“I told you not to freak out. You’re kinda spazzy, aren’t ya?” She tossed the bottle of pills at me. “Take a couple of those.”

“What are they? Poison? Truth serum?”

“Advil, dummy. For your head.”

I fished the bottle out of the blankets. Extra-strength Advil. “You could’ve tampered with them.”

“I’m not an alchemist, dude.” The leather-clad lady set the glass of water on a small table beside me, then sat on a folding chair. “Take them. Or don’t. I honestly don’t give a shit.”

I opened the bottle and peeked inside. Looked like Advil, smelled like Advil. “Where are we?”

“On my boat.”

That explained the swaying. “Why are we on your boat?”

“Because I didn’t wanna be hanging out with your unconscious ass in the middle of nowhere when the MPD showed up.”

Wait, what? Avoiding the MPD meant avoiding her paycheck for tagging me. Unless … “You aren’t a bounty hunter?”

“Hell no. I’m not doing the MPD’s dirty work for them. I’m a smuggler. Basically the opposite of a bounty hunter.”

All that running and projecting and skull cracking for nothing. She hadn’t shown up to capture me; she’d shown up to rescue me. “Did Jenkins send you?”

“Yeah. He knows I dock my boat close to Deep Cove, so he sent me after you when he got your message.”

In light of this new information, Advil suddenly seemed like a fantastic idea. I popped a couple in my mouth and washed them down with the water she’d left me, praying the dose would kick in soon.

Closing my eyes against the outrageous throbbing in my head, I mumbled, “So … who are you?”

“Vera.”

“I’m Kit.”

“I know.”

“Right.” I pressed a hand to my bruised gut. “You’ve got a mean roundhouse, Vera.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” She didn’t sound sorry at all. “I kinda panicked when you tried to run again.”

“And your first reaction was to kick my kidney through my spine?”

She gave a small laugh. “People say violence doesn’t solve anything, but I find it solves a whole helluva lot.” A pause. “So you assumed I was a bounty hunter working for the MPD?”

“Yeah.”

“Hm. Cool monster truck, by the way.”

I didn’t need to open my eyes to pick up on her faint sarcasm. “Thanks.”

“Did you make up the flames on the sides and everything?” Her joking condescension grew more palpable.

“No, I had a toy that looked like that.”

“Cute. So, you’re an illusionist?”

“It’s more like a hallucination.”

“Meaning I was the only one who saw your super-rad monster truck?” she asked, continuing her playful derision.

“Yeah.”

She went silent, so I opened my eyes to find her zoned out. Her gaze was focused on something distant, which was odd because nothing in this tiny room could be considered distant. Was she having a seizure?

“Are you okay?”

She blinked a couple of times and her eyes refocused. “Sorry, what?”

“What were you doing?”

“Seeing.”

“Seeing … what?”

“The future. I’m a seer.”

Ohhh. That explained a lot. Seers, as Rigel had once longingly explained, could see several seconds to several minutes into the future. That might not sound like a lot, but a twenty-second heads-up could save your life in a whole lot of sticky situations.

It also explained how she’d known my monster truck wouldn’t smoosh her, and where I would run. Split Kit wasn’t so useful if she could foresee that my duplicate would disappear.

“What did you see?” I asked warily.

“Nothing interesting, which means we don’t have to worry about unwanted guests. Not for the next five minutes, at least,” she added. “I’m guessing you’re not hoping for a reunion with the MPD anytime soon.”

That was a safe assumption. I got more comfortable on the bed, my damp clothes squishing unpleasantly. “How do you know Jenkins?”

“We’re in the same guild. He kicks the odd client over to me and I give him a cut if it turns into anything.”

“You have clients?”

“What do you think you are?” She noticed my hesitation. “That’s what you need, isn’t it? Someone to help you get the hell out of here?”

“Uh, yeah.” And I’d already pieced together how the next part of our conversation would go. If Jenkins was getting a cut, that meant Vera expected payment for helping me—which was a problem, because even if I’d had my wallet, the contents of my bank account now belonged to the MPD.

She sighed. “You don’t have any money, do you?”

“I’m a fugitive on the run. What did you expect?”

“I don’t do charity work.”

“Not even for fellow MPD-hating mythics on the run and in dire need of assistance?”

She crossed her arms. Looked like a “no.”

“Maybe we can work something out?” I was grasping at straws, but if Vera bailed on me, I was back at square zero without a dry pair of underwear to my name. “I’m sure we can come to an arrangement. Quid pro quo. You know.”

“Quid pro quo?”

“It means—”

“I know what it means. What can you offer me?”

“What do you need?” I asked, sounding exponentially more confident than I felt. “Maybe I can hook you up with a shiny new hallucination, and in return, you can ship me a long way away from here.”

Her lips pursed thoughtfully, and I tried not to look too hopeful. I would give her an entire bucketful of projections, hallucinations, and whatever else I could conjure up if it got me out of this mess. It’s not like it would cost me anything to dream up an imaginary dragon.

“All that dual shit you pulled when you were running was kinda impressive.” She eyed me. “I bet you’ve got a lot of those tricks up your sleeve.”

“Oh yeah, tons of them. Up my very wet sleeve. You saw the monster truck.”

“A glorified Hot Wheels toy?” she scoffed. “You can do better than that.”

Going after my pride, was she? A good tactic, but I didn’t let her aggravate me. “I could put you in the middle of a monster truck jam right now, if that’s what you’re looking for. The whole deal. You know, the ‘Sunday, Sunday, Sunday, you pay for the whole seat, but you’ll only need the edge’ type thing.”

Creating a full-fledged hallucination with no basis in reality, set in a dreamed-up location with moving pieces and sound, was a tall order. Too tall for me. But I wasn’t going to tell her that.

“I might have something you can help me with,” she mused, “if you’re willing to do what I ask.”

“And what is that?”

“You’re gonna help me rob an artifact dealer.”

I squinted, wondering if I’d misheard. She’d said the words as though they were no big deal. “Say what now?”