I groaned inwardly. I’d hoped taking down Anuk would declaw the whole lot of them, but apparently not. And I really didn’t think I had the skills to fight a master like Jig. Maybe with him I’d have to fight dirty. Cheat. He had no reason to think I had a knife up my sleeve.
He fired two rapid punches at me. My hands flew up, too slow to block. Pain shattered my forearm, then my chest, hard as a battering ram. Coughing, I staggered back and slammed into the rubbish bin. Jig grinned and danced on his feet.
I shoved away from the bin, caught a blow to the jaw. The world spun and darkened. Tried to catch myself, but couldn’t stop before my face slammed into the trash again. I barely grabbed the rim, desperate to stay upright. Fire exploded in my ribs as Jig’s fists kept flying.
Stars… Don’t fall…don’t fall…
I kicked out, hard. Jig fell back. I dragged in a gulp of air just before another punch flew at me. This time I dodged aside, knocking his hand away. My other hand slammed against his jaw with a shower of stinging pain. I followed him as he spun and locked my arm around his neck, pulling him into a chokehold. In a second he’d throw me off, but it was all the time I needed to free my knife and bring it around to flash in front of his face.
I turned us both so the other kids could see. For once Jig didn’t try any slick moves to get free. I tightened my grip until he snatched and clawed at my arm, then I released him and let him fall to the ground.
“You dirty chizzer,” he snarled.
I lifted my hands in a shrug. I couldn’t say anything. Blood and pain and adrenaline pounded in my ears, my heart still chattering. The world rocked; my muscles turned to lead.
The boys at the alley mouth moved suddenly, parting as a new figure passed through their midst. I almost smiled—or would have, if it hadn’t hurt so much—because it was Hayli, looking disgusted and annoyed.
“What’re you dundering idiots doing?” she cried, shoving one of the kids aside and storming up to us. But she didn’t say it to me; her gaze pinned Jig to the ground. Then she turned to stare at me. “Shade? You a’right?”
I arched a brow, wondering how bad I really looked…if I looked as terrible as I felt. Anuk groaned and flopped onto his back.
“Why you asking him?”
“He div’n beat me,” Jig spat, picking himself up. “I had him down, like! He cheated!”
“Like you never cheat,” Hayli said, hands on her hips. “Well? Now you’ve seen him. You ganna let him come with me?”
Anuk staggered to his feet, hopping a little on the knee I’d bashed, and held his hand out to me. I rather thought that gesture meant more down here than it ever did in the high-street boxing rings. I took it, though I could barely grip it, and nodded to him. Jig watched with a nasty scowl, then turned and limped off without a word to any of us.
“Jig’s an ass when he loses,” Anuk said, mumbling through bloody lips. “Don’t mind him, so. I’m Anuk. I know, you’re Shade.”
“That’s right.”
I caught Hayli staring at my feet, and after a second she frowned up at me and asked, “You could’ve zotzed those idiots but you let someone pinch your boots? How’s that?”
“Nobody stole them,” I said, trying to remember if Kor had ever told me what zotzed meant.
She scowled. “We got extras, back at the Hole.”
“Hayli…” Anuk started, but she shoved him aside.
“Relax,” she said. “You can keep a goggle on him. Dan’ you think he might be useful?”
He shrugged. “You can fight all right, so,” he said to me. “Don’t mean I like you for one of us though.”
“I’m not looking to get in with anyone,” I said, gambling. I turned as if to walk away, fighting to hide my exhaustion. “I just need to see Rivano.”
Dead silence followed me, then Hayli called, “Wait!” I turned. “You told me you’d come to have words with someone. Did you mean Rivano?”
“No.” I came back and stood in front of her, folding my arms. “I heard he could help me find him, though.”
She and Anuk shared a look, then she nodded. “Well. Suppose maybe I can help you find him.”
