by Brey Willows
Kody’s smile was gentle. “We’ll make sure to stop there no matter what, okay?”
Brenda jumped down from her chair and headed to the door. “I’m going to hold you to that.” She looked over her shoulder as she was about to leave. “An hour?”
Kody nodded, and Brenda closed the door behind her.
“I owe you an apology.” Kody sat in the seat just vacated by Brenda.
Maggie waited, not wanting to interrupt Kody’s train of thought.
“I had a freak-out last night. Something came up, and it was…unexpected.” Kody’s hand shook slightly when she poured herself a drink. “I don’t want to talk about it, but I’m sorry it meant I wasn’t here all night, and I’m sorry you had to find me that way this morning. I think I got the demons out. It won’t happen again.”
Maggie waited, but it looked like Kody was done. “Okay.”
“Okay? Is that it?” Kody looked surprised.
“No. Not exactly.” Maggie put her hand over Kody’s and felt it jerk in response, but Kody didn’t pull away. “Okay, I accept your apology. We all have stuff to deal with. But I hope that when we really get to know each other, you’ll tell me what it is that haunts you and makes you feel so guilty. We’re going to have a lot of time together, though, so for now…okay.” She yawned and stretched. “I’m going to shower, because I really want to see this marketplace.”
Kody’s expression was contemplative when Maggie went into the bathroom, and she didn’t ask what she was thinking about. She had a feeling Kody would tell her in time, and if there was a repeat performance of last night’s weirdness, she’d face it head-on then. For now, there were other things to think about that certainly didn’t include Fomarian cleavage.
* * *
The marketplace was everything Maggie had thought it would be and so much more. Lanes and lanes of covered market stalls stretched in every direction, sometimes opening up to central squares with tables and chairs under an open sky, only to disappear again into lanes of more shops. Some things Maggie recognized, most she didn’t. Languages of every kind slipped from tongues of creatures she couldn’t place. Kody walked beside her, staying close to her injured arm to keep people from jostling it, even though it was still in a sling. Di had rubbed some neon blue ointment into it that had dulled the pain exponentially.
Although there wasn’t a time limit on what they were there to do, a strange urgency pulsed at the back of Maggie’s neck, pushing her forward, past shops she really wanted to look into, but would have to go back to once she found whatever it was she was looking for. Brenda wasn’t happy and Shamus told her to stop her gurning, which Maggie assumed meant complaining. But Maggie couldn’t slow down, even for Brenda. Because she knew it was here. She could feel it calling to her. Down one lane and up the next, past fabrics with such stunning designs she couldn’t help but stare. But Maggie only stared for a moment. Where was it? What was it? She didn’t know, but she had to find it.
Maggie nearly jumped out of her skin when Kody put her hand on her arm to stop her.
“Wait. Come over here.” She moved into a little side alley that probably acted as a walkway for the vendors. She reached into the pocket of her cargo pants and pulled out the pouch with the key and hag stone in it. She held it open. “It’s burning my leg.”
Maggie reached in and pulled out the key, which was hot to the touch and glowing with a pulsating light. “Well, that’s new.” Experimentally, she turned it one way, and the heat dimmed. She turned it another and it grew warm. She thought of the way she’d used the hag stone in the dream seller’s office and pulled that from the pouch too. She put the stone in her pocket and wrapped her palm firmly around the key, keeping it in the hand held up by her sling. “Let’s go.”
They set off, and Maggie followed the heat of the key in her hand as it led them deeper into the market where the lanes became narrow and the vendors began to look less friendly. The key was almost uncomfortably hot in her hand, but she didn’t let go, anticipation urging her on. She was close…the key flared, and she hissed at the pain in her palm. She stopped and looked around.
It appeared to be a junk shop. Worn, jagged, tired items lined every shelf and most of the floor space. With the sureness of spirit she’d been born with, Maggie knew that what she needed was here, somewhere among the detritus of other people’s lives. She’d always hated going into secondhand and antique stores. They smelled of release and rot, of dusty memories with nowhere to go. This one smelled the same, and Maggie had to swallow against the anxiety that crawled up her spine and into her throat.
