As it turned out, the "they" who met us were slightly different from the allies I expected. Instead of an army of clerks with Glitter at their head, three people waited for us in a dark, narrow, twisty passageway. The first was Glitter, so I'd gotten that much right, but the second was a tall star sprite in white robes that looked somehow familiar. I didn't have time to chase down the memory because there behind them, a little haggard but on her feet, was Aurelia.

She was all right. She wasn't lying bound and unconscious somewhere, all ready for a joint torture session with Flicker. Relief swept through me, so strong my eyes stung.

What a silly way to feel! She was a star goddess, the most powerful single member of our rescue party! Of course she was all right!

I blinked and blinked until my eyes were as dry as Glitter's skin. Then I inclined my head at Aurelia, a regal gesture that was spoiled by my being so much shorter than everyone else. Aurelia. I'm glad you made it out safely.

Not so long ago, she'd have regarded me with suspicion and wasted time searching for the insult that she was sure lay beneath the polite nothing. Not this time. She nodded back at me. "Thanks to the Superintendent of Reincarnation and Accountant First Class White Night."

Aha! That was why the man's robes looked familiar. I'd seen an Accountant once, back when Flicker brought me into the clerks' stairwell in the Bureau of Reincarnation. We'd been on our way to see the Goddess of Life so she could recompense me for Cassius kicking me down a Tier. No, no, I corrected myself, that star sprite hadn't been a full Accountant. She'd been a mere apprentice, and yet, the two lines of black-robed clerks had parted for her as if she were a princess. What had Flicker told me then?

That Accounting was officially a subdivision of the Ministry of Wealth. That it believed its mission was fundamentally misaligned with that of the larger department. That it had been applying to form its own department for centuries.

And I had just proclaimed to all Heaven that I was here to bring True Change.

I know why you came, I thought. I know why you're helping us. Accountant First Class White Night, you want to be the Director of your own bureau, don't you?

I knew exactly what to say to buy both star sprites' loyalty, to bind them to our mission, but it would be far less effective shouted up at them from the earthen floor. Surveying our surroundings, I weighed my options. The passageway was cramped, all exposed stone and raw beams, and nary a pedestal or even a convenient barrel in sight.

Well, needs must. Standing up on my hind feet, I patted Floridiana's leg. When she frowned at the dusty paw prints on her tunic, I stared pointedly at her shoulder.

Her eyebrows lifted. Seriously? I could practically hear her asking. You want to ride on my shoulder? Now?

I cocked my head and stared some more.

With a sigh, she bent and scooped me up in her arms. I climbed onto her shoulder, although it was so narrow that I barely fit. I teetered back and forth in the most undignified manner until I struck on the idea of bracing my front paws on the crown of her head. That had the added advantage of raising me above everyone's eye level. Thus arranged, I gazed down at the others.

The star child clapped with glee. Aurelia shook her head. Glitter's face stayed as sour as ever. White Night's fingers twitched, as if he were sliding beads on an abacus to calculate my weight and the strain I was putting on Floridiana's neck. For her sake, I'd better keep this short.

Thank you, all of you. I met Glitter's, White Night's, and even the star child's eyes, since you never knew when a sneaky miniature spy might come in handy. For rescuing us and bringing us within the walls.

I did debate leaving the cause of my gratitude ambiguous, to avoid specifying the obligation I owed them in case the Accountants quantified it and submitted a bill later. But I'd come this far. I had to trust them. Plus I was already planning to give the Accountants their own Bureau and Glitter control of hers anyway.

We are grateful to meet others who desire True Change in Heaven. For too long, the gods and goddesses in charge have –

"Yes, yes, we know. Better than you," Glitter interrupted.

She wanted me to skip the inspirational message and get to the point? Fine.

We're rescuing Flicker and taking over Heaven. Preferably in that order.

White Night's fingers ticked off invisible beads on his mental abacus. "The odds of success for that order of operations are low. I give it a 32.87% chance of success."

Well, that was a precise number. How did you arrive at that conclusion?

"By taking into account all the relevant laws, rules, regulations, customs, habits, and gods and goddesses involved, not to mention the Heavenly Guard Force. Challenging the Goddess of Life first will lead to an immediate, forceful response from the rest of the Bureaux. A threat to one Director will be seen by the others as a threat to their authority. Their countermeasures will be harsh."

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Unsurprising, and something I should have thought of myself. Something that I would have thought of myself, if I weren't desperate to get to Flicker as fast as possible. I see. In that case, what are the odds of success if we take over Heaven first and then rescue him?

Again, White Night's fingers flicked abacus beads up and down. "I give that sequence a 67.46% chance of success."

I'd been expecting him to say "100%," since if we took over Heaven, we could just issue a pardon. That low?

"There is a chance that Clerk Flicker will not survive that long."

"No!" Golden light flared around Aurelia. "That is unacceptable! I cannot accept any sequence of events that does not have a 100% chance of getting Flicker out alive!"

"Nothing in Heaven or on Earth can be calculated with 100% accuracy," intoned White Night, which sounded like borderline blasphemy to me.

Not even by Lady Fate? I inquired, testing him.

The Accountant's lips twisted in a humorless smile. "Note that I said 'calculated,' not 'divined'."

