“I swear he looked like a woman last time.” “His ability must work that way.” Alger did not know what they meant. Their strange looks left him uneasy. Caroline knew none of this. She rode Raven and left the woman's mid-rise building. She stopped hard after she covered a few miles. She threw an ice blade behind her as the air shifted around her. “You tailed me long enough. Show yourself.” Five people stepped out behind her. One of them was the thin man who had traded information for her canned food. He lay on the dirt. His body looked torn apart from a savage beating. He looked close to dying. “This is our gift for you. “We want to talk about a partnership too.” Caroline frowned while she stayed where she stood. She stared at the broken man, and her thoughts spun in jagged circles. “This man wanted to harm you. You can relax. We handled him.” The only woman in the group of four walked over and kicked the thin man again. His breath escaped him in a heavy sound that cut through the air. His body curled inward, and his eyes shut tight as he stayed silent. Caroline didn't even need any more clues. She understood what the man had tried to do. He might have told others about the canned food she traded. He had likely wanted to pull together a few people to steal her supplies or sell the news about her supplies to some powerful ability user. Men like him flooded the world now. She had already known this risk when she traded with him.She had counted on making a deal with the leader later, and she had counted on the leader shielding her inside his territory. Anyone who picked a fight with her again would break the leader's rules. If they did that, they could forget about getting holy water. Caroline glared at the group. Her tone was sharp. “And why exactly should I trust any of you?” The thin man who'd tried to harm her was bad enough, but these strangers weren't much better. She couldn't take their words at face value. If her guess was right, these were the same people who'd been watching when she fought that mutant raccoon earlier. The tall woman stepped forward. She was lean, with a tight ponytail that made her look focused and professional. “Hey. I'm Sharon Stargaze. We're not with this crew here. We belong to another organization nearby. We came to ask the brothers from this place to help us. There's a pack of mutated animals running wild in our territory, and we're offering payment. But the brothers said they can't leave their mom, and we were stuck figuring out what to do. Then we saw you fighting those raccoons with your dog, and we thought maybe you could help instead. Don't worry, we'll make sure you're properly paid.” When Sharon finished, her confident smile faltered. A strange stillness passed over her. What the hell just happened? Why did I spill everything without hesitation? And why did I sound so sinecre? They had planned to haggle with this woman. Their organization wasn't exactly loaded. But she hadn't even tried to negotiate. Instead, something about the woman in front of her felt magnetic. Sharon caught herself thinking that if their group couldn't pay fairly, she'd dig into her own funds to make it right. That scared her to death. And it only got worse. Before she could catch her breath, the other three started talking too. Even the old man—who barely spoke, counted every penny, and never gave anyone a break—started listing their available rewards one after another, like he was reading from a catalog. Then he added, “And if there's anything else you need, we'll make sure you have it.” “Yeah, help us get through this, and we'll all be good friends from here on out.” “Exactly. Partnerships should be pleasant. We've been out here forever and finally met someone who doesn't rub us the wrong way. Of course we'll treat you right. We'd never cheat you.” ...Their voices overlapped, each one rushing to offer more, tripping over the others to please Caroline.