Sprite cursed and started pacing. If she couldn’t get through to Scotty, she didn’t know how to track the rest of his guild. They were sly figures, paranoid, trolling below the radar, careful, avoiding the surface, living their alias lives out of focus.

She knew if Scotty were still on Griffin Isle, he wouldn’t be able to resist the prices at Mioko’s auction. But none of his fellow moles had the same predictable weaknesses.

Sprite fell to her knees and shook Scotty hard. “Wake up, Scotty!” she yelled, slapping him across the face. “You owe me and you’re paying now!”