32

A Ferret One Step Behind

RINGËD

The train whistled in the echoing station, and I scarfed down the sandwich I’d ordered from the built-in eatery.

Kurn’s furry head dipped and twisted at me, the feral ferret snickering like he was the saddest Gods damned thing on the planet. “<Awful butler…!>” he cried in his breathy language, rolling onto his back and flailing his stubby paws in a pathetic tantrum. “<Sadistic, terrible, cruel, ruthless, callous…!>”

“’oo had ‘oor haff,” I said between chews, waving the sandwich at the discarded crusts and lettuce pieces the little bastard didn’t even finish. I swallowed. “That was more than enough.”

“<I’m a growing exiled-emperor!>” he complained and rolled on his belly, flopping flat onto the table in a pout. “<I need to keep up my energy if I’m going to keep living on this bi-pedal rock long enough to find my home planet and take back my empire!>”

I snorted a laugh. “Right. Well, in the meantime, you can wait another five hours like a normal feral.”

He squeaked. “<Horrible, selfish, ugly…!>”

I rolled my eyes—

—I know her.

I froze in my seat, my Third Eye opening as a vision slammed through my brain.

My point of view fell away, and I now looked through someone else’s eyes, the station disappearing, the chatter and train whistles dimming into silence. They were replaced by terrified screams, Necrofera scrambling through the streets like skeletal globs of tar.

I Bloody know her…! The thought was a mix of elation and panic. The narrator’s feet spurred into motion as he sliced the demon pinning down his Sister Reaper.

The vision faded, my point of view coming back.

The tiled floors and echoing ceiling of Lindel’s eastern train station dripped back to my attention, and I let my shoulders relax, exhaling hard.

That must have been yesterday. I’d seen that on the news earlier. But this had been through his eyes. Again.

I buried my head in my hands, groaning. “Bloods, Kurn, I have to find them before something else happens. Maybe these visions will leave me the Bloods alone when I actually meet them in…”

I paused, touching my face with my fingers; my fingers that had been empty after I came out of that vision; my fingers that hadn’t been empty before I went into it.

“Kurn…” I growled, looking for the furry bandit and not seeing him on the table anymore. “Where is my sandwich?”

I swung my head under the table.

Kurn was huddled at my feet, chewing on the last of my deli ham, a piece of lettuce laying between his ears like a hat of shame. He noticed me and squeaked, scurrying away.

“Oh, no you don’t!” I grabbed him by his long belly and yanked him to my face. “What did I Bloody say about stealing my food?”

The ferret squirmed and wriggled in my hold, frantically blubbering. “<Y-you usually don’t come out of those visions for another five minutes!>”

“This was a short one.” I kept hold of him and slung my bag over my shoulder, storming out of the station. “Come on, you fat little bastard. We’ve got to find that Grimling.”