream over the roar of the impact."I am moving! My legs are moving, my heart is moving out of my chest—everything is moving!" Cassian scrambled through the dirt, clutching the bronze cylinder to his ribs as if it were his own child."The intern! Where’s the kid?" Saphielle shouted, her staff spinning in a blur of white light to deflect a follow-up volley of magical darts."I’m right here, Mistress Saphielle!" Elsinore chirped, though he was currently curled into a ball behind a glowing rock, his eyes still milky and vacant. "The probability of us surviving the next thirty seconds is dropping faster than the King’s popularity during a famine! It’s fascinating!""Don’t give me statistics, Elsinore! Give me a way out!"Cassian felt a tug on his sleeve. It was the cy