I sat up a little straighter and worked the kinks from my shoulders. My mind was settled, my pulse was steady, and my eyes were sharp once more.

I shook the bag around my neck before slipping it back under my shirt. Only a few seeds left. I’d have to restock soon.

We settled back and waited. I thought I heard a few more screams, but the city was coming alive by then and the yells seemed softer than before, so it was hard to tell.

One of Shatters’s men came out to get me just as the ahrami was starting to wear off. By the time I made it back into the warehouse and stood at the Agonyman’s side, the rush had faded completely, leaving me in a less than charitable mood.

“Well?” I said.

Shatters was rinsing his hands and forearms in a large bucket of water that had been set atop a crate. “Gotcher name.”

“And?” I said.

“Amazing how good this feels after a long night,” he said, nodding toward the water. “Ya get warm, working on a man that long.” Shatters glanced at me sideways. “Makes you appreciate the simple things, you know?”

I stayed silent. I suspected I knew where this was going, but I wanted to let him get there on his own.

“Like hawks,” said Shatters. “Hawks are simple things.”

“Oh?”

He nodded. “You want something, you give a person hawks and he gives it to ya. The more you want it, the more money you give him.”

I nodded. This was going where I had thought it would: Shatters was trying to shake me down.

“Pretty simple,” I said. “Except we already agreed on a price.”

Shatters paused as he leaned over the bucket. I noticed that the water had taken on a reddish tint. “This took longer than I expected,” he said flatly. “I figure if something takes that long to get, it’s worth a higher price. A man don’t hold out like Athel did for sheer stubbornness.” He ran a finger through the water. “You want to hear what he had to say, you’ll hatch some more hawks.”