She could feel how wild her eyes must look when Kody gently grabbed her upper arms. Shamus, too, pressed himself against her side and rested his head on her hip. His paws kneaded at her knees.
“Hey. We’re here, and it’s all okay.” Kody’s grip was firm, her eyes forcing Maggie to focus.
The anxiety receded enough for Maggie to breathe again. She stroked Shamus’s head, and he nipped at her fingers before dropping to all fours and moving carefully among the items in the shop. Kody waited until Maggie gave her a small smile and nodded before she let go.
“After you, Princess.”
A laugh escaped her, and the rest of the tension fled. “Damn right.” She moved slowly, focusing on the key, but it stayed the same temperature. Boxes of papers, boxes of dishes, boxes of boxes…there was so much there, how would she know what it was?
She very nearly missed the old woman sitting in the back between stacks of glass jars that looked like they could topple over any second. But there was no question the woman had seen her. She followed Maggie’s every move with eagle sharp eyes, only occasionally looking away to watch the others. Brenda was oohing and ahhing over a basket of pretty material she’d found, and Shamus sat batting at a ball on a spring, which made Maggie smile. He was a cat, after all.
Kody, though, wasn’t looking at anything but Maggie. She didn’t crowd her, but she wasn’t leaving her side either. After last night, it felt like both an apology and an acknowledgment of Maggie’s importance, and she found she very much liked it. After another fifteen minutes of fruitless searching, Maggie turned to the old woman.
“Hi. I don’t suppose you have something this key might open?” She held up the key.
The stool the woman was sitting on crashed backward in her haste to get to Maggie. She reached up for the key like she was going to snatch it from Maggie’s hand, but Kody was faster. She put her arm in the way, and the old woman jerked back quickly, frowning.
“I meant no harm, shepherd.” She looked at the key, her eyes wide and the greed in them clear. “I would pay you a great deal of money for that, young woman.”
Kody cleared her throat. “If you know who I am, you know who she is. Don’t play games, witch.”
Witch. Maggie stepped back, moving slightly behind Kody. In New York, that would just be an insult. Here, it could mean being turned into a toad or fattened up for supper. “Do you? Have anything it might unlock.”
The witch’s eyes narrowed, and her thin, flaky lips moved into a sneer. “If you don’t know what to do with it, you shouldn’t have it, child.”
Now, that was an insult. But Maggie didn’t have a chance to think of some witty retort. Kody moved in front of her.
“Your memory seems to have faded, old one. Have you forgotten what it is to have a spinner in your shop?”
The woman cowered and backed away. “Don’t cut my story, shepherd. I meant no offense.” She looked around Kody at Maggie. “That key doesn’t fit any lock, spinner. It’s a metaphor turned literal. It’s a key to your desires, to your needs. They were created by a race older than any of your ancestors, and only a few exist. You have but to think of the object you seek, and the key will guide you to it.”
Maggie caressed the edges. “It brought me here.”
The witch’s gap-toothed smile was forced. “Well, then. What you seek is here. If you want to tell me what it is, I’ll help you look.”
Kody shook her head ever so slightly, but Maggie didn’t know what she was looking for anyway. “I’ll let you know when I find it. Thank you for the information.” The witch moved back to her seat among the precariously balanced bottles, righting her stool and watching every move they made.
Shamus tugged on her shirt, and she bent down so he could whisper in her ear.
“Your stone, lass. If you can use it without her seeing, it would be best. But perhaps that’s the way forward.” He let go of her shirt but not before gently nudging her cheek with his nose.
