The effects of Pass Without Trace are subtle from the inside, but not completely unnoticeable. Tech's wandering gaze might find the odd way that the lingering smoke from the explosion and shadows cast from the ruins of the buildings seem to start clinging to them, the fact that he doesn't seem to be leaving behind any footprints or disturbing any dust or grass as he walks, how the eyes of the soldiers seem to gloss over them as they scan the room. It's precisely this perceptive redirect that makes Codi so fond of the spell. Pure invisibility is an option, of course, but it almost feels too abrupt - like trying to get out of an argument with a hammer to the face. People will recognize invisibility, and there are counters for it.

Pass Without Trace, though? It's like the perfect distraction, so cleanly executed that they don't even remember that she was there. Case in point: Once Codi and Tech leap away from the building, the soldiers tailing them don't even follow them to the edge. Experience tells Codi that the easiest way to lose people with this spell is to hide in a crowd, so she (perhaps counterintuitively) heads for the thickest mass of fighters, right where the two sides are starting to clash heaviest. Bullets fly and laser rounds shriek past her head, but none of them are aimed at her and Tech, and no one seems to be paying attention to the fact that they've joined.