Chapter 4 — Hayli
Shade walked behind me, limping a bit though he tried hard to hide it. I’d been barefoot in the cold before, and I didn’t envy him. Couldn’t figure as to how he’d lost his boots, though, and he wouldn’t talk. Not about the boots, not about aught else. The whole time we walked, he just carried on quiet as could be. Anuk had disappeared with Bugs and the other kids, so I didn’t even have them to talk to—not that they would’ve wanted to gab with me anyway. All I could do was fret about what Derrin would say when I brought him Shade.
I peeked over my shoulder at him when we reached the alley where the martins roost, two streets over from the Hole.
“You look cacky awful,” I said. “Why’d you gan getting in a fight with those two?”
“Not like I asked for it,” he said, flashing me a dark glare. “But they were in my way.”
I scowled, not quite getting his meaning.
“Rivano,” he said.
“Oh.” I slowed up a bit, letting him join me. “Why d’you need to see Rivano?”
“I told you already.”
“Well, it’s not Anuk you got to get through to see him,” I said. “That’d be Kantian, and to get to Kantian you got to get through Derrin.” I gave a feeble wave of my hand. “But, I suppose you have to get through Anuk to get to Derrin.”
“Sounds complicated.”
I smiled. “I expect you’re not in a hurry. It could take some time.”
He was scanning the buildings again, and the street, and all the broken windows. He had his hands in his pockets and might’ve had a fine swagger if he hadn’t been hobbling along like a maimed cat.
And all he said was, “Suppose it depends.”
Stars, the boy could be untalkative. I was used to it in Derrin, but not the kids my own age. Most of them, you wanted them to shut up more than anything.
“Will you tell me where you’re from? I got to make some account of you to Derrin.”
“I can handle him.”
I snorted. Not because I didn’t believe him, but because I kind of wanted to see him try.
We finally reached the Hole, just when I started to think Shade’s feet were apt to fall off. As we came to the wall, I kept trying to guess what he’d think of it all. But his face was a mask, calm and disinterested, though his gaze swept across the ruined factory and the whole property like he could memorize everything about it, just so. I wondered if he could.
“We’re here,” I said.
“Here, where?” Shade asked, and frowned at something behind me.
I followed his gaze and saw Pika perched up on the guard post, a wee flame-headed gargoyle. She goggled us a good five seconds, then dropped like a bolt.
“Hayli!” she shouted.
Then she just stared at Shade, flighty as a finch, her forehead all puckered up and her hair sticking straight out like fire. I glanced at Shade, but he just met my gaze, calm as could be, though it felt a bit like a scolding. Maybe he just didn’t have any other expressions. I shrugged and went to Pika.
“What’s bothering, Pika?” I asked, keeping my back to Shade.
“Who’s that?”
“Tag’s Shade. He’s a mage.” I scuffed my toe on the ground. “Says he wants to meet Rivano.”
“I feel like I’ve seen him before,” she said, scowling. “But I haven’t. I can’t get a feel for him. He’s just…” She waved her hands. “Blank.”
“What d’you mean, a feel for him?” I asked.
She shrugged. “Be careful, Hayli,” she whispered, and shimmied back up to the guard post and buried her head in her arms.
I beckoned Shade and he came after a minute, hands in his pockets.
“Did I pass?” he asked.
“Aw, Pika can’t keep anyone out, not really.”
He flicked a glance up at her as he pass
ed but she wouldn’t pay him any attention, and finally, finally, I caught a little whiff of anxiety coming off him. Get a feel for him? What did that even mean? Pika didn’t always make sense, but she did seem to have a way of knowing things about folks. I shivered as I led Shade toward the rusty old factory and the narrow steps leading down into the Hole.
“Down there?” he asked, dubious.
“Surprised? Look, I’ve got to take you to Derrin first,” I told him. “But then I’ll get you some new trompers.”
“Thanks,” he said, catching the door as I passed through.
“Watch your step,” I said, turning onto the wide staircase. “It goes down a bit.”
He grunted and crept down after me. I could hear the tap-tap of his bare feet on the stone stairs, each step painfully slow. Slower.
