“It’s not just camouflage.” I looked down at my watch. In a few minutes, the Market entrance would arrive. “The Shroud actually phases out of this plane and remains in-between planes.”
“Like a plane weaver.” She looked back to where I parked the bike. “But if you can’t cast—”
“Who said I can’t?” I placed my hand on the door handle. “I choose not to.”
“Right.” She looked around the empty promenade. “It has nothing to do with you accelerating an entropic dissolution every time you use magic. That must be a coincidence. How did you manage to cast that spell? It requires at least two mages.”
I glared at her. “Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?”
“Only those trying to avoid the subject.”
“I was the lucky one.” My thoughts raced back to Jade. “In the end I had to finish it—alone.”
“Stryder, don’t lie to me,” she said, and stared back. “I either work with you or I face retirement. This is no picnic for me. If you drop dead because you’re too stupid to live—I go back to Hades. This isn’t just about you.”
“Which could still happen,” I said, angry at being confronted. “This”—I waved my hand between us—“isn’t permanent, you know.”
“Listen, let’s not waste each other’s time.” She crossed her arms and blocked the door. “If you want me gone, just say the word and I’m a memory. I can always go underground and off-grid.”
“Off-grid. From Hades?” I shook my head. “You do realize Hades is a god? One of the old ones?”
“I can do it.” Her confidence sounded shaky at best. “No one will find me.”
“Because your body will be scattered in the wind,” I muttered. “There won’t be much left to find.”
“I have a way.” She stared at me with her arms crossed. “There’s a way to do it.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” I stared at her hard. “There is nowhere you can hide from Hades or Corbel. They call him the ‘Hound of Hades’ for a reason and it’s not because he’s cute and cuddly.”
“I’m resourceful,” she said. “There are places they won’t find me.”
“Sooner or later he will.” I shook my head at her naiveté. “And once he does, he’ll ghost you in a heartbeat.”
I remembered the last agent Hades retired. I pushed the image from my mind. No one deserved that kind of retirement.
“At least with him I know where I stand, instead of your passive-aggressive bullshit,” she said, pointing at my chest. “You agreed to help me or I wouldn’t be here. Own it and let’s move on.”
I looked at her in mild shock. I could see why Hades wanted to unload her. She was a monumental hemorrhoid.
“Did you speak to Hades or Corbel like this?”
“Like what?” she said, looking at me innocently. “This is how I speak.”
“You either have a deathwish or are good at what you do.”
“I’m not good—I’m the best,” she said, looking away. “At least I was.”
“Nevermind. You’re here, we’ll make it work. Now shut up, let me concentrate, and get out of my way.”
I took off my glasses and focused on the door. I couldn’t cast without agonizing pain, but I could direct small amounts of magic to activate the Market locks. I placed my hand on the door and let a trickle of energy flow. An aftertaste of lime flooded my tongue.
“Fine,” she said, holding her hands up in mock surrender. She stepped to the side and looked at the small building. “This place looks a little small for any kind of market.”
“It’s bigger on the inside.” I felt the shift in energy as the entrance arrived. “Especially now.”
A bright light flashed at the edges of the door for half a second. I turned the handle and motioned for her to enter. I followed into a large foyer. Even though I no longer wielded magic actively, the door could read my runic signature. If anyone besides a magic-user opened the door, the inside of the maintenance shack was all they would see.
We stood in Market Central. The entire market was arranged as a wheel formed of seven concentric circles.
“I’ve heard of these places,” Koda said, looking around. “This is a time and relative dimension in space pocket, right?”
“Something like that, only a little more complicated,” I said as we entered the building in front of us. “Tessa keeps it shifting in the interstices of a few seconds. Don’t ask me how. All I know is that she’ll have the answers about the defective rounds.”
This building, which also doubled as Tessa’s main office, acted as the hub of the wheel. The seven rings were arranged in order of influence and power.
