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didn’t let you go. They dragged you off in the middle of the night, and no one ever saw you again. Made you heal the soldiers. Keep the rebellion alive. Fight the Duke. Chase him out of Geveg. Keep the pynvium in Geveg.
    None of it had worked.
    But I was useless to the League, and Geveg had no more soldiers to heal and fight. The League didn’t even know who I was. I rarely spoke to anyone there except Tali, and she wouldn’t reveal me. How could—
    I sucked in breath. The north gate guards. They knew me. They’d seen me run out earlier, scared as a cat.
    I ran the last block to Millie’s Boardinghouse. It sat on the edge of Pond End Canal, not far from where the chicken ranchers tossed their garbage. The view wasn’t bad and the smell kept it cheap. I climbed up the stairs to my room on the third floor.
    My door was pegged shut.
    I was only a day late on my rent. Millie had never pegged me out for being a day late before.
    “You have your rent money?” Millie stood on the landing at the end of the hall, her skinny brown arms folded tight across her chest. The woman had ears to make a bat jealous.
    “I will by this evening, I swear.”
    She tossed her hands up and huffed, then started back down the stairs. “I’ve got your gear. Come get it before I sell it.”
    “Millie, please, give me a few hours. I’ll pay soon as the boats come in.”
    “I have three families wanting the room.”
    “Please, I’m good for it, you know I am. I’ll pay double tomorrow.”
    “Got folks willing to pay that now.” She shoved my clothes basket into my hands, then wiped her palms on her apron. White flour clouds puffed outward. “Go stay with your sister in her fancy dorm room.”
    Millie knew the League did bed checks. She rubbed my nose in it ’cause the League had turned her son away. Not enough talent, they said. Couldn’t heal a scraped knee. He’d even been turned away by the pain merchants, and Takers didn’t need much talent to work there . Some of the new swears I’d learned came to mind, but I stilled my tongue. Millie had the cheapest rooms. Throw me out today, take me in tomorrow, and she’d never think twice about either. She was also the only boardinghouse owner in Geveg who believed me when I said I was seventeen and old enough to rent.
    I shuffled back to the street, my fingers gripping the basket filled with everything I owned. Two shirts, a pair of pants, and three unmatched socks. I lifted my chin. Tears dripped off onto my hands. I had half a day to find work. Maybe I could untangle nets through the night. Barnikoff might let me sleep in his shed if I tidied it up. And there was always—
    Breath died in my throat.
    Saints save me, the fancy man was back.

THREE
    S trength left my legs, and I flopped into the weeds at the edge of Millie’s walk. I sat cross-legged, basket in my lap, chin on the basket. The tears hadn’t stopped, and they dripped tap tap tap on the wicker.
    The fancy man kept watching from across the street. Watched me sit and cry. Open my basket and pull out a sock. Blow my nose on it. Put it back. Watched me watching him. He never moved. I’m not sure he even blinked.
    Gave me shiverfeet.
    “Nya?”
    I yelped. So did the pigtailed girl I hadn’t noticed walk up beside me. A flock of bright waterbirds at lake’s edge took flight, dozens of tiny wings flapping like sheets in a windstorm.
    “Enzie!” I scolded. She’d shared a room with Tali at the League for a while until a bed opened up in the wards’ area, the orphanage part of the League where they took in potential Healers. But I’d never seen her without her League uniform on. She looked more like a little girl with her brown hair bound in ribbons and a simple gray shirt and pants like mine. Hers were newer, though, and didn’t have patches on the knees and elbows. “For the love of Saint Saea, don’t sneak up on folks like that.”
    “Sorry, Nya.” Enzie settled into the weeds beside me. “Tali asked me to give