“How far?” His voice dragged out in a thin little rasp.
I glanced back but the shadows had him, and I couldn’t make out his face at all.
“It’s just down the hall.”
I winced as I said it, because it was terribly unfair to say it was just down the hall. It took ages and ages to get from one end of the Hole to the other. But if I told him that outright, maybe he’d just sit down there on the steps and give up.
He hobbled down until he stood just a step higher than me, so close I could see all the colors of the storm in his eyes. He narrowed them a bit at me, then shifted a pointed glance past my shoulder.
“Don’t lie if your life hangs on it,” he said. “You’re terrible at it.”
I sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s a ways yet. You a’right? Haven’t lost any toes, have you?”
He actually smiled. “A few, probably. I’ll make do.”
I nodded and headed on, trying to go slow so he wouldn’t get too red about it. And as we went I got to noticing all the things about the Hole that I’d never seen before, because I kept trying to imagine how it looked to him. Funny how the little things, when they’re so familiar, can seem so invisible. I’d never noticed the drips of water trailing rusty streaks on the walls and the puddles on the stained cement floor. I’d never heard the wind whistling in the high windows that didn’t quite fit their casements. I’d never smelled the musty, stale air.
I’d only ever noticed the paintings Bugs and Pika had doodled on the walls with stolen paints, and the sound of folks laughing, and the smell of food. I wondered if he only saw the bad. I wondered if he saw the home.
He must have been reading my mind, because out of nowhere he asked, “So this is where you live?”
“What about it?” I asked, tetchy.
He arched a brow and scanned the walls, his eyes resting on Pika’s recent scrawl of a motorcar. I was just glad Pika hadn’t decided to decorate it with details from the Prince’s motorcade, because that would have made it all rather gruesome. Shade stared at it a good while, until I started wondering if he’d never seen a car before.
“It’s nice,” he said, so I didn’t know if he meant the drawing or the Hole.
I wrinkled my nose and headed on. By the time we got to the barracks, Shade had gone all pale and grey like a real shade, until I thought he’d slip away into nothing right in front of me. A few of the kids hanging about got to gawping at us as we passed, some of them whispering to each other, some of them laughing. Shade did look a bit frightful, with his face all bloody and his waistcoat ripped from the rubbish bin. I don’t think he’d even got to realizing that he was bleeding. Maybe he just didn’t care.
“Who’s the fish, Hayli?” Link asked, sauntering out from behind a pillar.
I groaned. “No one you need to know about.”
Shade paused right next to him, giving him one long stare in the eye.
Link grinned and ducked his head. “Derrin’s coming,” he said, and backed away, but not so far that he couldn’t get a fix on everything we said.
I took a breath and turned to face Derrin. This ought to be good, I thought, because right then Derrin and Shade looked kind of like mirrors of each other, all silent and stern and prickly.
“Who’s this, Hayli?” Derrin asked, stopping in front of us and giving Shade the once-over. “Visitors aren’t welcome.”
Shade’s mouth twitched, but he didn’t say a word.
“This is Shade,” I said. “Shade, Derrin.”
“Taumir,” Shade said, holding out his hand.
Derrin barely glanced at his hand, and didn’t move to take it. A moment and Shade lowered his arm, but he didn’t get red about it. If anything, he got colder and darker than ever, the ragged edge of a storm cloud.
“You’re Istian?” Derrin asked.
Shade nodded. Istian! I should’ve known, but I didn’t know much about Istia except what the Herald and the Hole rats talked about. Folks said that most of the mages in the world had some Istian blood. They had the best mages anyway, and some folks said they even had a mage for a ruler. I couldn’t even imagine what that would be like. Mages in charge, and not hiding in the underground… I couldn’t imagine why Shade had left.
“Care to explain this?” Derrin asked, turning back to me.
“I need to see Rivano,” Shade said.
Derrin’s face went blank, just like that. “Sorry. No. Hayli, show him out.”
“Derrin, can I talk to you?” I whispered.
