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more fun in New York, Tokyo…”
    “I know, but London is somewhere to start looking.” A shudder of fear went through him. So it began again, his never-ending duel with his brother.
    “Are you sure you want to find him?” Juliana was a graceful figure, a goddess carved from silver-grey marble. Human, yet something more. “I’m confused. All the time you, and/or Adam, were with him, Mist was dormant. As if you were so hell-bent on not letting Rufus win, you’d rather stay ‘dead’ than let him think he’d found you. You said yourself that you reawakened only when he was safely out of the way. Yet now you want to go looking for him?”
    “I don’t want to. I have to.”
    “Why?”
    His fingertips padded softly on the tabletop. “Wherever he goes, there is trouble and pain and death. I need to stop him.”
    She swallowed. “I must admit, things were somewhat interesting while he was on the scene. Do you remember the trial?”
    Mist nodded. Certain Aetherials had tried to convict Rufus for crimes against both his own race and mortals. They’d failed. Her words woke images of a vast black chamber, a jury of near-invisible figures. Lord Albin of Sibeyla, owl-white in the darkness, was the keenest prosecutor … but Albin had been thwarted. “It was a joke. Even the Spiral Court couldn’t pin him down. Rufus escaped Aelyr justice and now he can’t be touched. He must think he’s invincible.”
    “A frightening thought, but … you should know that all the fight went out of him when he lost Adam. Taking the car was bravado. I think what I’m trying to say is this.” She chopped at the table with the edges of both hands. “You had your brother there , right in front of you, for years on end. He held you, or rather, a person he thought was you, prisoner. Now that you’ve managed to break free, why on earth would you seek him out again?”
    Mist sank back in his chair. “Because the game isn’t over yet. Yes, he imprisoned me, but I wasn’t truly me at the time. Adam was powerless. Things are different now. Rufus has a mountain of debts to pay. Let him feel guilty about my death! He’s done far worse than kill me.”
    Juliana raised her eyebrows. “I’ve heard of sibling rivalry, but this is ridiculous. So what is it now, your turn to kill him?”
    “Oh, I wish I could turn away and forget him, but I can’t. I want the upper hand this time. I’ll be watching him from the shadows, but he’ll never know I’m there.”
    “But how on earth do you ever expect to find him?”
    “In the past, wherever we were, we always found each other in the end.”
    Juliana gave a slight shiver. “How?”
    “I don’t know. We were always both drawn to places where history was being made, or the world changing. We knew each other too well, or perhaps we were simply very predictable.”
    “I’d hardly call either of you predictable.” She gazed at passersby in the street for a few moments, then turned to him again. “Look, here’s a radical thought. How would it be if you let this go? Travel, or settle somewhere, or return to the Otherworld, whatever makes you happy—but forget your brother. Live your own life.”
    Mist laughed. “That sounds tempting. Don’t think I haven’t thought of it.”
    “Is it impossible?”
    “Wherever I go, he’ll find me. That’s why I have to find him first. To end it.”
    Juliana gave him a long, wistful look. “At least stay a few days, first. You’re like a newborn seal. You’ve barely dried off.”
    “I can’t. And you shouldn’t have had to come and rescue me. Some Aetherial I’ve proved to be, unable to survive without human aid. I feel ashamed.”
    “Nonsense. There’s no shame in needing a little help. You can thank me by staying until you’re fully well. Couple of days’ rest in a decent hotel?”
    He shook his head. In his mind he saw mountains stretching away, roads stringing together villages, towns, cities … the idea of hunting Rufus through the