The higher ranked magic-users inhabited the rings closest to the hub. The two outer rings were a no-man’s land. Exploring the outer rings meant one of two things: you were there to be killed or to do some killing. There was one law in the Market. Only the strong, clever, and ruthless survived. I was all three.
A short woman approached us. She was dressed in a casual business suit, and she held a clipboard. Her nametag read Eileen.
“Welcome, Mr. Stryder. How can we serve you today?”
“I need to speak to Tessa.”
The woman checked her clipboard and shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry. Ms. Wract is busy in meetings until the end of the day,” Eileen said apologetically. “Perhaps I could schedule for another day? Do you need to purchase some ammunition?”
I kept my frustration in check and smiled. It wasn’t my fault my facial muscles weren’t used to the expression. Eileen took a step back, and I stopped trying to be friendly.
“A rummer nearly disemboweled me because I had to use three LIT rounds to put it down—rounds that I bought here.”
“Three?” Eileen asked with a look of surprise. “Are you certain you didn’t just miss the first two times?”
Koda snorted next to me, giving me a smug look and an ‘I told you so’ shrug.
“I don’t miss,” I said, irritated. I glanced at Koda. “Unless it’s on purpose.”
“I meant no disrespect, Mr. Stryder,” Eileen answered quickly. “It’s just that we sell top of the line munitions. Three rounds to stop a Redrum user…seems excessive.”
“Imagine the reaction when I start telling the other Wardens that the Market is selling defective ammunition,” I lied. The other Wardens would probably shoot first and not bother with questions if I ever approached them, but Eileen didn’t know that. “I would expect sales to drop a bit, wouldn’t you?”
“I’ll contact Ms. Wract,” Eileen said, pulling out a phone. “Please give me a moment. Would you be so kind as to wait in the reception area?”
“Good idea.” I looked in the direction she pointed.
Eileen directed us to an open area with tables and large sofas. A few desks were situated against the walls. Behind one large desk stood another woman dressed in an identical suit Eileen wore.
“Can’t you get these rounds somewhere else?” Koda asked as we moved over to the main reception space. I settled into one of the large leather sofas. “What’s the big deal?”
“It takes me an extra three seconds to fire three rounds instead of one.” I scanned the reception area. “Three seconds can be the difference between walking away and bleeding out in a dirty alley. Not dying is a big deal to me.”
“Not if you hit it the first time,” she said with a smile. “You know—don’t miss?”
“Don’t say a word when Tessa arrives, understand?”
“Why not?”
“Get this now,” I said with an edge, “Tessa doesn’t have friends. She only cares about two things—Tessa and the Moving Market. The sooner you learn that, the longer you’ll last in here. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” Koda said, sitting in one of the chairs. “I won’t ask if they sell laser sights here—you know, to help with accuracy. Not that you need it, of course.”
I grabbed a paperclip from one of the desks in the reception
area. The space was done in minimalist art deco, with plenty of wood and stone surrounding the open area in the center. The subtle smell of lavender made me notice the vases filled with flowers on several of the wall stands.
I straightened out the clip and flung it at her. To her credit, she dodged it effortlessly. “I thought you didn’t miss?” she said with a raised eyebrow. “Maybe they carry those prescription reading glasses here?”
“I didn’t miss.” I heard the door whisper open, but I didn’t turn. “Remember what I said.”
“Hello, Grey,” said a voice from behind us. “It’s good to see you again.”
I stood and turned to face Tessa Wract—the new overseer of the Moving Market. She wore an expensive black Chanel pantsuit, which contrasted starkly against her white hair, giving her a dignified presence. Looking at her always reminded me of Helen Mirren, except with an extra dose of menace. She was slightly taller than Koda, but still stood under my chin. She gave me a pleasant smile, glanced over at Koda to assess any potential threat, and quickly dismissed her.
Her piercing hazel eyes shimmered with violet power as I took her hand and hoped Koda knew the meaning of restraint. Tessa was a time-weaver. It meant she could keep the Moving Market…moving. Not only did she slip it in-between planes, she was also powerful enough to move it through time. If she didn’t want you to find the market, you didn’t.
