So I guess I'm some kind of mentor now.

That feels weird, considering I've only been with the Seekers for a few months myself.

Hell, I've only been alive a few months myself.

And I definitely don't feel like I have my shit together well enough to have my own apprentice.

But I'm the first mosaic the seekers managed to get on their side, and Shan's the second, so that's the situation.

Me and them have been spending a lot of time together lately.

It's been interesting.

Kind of nice, having another non-human to talk to.

No offense to all you humans out there.

This is Spines. Today was my first mission showing Shan the ropes.

It feels weird, but I stopped to think about it, and I guess I have been doing a lot of missions lately.

Here's how it usually works.

Miranda gets a call from a seeker in some other part of the country.

Most of them have gifted people they keep an eye on.

Whoever calls says either some of their specimens have gone missing or that something else is weird.

And that's when we know someone from the splinter has tried to create a mosaic. And that's

when Miranda sends me in. About Miranda. She does her best not to look like a cold-blooded head of a secret organization, but that's exactly what she is.

She'll do whatever it takes to stop the splinter. If she has to kill half the planet to get there, she'll do it.

Or, more accurately, she'll try to have me do it. Hopefully it won't come to that. Back to this most recent incident.

In this case, Miranda's people zeroed in on the exact spot pretty fast. It was kind of an obvious

choice. A compound of weirdos following some warped new religion made it by some bearded dude with four

wives. I'm sure you can guess which state this was in, but if you need a hint, it starts with a tea.

...