Third was sitting on her chest.

Raleigh blinked. “Did I black out again?”

The girl was watching their surroundings. Sunshine was a market area, and people were still busy about their days even with the berth they were giving the evidence of a fight and the two women loitering in the midst of the mess.

Third glanced down at Raleigh, shook her head, and slipped onto her own feet.

Raleigh got up carefully, considering their surroundings, but it was the same place she remembered going to sleep—where Third had stopped her earlier. She was a bit puzzled to find that StretSec was nowhere to be seen. Sunshine was a decent part of town. Decent enough that StretSec should’ve been willing to show up, anyway.

Raleigh started folding up the cot she’d used, and the stallkeeper Third had rented it from came over.

“Thanks again,” Raleigh said.

The stallkeeper didn’t look at her, just kept his gaze on Third—and didn’t accept the cot back until after the girl gave a little nod.

How did he know her? He didn’t move as if he was from a universe like Third’s or Janni’s…

The tenor of the crowd changed as someone strode their way. The shopkeeper noticed and ducked back behind his stall before TamLin broke through, decked out in the gear that proclaimed him to be a StretSec officer, prepped for a violent takedown.

So StretSec knew enough to make sure he handled folks from other somewhens. Was that reason for relief or for concern?

Considering how he’d treated her Nameless roommate, the day before, Raleigh grimaced.

Rather than coming up with some bullshit reason to beat on Third, TamLin strode up to Raleigh, herself. “When did you wake up?”

Third must’ve called him or somehow filled him in.

“Just a minute ago.”

The man’s ever-present frown deepened.

“What dur of sleeper did you take?” asked a woman Raleigh took a moment to identify.

“…Kasy?” Raleigh asked, startled. She’d met Kasy yesterday, and the woman showed obvious signs of getting put through breeder drugs. An innocuous-looking man was at her side. “This the pimp?”

The man recoiled. “Wh—what? No!”

How did someone that slow on the uptake recognize what was going on with Kasy?

“Misha, this is a friend of…”—Kasy looked at Third for a long moment, then turned back to Misha—“Lin’s ex.”

Misha blinked at TamLin. “You have an ex?”

“He will,” Kasy said, “as soon as he or his fiancée breaks off the betrothal. It isn't as if they’re gonna go through with the wedding.”

Anger flashed across TamLin’s face, but he just turned to Third, yanking something from his belt and tossing it to her. “Well? What dur was it?”

The girl easily caught the item—a regen shot. “A four.”

A four-hour duration on the sedative, Raleigh realized, finally figuring out what they were talking about.

TamLin scrutinized Third’s injuries, gaze narrowing.

Third nonchalantly but competently broke the seal on the shot. She jabbed it into the lymph node behind the ear closer to the darkening eye. Shots and patches each worked great, but for different types of injuries.

TamLin sighed and pulled something else off his belt from where he’d grabbed the regen shot, with a gesture at Third. The girl adjusted her position, as if obeying a command.

He knelt and rolled up one pantleg, far enough to give access to the regen patch already against her skin. He replaced that patch with a new one. “You gotta take care of that leg.”

Third didn’t so much as tense when TamLin touched her, even though he’d beaten her the day before. She commented, “Sins of our parents.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” he replied, briskly unrolling her pantleg and smoothening it back down.

They held position for all of a second, then abruptly shifted away from each other, mutually uncomfortable.

What was that about? Raleigh frowned.

Third swung back around towards TamLin, a smirk or smile tugging at the edge of her lips. “You know—”

“Second,” TamLin said, voice full of warning.

The insensitivity made Raleigh stare at him. “Second was murdered just yesterday, and you’re threatening Third?”

“Second,” Third said.

“When a member of a clutch dies, the other members’ numbers bump up to remove the gap,” TamLin clarified.

Third nodded. “I was Fourth, once.”

So even the numbers of Nameless were malleable? They truly had no set designation?

Dismay twisted Raleigh’s stomach. At badly as her universe had treated her, at least she had name of her own. “I’m not calling you that,” she said.

No wonder Janni called her Kitten.

Raleigh decided she’d do the same as Kitten—not ‘Third’, and certainly not ‘Second’—shrugged.