Before running the Market, she’d had some unpleasant run-ins with mages working for the Dark Council. The last incident placed her in the current position of Market Overseer.
The rumors were that she had temporally stranded a mage in a conscious time loop who’d dared insult her. It forced the mage to repeat the same thirty seconds of his castration. She kept him there until he went mad, then she killed him.
It’s obvious why I didn’t want to piss her off.
“Tessa, the pleasure is always mine,” I said.
She stepped back and looked me over. “You’re looking well, Grey. I do wish you would let me get you a proper coat. This coat”—she gestured up and down at my duster—“makes you look like some wizard-for-hire from the Midwest.”
“This was a gift from Aria.” I pulled on my coat protectively. “She would be insulted if I replaced it.”
Not to mention that I would be defenseless in what I considered hostile territory. She had been after my coat since Aria created it for me.
“I see it doubles as a runed holocaust cloak.” Tessa narrowed her eyes at me. “Do you run into many dragons on your nightly patrols?”
“No, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“Very well,” she said after a moment. “Let’s discuss your matter in my office. Please bring your guest.”
We followed her across the reception area. She stopped to remove the paper clip I thrown earlier.
“Grey,” she said with a sigh, “I hire people for this sort of thing.” She placed the clip in my hand. I held it up and handed it to Koda. Skewered on the end of it was a large fly. “Could you please refrain from target practice?”
The look on Koda’s face was worth Tessa’s chastising. We left the reception area as Tessa placed a hand on the wall. A section slid back and we entered her office.
Tessa’s office was a large, expansive area. Neat stacks of paper covered her behemoth Parnian desk. Set in front of it were two large leather chairs. The walls were bare, except for a large reproduction of Dali’s The Persistence of Memory. A smaller version of the same work sat on her desk.
“Nice reproduction,” I said, admiring the piece on her desk.
“That’s the original. The reproduction is on the wall.” Tessa sat behind her desk. “I went back and had Salva paint me that one.”
“I thought the original was in MoMA?” I sat in one of the large chairs facing her. Koda sat in the other. Upon closer inspection, I realized I was sitting in a Dragons armchair. “Is this a—?”
“Did you come here to catalogue my office furniture?” Tessa said with a tight smile. “Or threaten the Market with exposure for subpar merchandise?”
“Eileen wasn’t cooperating, and I needed to speak with you.”
“Don’t threaten my staff or the Market—ever,” she said, and sitting back in her chair. “You have no idea what I’ve had to do after Nick got himself removed for dealing with Blood Hunters. The last thing I need are baseless threats. Clear?”
“Completely,” I said with an edge in my voice. Tessa was no slouch, and in a fair fight, she would be difficult to confront. We had an ongoing détente because she knew I never fought fair. “Maybe you can explain why it took three rounds instead of one to put down a rummer?”
“May I see your weapon?” She held out her hand and turned to Koda. “And who is this young woman?”
I unholstered Fatebringer and placed it on her desk. Tessa rarely asked a question she didn’t know the answer to. This was a test.
“Her name is Koda.” She ejected the round in the chamber and slid Fatebringer back to me. I left it on the desk. “Used to work for Hades as a cleaner, I’m guessing.”
“I’m thinking she did more than just cleaning,” Tessa speculated. “Koda?” Tessa examined one of the rounds closely. “As in granddaughter of Kano the Fan, of the infamous Hand of Fate?”
I saw Koda stiffen, clench her jaw, and nod. Tessa glanced up at her reaction and smiled.
“Surprised?” Tessa asked, standing the round on the desk and waving her hand over it. It separated into several components. “Don’t be. Kano was a fierce friend and fiercer fighter. Though I don’t think he would’ve been pleased to find you working for Hades.”
“She doesn’t,” I said quickly. “At least not anymore.”
Tessa raised an eyebrow at my words and nodded when I didn’t elaborate. “A granddaughter of Kano can only mean you wield the tessen,” Tessa said, leaving me confused. “Do you have them?”