With political savvy like that, I could actually see him making an effective Director.

"What if we do both at the same time?" For the first time, Floridiana contributed something to the conversation beyond playing pedestal. "What if we split up and some of us rescue Flicker while the rest take over Heaven?"

"Yes!" seconded Aurelia. "What are the odds then?"

We all stared at White Night, who stared back as if incredulous that anyone would pose such an ill-defined question. "That would depend on how, precisely, we implement the takeover."

Everyone's stares (except for Floridiana's) swept up to center on me.

"Piri?" Aurelia asked, her voice full of dreadful hope. "Do you have any ideas?"

But of course. I straightened up further – only to dip as Floridiana's shoulder sagged under my paws. You know me. I am a veritable fount of ideas.

"Yes, but do you have any ideas that will work?" Floridiana gritted out.

Such faith.

Originally, I'd envisioned adapting the near-disaster in Goldhill, when the mob rampaged through the capital, growing in size and wrath until it nearly brought down the South Serican throne. I'd pictured unleashing a horde of star sprites on Heaven, with clerks tearing down palaces and setting warehouses on fire and trampling gods and goddesses through sheer combined body weight.

But now, face to face with two impassive star sprites, I realized that it wouldn't work. I should have guessed from Flicker – from all the clerks I'd interacted with, really – that they'd be too coolly rational to run screaming at the gates of a Bureau, ignoring all risk of injury and death in one moment of glorious, bloodthirsty, mass insanity.

No, that would never work. For any plan to succeed, it had to mesh with the sensibilities of our allies. To draw on their strengths. To be not violent and chaotic – but bureaucratic. My lips peeled away from my teeth in a big fox's grin.

We're going to steal all the seals of office.

White Night's fingers moved so fast that I could hardly track their motion. "That has an 88.88% chance of success."

Still not the guaranteed victory Aurelia wanted, but much better. I tipped my head at her, letting her decide.

She closed her eyes briefly, perhaps debating whether she could live with those odds if they turned against us. A small breath of light puffed out of her nostrils. She reopened her eyes and met mine.

"Let's do it."

For simplicity, we went after the obvious seals first. While White Night sallied forth to the Ministry of Wealth to steal his Director's and Assistant Director's seals, Glitter led us along the back paths towards the Bureau of Reincarnation. Overhead, the Weaver Maidens' cloud still flashed red, bathing Heaven in bloody light, and on the walls, the guards' spear points still bristled against the sky. The Third Prince, however, was nowhere to be seen.

Please let Den and Dusty be all right, I thought. I could have asked White Night to calculate their odds of success – but what would have been the point? They'd already set off, and even if the Accountant had told us they were doomed, we had no way to warn them. Or, well, technically we did, but I didn't think Aurelia was going to abandon her own lover to save Floridiana's.

A tremor ran through the mage's arms, which were wrapped tight around me, clutching me to her chest like a child's rag doll.

They'll be fine, I reassured her. They're probably halfway to the Western Sea by now. Don't be afraid.

Floridiana went stiff. "Who said I was afraid? You're just heavy."

Says the mage who can stamp her arms for physical strength.

"Silence," snapped Glitter from up ahead.

Floridiana bristled, but Aurelia dropped back to murmur, "Clerks are very quiet. They're trained to slip around as if they're not here."

To avoid drawing the gods' attention, most likely. But the gods also preferred to pretend that their servants didn't exist, so I supposed it went both ways.

While I was familiar with how dreary the backside of Heaven looked, Floridiana gawked with increasing disappointment. Behind the broad boulevards and lush gardens where the gods spent their time, the walkways were unpaved and uneven, the buildings squat and featureless. Weeds grew thickly along foul-smelling canals. Shouted curses drifted to us from imp boatmen who poled barges loaded with crates.

Not like how it's described in The Mage's Guide to Serica, huh? I whispered into Floridiana's ear.

My whiskers must have tickled her nose, because she sneezed. Aurelia shot me the same quelling look she'd once aimed at little Cassia Quarta.

I was just opening my mouth to say something, anything, to prove that I couldn't be intimidated so easily, when the star child darted out from between two warehouses. She waved both arms, mouthed Guards! and, for good measure, mimed marching in place.

Glitter stabbed a finger at the closest warehouse. "In."

Aurelia swung the door open and chivvied Floridiana and me inside. As the latch clicked shut behind us, an oath froze us in place. We weren't alone. Who was here? The warehouse had no windows, and in the dim light cast by Aurelia, my weak, mortal eyes could hardly make out shadowy racks of – was it clothing? Robes?

Floridiana dumped me onto the floor. She stamped herself between the eyes and advanced to stand side by side with Aurelia.

Hey! Stamp me too! I want to see too! I wanted to protest, but I feared distracting them.

"Who's there?" Floridiana demanded, seal inked and ready. "Stop skulking and show yourself!"

I winced at the volume of her voice, and I could picture Glitter's mouth puckering up on the other side of the wall. Multiple feet shuffled, and short, hunched figures edged into Aurelia's light.

At the same time, two pairs of boots tramped closer and closer to the warehouse. A guard barked, "Halt! Who goes there?"

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