It was the exact thought she’d had when she’d pulled the two items from her pouch. She turned her back to the witch and felt her friends move up behind her, helping block the witch’s view. She held the hag stone to her eye and looked carefully at the piles of things heaped everywhere. Here and there a few things glowed, but it was as if the remnants of magic were fading from them, lost to time and disinterest. They weren’t what she was looking for. Frustrated and wondering if there’d been some mistake, she moved around a corner to another stack of items jumbled in a huge earthenware vase that looked like something out of ancient Greece. It made her briefly think she needed to read up on Greek fairy tales. She passed the stone over it and didn’t think there was anything there, but she moved back to it when the flicker of a golden glow caught her eye. She reached into the pot and began to rummage through it, careful to keep the stone to her eye so she didn’t miss whatever it was she was looking for.
When she uncovered it, she nearly shouted with excitement. She pulled it free, the glow of it making everything else look like dried mud.
She held it up with a flourish and put the hag stone back in her pocket. Kody grinned, and Brenda waved some brightly patterned material in the air. None of them made a sound, aware the witch would be watching and listening for her chance to gather some information about the spinner. Kody held out her hand, and Maggie handed the beautifully carved wooden paintbrush over. The bristles were long and came to a perfect triangular taper. The handle was carved whorls and designs, and as she traced her finger over them, Maggie knew they meant something special. It couldn’t have been a better find. It felt almost…made for her.
Kody leaned close. “Keep looking. Get frustrated.”
Maggie nodded her understanding and continued walking around the shop. It was easy to look disinterested since she wasn’t interested in anything else the witch had to sell. With a sigh, she ran her hands through her hair and shrugged once she was back in the witch’s sight. She turned to her group and said loudly, “I don’t get it. I can’t find whatever it is I’m supposed to want. We’ll have to try again another day. Maybe I’ll know what I want before we come.”
The witch came forward. Brenda handed her some money for the fabric she’d found, but the witch didn’t stop looking at Maggie. “Perhaps you should search longer. Spinners are supposed to be patient, aren’t they?”
Maggie raised an eyebrow and stepped forward. “I’m not that kind of spinner.”
Kody laughed and pulled her back. “There will be time for that later. Let me buy this, and then we’ll go get some food. I’m starving.”
She held up the paintbrush, careful to conceal most of the decorative handle in her hand. The witch barely glanced at it. “It’s good you have time to paint. I’m sure it will put everyone’s mind at ease, shepherd.” If words were venomous, Kody would have been dead. She waved her hand at the paintbrush. “Take it as a token of my appreciation for you visiting my shop. When the key leads you back, perhaps you’ll stay long enough to find your heart’s desire.”
“Do you have any money I could have? A small amount,” Maggie asked Kody softly.
Kody reached into her pocket and pulled out a few coins. Maggie took them and turned to the witch, who stood watching warily. “Thank you for the information about the key and for the keepsake.” Maggie held out the coins, and the witch took them in a blink.
Just as they were about to return to the labyrinth of shops, Maggie had a thought. She turned back and called to the witch. “Can the key lead me to people as well as objects?”
The witch’s laugh was knowing and harsh. “Just objects. The people you have to find yourself.”
Maggie nodded and took Kody’s hand as they moved back into the maze once she tucked the paintbrush into the sleeve of her sling, where she could feel it like a living thing against her forearm.
She was ready for some time to think and definitely ready for some food. More than that, she realized she was ready to go home.
Chapter Twenty-two
It was late in the day, and the market was wall-to-wall people. Maggie held tightly to Kody’s hand, but the jostling and press of the throng was making her want to lash out. She felt the tug on the back of her shirt as either Brenda or Shamus hung on to keep from getting separated as well, and there was some comfort in knowing she had someone she trusted both in front of her and behind her. The smells from earlier that had been so enticing were now too intertwined with the scents of the creatures around her, making it nauseating. She concentrated on getting to an open square so she could breathe again and fought back the mounting anxiety by staring at Kody’s back as they moved through the crowd.
A particularly hard jostle shoved her sideways, and she lost her grip on Kody’s hand. Another jostle from behind, and again from another direction, and she was both turned around and confused. Her pulse raced in her throat and sweat began to bead on her forehead and neck. There was no tugging on her shirt. She was alone.
