"Hollow," I whispered, and the bird slid up to the beam. "Mark." The little skull clicked once and dropped a pinch of pale powder that wasn't powder at all—moth scale and chalk. It dusted the hooded figure's shoulder as he slipped under the ladder and sprinted for the far grate stair.
He cleared three rungs before a watchman grabbed his ankle and got kicked for the trouble. The hooded man flew up, shoved the wedge, and the grate went with him, clanging in the night. Gone.
"Top?" the captain barked.
"Go," Cael said. Two watchmen pounded back toward the mouth to ring the street bell and circle above. The rest of us held the room. I kept my back to the wall, eyes on corners.
We searched the two we had. Both had the same resin smear on their sleeves and the same leather badge ring sewn inside the cuff. No crest. The inner face of each ring had a tiny notch cut at the same angle. A code. Elara drew it neat on her paper.