Koda hesitated and glanced at me. I nodded. She gestured and produced two slim, rectangular pieces of metal, about a foot long each. She placed them on top of the desk and slid them forward. They looked harmless.
“You’re thinking these are just harmless pieces of metal,” Tessa said, looking at me and resting a finger on one of the metal rectangles. “In the right hands, these are devastating weapons. May I?”
Koda gave her a slight nod.
“Not really seeing it.” I shook my head as Tessa held one of the rectangles and flicked her wrist. It opened with a metallic ring into a black fan covered in red runes. The edge of the fan appeared to be razor sharp. I saw that each metal rib contained a slim, retractable dagger.
“Seeing it now?” Tessa asked. “Iron fans are the ultimate weapon of defense and offense combined.”
The runes on the surface of the fan trailed red energy as Tessa moved it slowly through the air. I couldn’t make them all out, but what I did read filled me with a healthy respect. There were extensive protective runes, along with some nasty runes of sharpness. The muscles in Koda’s jaw flexed as her eyes tracked the motion of the fan.
“Definitely seeing it now,” I muttered, wary of where Tessa waved the fan. “How about we return them to their owner?”
“These are Kano’s tessen.” Tessa admired the fan, turning it. “To wield these means you possess skill. Why are you with Grey?”
“You make that sound like it’s a bad thing.”
“It’s not a step up.” Tessa slid the fan back to Koda. “Why did Hades dismiss you?”
Koda looked away as she took her fans and made them disappear into her sleeves with a flick of her wrist. “I failed an assignment, and Corbel had to step in,” Koda looked away into a memory. “It was—”
Tessa held up a hand. “Nevermind,” she said. “Consider yourself fortunate you weren’t retired. Although working with Grey isn’t much better.”
“No one knows my heritage,” Koda said. “Not even Hades knows all of it.”
“I’m not Hades.” Tessa turned back and looked at me. “The LIT
round is fully functional as far as I can tell. I know your aim is impeccable as ever, which leaves only one explanation.”
“Rummers are becoming UV-resistant?” I said in disbelief. “Well, that’s all kinds of bad.”
SIX
“IF THEY ARE becoming resistant to LIT rounds, it’s only a matter of time before they grow out of control,” Tessa said. “How many hard-to-kill rummers have you encountered?”
“Just one so far.” I took Fatebringer from the desk and holstered it. “It was running with an ogre. Never seen that before either. Usually they’re in packs.”
Tessa leaned back, tapping her lip with her forefinger as she looked at the Dali on the wall.
“A UV-resistant vampire would threaten the entire city,” Tessa said. “This sounds like someone making a power play.”
“Hades mentioned something about Redrum.” I glanced at Koda, who was recovering from Tessa’s questioning. “Do you know anything about this new strain?”
Tessa’s face hardened as she stared at me.
“We deal in many things here in the Market—some of questionable legality,” she said, never taking her eyes off me. “Redrum is not one of them.”
“Not even the outer rings?” I asked. “You know the Market is a big place. Those outer rings can be a bit hard to control. Nick could never—”
“I like you, Grey, which is why I’m going to ignore that question and the implicit accusation,” Tessa said quietly, the temperature of the room dropping by a few degrees. “When I say Redrum isn’t trafficked in the Market—I mean the entire market.”
I knew better than to push her. I stood and gave her a slight bow. She remained behind her desk. Violet energy raced across her irises as her eyes followed me.
“Thank you for your time, Tessa,” I said, adjusting my duster. “Maybe I need to ask someone else.”
“I heard keepsakers were recently used to hold Redrum.” Tessa stood and placed a hand on her desk. A section glowed violet. Across the office, the exit opened. “Perhaps the Smiths know more. Give my regards to Aria.”
“I’ll do that.” I stepped to one side as she escorted us halfway and stood in the center of her office. “Thanks again, Tess.”
Wander-A Night Warden Novel Page 3
