He was a survivor, someone who’d learned to fight in order to live. In every movement of his body, the twitch of muscles and the way his eyes seemed to watch everything and nothing, I knew he was no pansy ass.

Which only meant one thing at the moment, and that was that I would be keeping my weapons up. “The blade is mine. I thank you for removing it from the Undine, but I want it back.”

He smiled and shook his head. “You don’t even want to introduce yourself?”

I frowned. “No.”

His eyebrows went up. “Well, I do. I think we are going to have to deal with one another at some point, you know.”

The words didn’t make any sense. Not really. Surprising me, he flipped the chakram toward me, and it buried into the ground about three feet in front of me. I didn’t move toward it.

“Why would I have to deal with you exactly?”

“I’m glad you asked . . . Ash.” He smiled. I did not.

The only explanation for him knowing who I was . . . for how he’d sent the second Undine away without a fight . . . was that he was a Spirit user. Like Lark. Like Raven. Like Cassava had been when she’d held the pink diamond. I flicked my eyes quickly to his hands but saw no diamond.

“Ah, good. You understand what I am then. You’re a quick study.” He nodded. “My name is Talan.”

Norm walked out before I could stop him and clapped a hand on Talan’s shoulder. “I’m Norm, and we,” he pointed a thick finger at me, “are going to pull a great prank.”

Talan laughed, but I still didn’t relax my stance. I didn’t trust him. That he was here at this moment told me he’d been following me. In my world, in my experience, I did not believe in coincidences of this magnitude. He was looking for me.

But why?

“What do you want?” I took a step, and then another, until I was standing almost on top of the circular blade. If I had to move fast, I wanted it close.

“I want to discuss someone. I want to ask you about Larkspur.”

Hearing her name on his lips sent a chill through me as surely as if I’d been tossed back into the raging ocean. “Why?”

“Because she is like me. She can use Spirit and . . . that intrigues me.”

I did not like the sparkle in his eye when he spoke about her. Every instinct in me told me to run him through now before he tried to steal her away from me. That thought alone made me pause and I shook my head. Jealousy was not my game, it never had been. Not even while Cactus chased Lark, using his childhood connection to her to press his advantage.

“Stop messing with my head, Talan, or I’ll tell my friend Norm there to strangle you.” Norm grinned at me.

Dutifully and with a speed that belied his size, Norm’s big hand went around Talan’s neck before the elemental could even blink. The Yeti was fast when he wanted to be. Good to know.

“You want me to pop his head off?” Norm flexed his hand.

Talan struggled and clung to Norm’s solid arm as his face turned red. The Yeti held him tightly enough to keep him from speaking.

“No. Don’t pop his head off. He’s not a flower.”

I put both swords away and picked up the circular blade, reattaching it to my belt. Norm held Talan easily and I realized something. Talan was letting him manhandle him. From where I stood, I could see the handle of a blade on Talan, well within his reach, just peeking out from behind him. But he didn’t go for it.

Again, why? Why would he put himself in harm’s way?

“Norm, let him down.”

The Yeti did as I asked, and Talan gasped for breath. “Quite the grip on him.”

I was done with this. “What game are you playing, Spirit Walker? I have no time for it, so either tell me or leave me to the task I have at hand.” I motioned for Norm to come back close to me. If I had to, I would make a leap through the Veil, away from this Talan and his ability to twist my mind. I’d had enough of that particular brand of worm shit while Cassava had been the queen. More than enough.

“I . . .” He cleared his throat at the same time as he rubbed at it. “Not a game I set in motion, Ender. I am trying to see the pieces the same as you are. Cassava, Raven, Larkspur, you, and I. We are the puzzle pieces. The rest, I am not sure. If there even are any others.”

His words rang true, and I knew in my gut it had nothing to do with Spirit being used on me. Or at least, I was hoping. Was Talan on our side? Or Cassava and Raven’s?

If he’d wanted to kill me, I suspected he could have by simply setting Norm on me with a command and then come in for the final blow himself while I was busy fending off the Yeti. At least, that was what I would have done. And I could already see that Talan’s mind was that of a fighter. A warrior who did not sit on the sidelines.

Even if he hid it behind a soft human exterior.

“And what do you want to know of Larkspur?” I kept my voice even.

“You love her.” It was a statement, not a question. I nodded.

Talan cleared his throat and rubbed it one last time. “Then you and I are on the same side, Ash. I want to help her, but . . . she has to be ready to be taught. Willing to learn.”

“Learn what?”

“How to control Spirit, how to use it so she can do what she was born to do.”

I didn’t like the way he was speaking. Like Lark was just a tool to him. “Why don’t you just go talk to her? She’s in the desert, alone. Perfect time to sit and chat.”