She forced herself to think. Like the night she’d run down the stairs to defend Lacona with a baseball bat, she dug into the need to set things right. If she’d been separated from Kody, then Kody could be in trouble. She used it, let it fuel her, and thought of Brenda’s map. She turned against the tide and used a lamppost to boost herself up enough to see over the heads of the crowd. Kody said to go down one of the tunnels to the end and it would lead to the circular walk. She could just make out a slip of light at the end of the row she was on, so she jumped down and started that way, trying to stay close to the wall and out of people’s way.
Someone was watching. Something wasn’t right. The hairs rose on her neck and arms as that feeling came over her. But what was she supposed to do about it? She moved as fast as she could, the sense of danger growing.
When the pain stabbed through her side, it wasn’t a surprise, but it was agonizing.
She cried out and fell against the wall, holding an area that was already wet with her blood, just above her hip. Did they mean to kill her? Or just injure her? She didn’t want to wait to find out, and as she scanned the faces around her, none looked particularly interested or threatening. She pushed off the wall and moved forward, holding her side and praying she wouldn’t pass out. Our connection. She focused her thoughts, and then her fear, and thought of Kody, picturing it a lot like a Wi-Fi signal. It might not work, but she had to try.
The slip of light was far brighter. So close. She pushed past people and stumbled into the open air. She breathed deeply and looked both directions. She had no idea which way the food vendor’s stall was, but she had to choose quickly. The key. She tugged it out of her pocket and thought of the stall, and it grew warm when she turned to the left. She tucked it back in her pocket, not wanting to take the chance of losing it if she fell, and set off. She was barely fifty feet from where she started when silence fell behind her like the world had been put on pause. She spun around and desperately wished she had that old baseball bat.
A creature stood in the middle of the pathway. It had a snake-like face, complete with fangs dripping disgusting yellow stuff. Slick, inky eyes stared at her as a forked tongue flickered in its open mouth. Silver glinted in its clawed hand, a blade already slick with blood. Maggie’s blood.
The tang of fear nearly made her gag, but there was something else building, too. Indignation. How dare this creature attack her? How dare anything in this world turn on her when she didn’t have a
choice in the matter, when she was there to help people? She straightened and stared the creature down. “You want me? Come on, avocado face.”
It moved forward, slowly at first, then with increasing speed. Maggie did the only thing that came to her. She pulled the paintbrush from her sling and pointed it at the creature. In the air, she drew a circle and a slash through it, picturing them both clearly.
The creature didn’t make a sound as his head fell from his shoulders and rolled to a stop at Maggie’s feet, black ooze pooling around its body a few feet away where it had dropped to the ground.
Maggie’s arm shook, and she stumbled backward, unable to look away from the gruesome visage of the creature’s dead eyes.
She gasped when she bumped into someone and jerked around, lifting the paintbrush again.
“Whoa now.” Kody raised her arms. “I’m on your side.”
Maggie couldn’t speak, and she just stared at Kody wide-eyed. Kody looked over her shoulder and her eyebrows lifted, though she didn’t look terribly bothered. Somehow, that helped.
“Revolting creatures, aren’t they? Some of the females are kind of pretty, with scales that look like an oil slick.” She put her arm around Maggie’s shoulders and started to pull her away.
“Wait.” Maggie stopped and looked back. “Don’t we have to do something? Wait for the authorities?”
Kody laughed and shook her head. “Mags, there were creatures down every row who saw what just happened, and believe me when I say no one is going to report the death of a bane viper who was trying to kill a spinner.”
Brenda and Shamus arrived from opposite ends of the circular route, Shamus from behind the snake thing’s body, and Brenda from behind Kody.
Brenda peeked around Kody’s hip and whistled. “Wow. Someone is serious if they’re sending those out. That’s like saying shoot to kill in the US.”
Kody rapped her on the top of her head, and Brenda frowned, rubbing the sore spot.