He stared a good long minute at Shade, then nodded once and moved back toward the corner where we could talk in quiet. I waffled a bit, twisting my finger in a loose thread on my waistcoat.
“Not like you to bring in strays,” Derrin said.
“Except he’s not. Derrin,” I hissed. “He tore up Anuk and Jig.”
“Looks like he got his fair share.”
I glanced back at Shade, who’d taken to leaning against the pillar with his arms crossed.
“Well,” I said. “Suppose Jig got him a bit.”
“We’ve got plenty of fighters here, Hayli. We don’t need another one.”
“Div’n you see that mark, though?” I asked. “He’s a Mask.”
“I don’t trust Masks.”
“How many Masks have you ever known?”
He just looked at me, then shook his head.
“If you’re ganna be like that, then what mage can you trust?” I asked, which made him smile a bit.
“Still, didn’t you wonder how he got here in Brinmark wanting to see Rivano?” he asked. “All the way from Istia? I didn’t know Rivano was known in those parts of the world.”
I lifted my chin, feeling trucky. “Maybe we should talk to Rivano about that.”
My bravado didn’t impress him. He actually laughed, but I blushed because it meant he thought I was being ridiculous.
“I don’t have to remind you that we don’t have all the mages on our side, do I? Some of them hate us outright. How do you know this Shade kid is here to become a devoted follower? Maybe he’s here to kill Rivano. Should I just let him walk in and do it, because you’ve got a fancy?”
“Derrin!” I cried, bright red now. “That’s not fair.”
“You see my point, though, don’t you?” Derrin persisted. “I’ve got a responsibility. I can’t just slip protocol for no reason.”
“Well, I div’n mean you should let him see Rivano now. Maybe we could let him stay here and be useful for a bit.”
Derrin studied Shade, rubbing his jaw the way Kantian did sometimes. “I’ve got you to look after. You want me to give you responsibility for looking after him? Because I’m not going to do it.”
“I can do it,” I said. “Me and Anuk.”
He let out his breath and dropped his hands. “Hayli,” he said, drawing out each half of my name like a scolding. “You both have jobs. You should be focusing on your training. I can’t have you two wasting your time nannying some kid who doesn’t even belong here.”
I glowered and tossed my head back, because I knew I was losing and couldn’t figure how to win.
Chapter 5 — Tarik
I watched Hayli as she whi
spered to Derrin, a little cold anxiety creeping over me. Derrin was a force; I didn’t need any better acquaintance with him to see it. He didn’t tower over Hayli or fold his arms to try to intimidate her. He didn’t need to. I’d seen that kind of hidden power before, in my father, and watching him and Hayli deliberate stirred the sleeping snake of my cowardice again. It took every ounce of my will to stand there and wait.
Anuk and the bug-eyed kid slipped into the room, followed a little later by Jig. I sighed. If I’d thought about walking away, I couldn’t now. I could never run away with them staring at me. Even the little red-headed girl Pika wriggled her way into the growing crowd, crossing her skinny arms and scowling at me like the devil.
Jig sidled up beside me.
“Dan’ you see you’re not wanted, you filthy chizzer?” he whispered, lounging back against the pillar beside me as if we were chums. He grinned, viciously, and asked more loudly, “How’s the nose?”
“Why, did you try to hit me?” I shot back.
The bug-eyed boy stifled a snicker, but one of the bigger kids cuffed his head. “Shut up, Bugs!” Then to some of the other kids he said, “He ate the trash. Jig fed him to the rubbish bin.”
Snickers chased around the group.
“Shade was just fooling him,” Bugs said. “Tricking him out.”
One of the other boys laughed loudly. “No he weren’t. Look at that face. He only lasted ‘cause he’s a cheating son of a skirt who dan’ na how to fight like a man. Couldn’t bear to lose good and honest, could he? No wonder he’s on his own, nowhere to go.”
I felt my cheeks burning—Tarik’s cheeks. I’d never imagined that one of the benefits of my gift was that I could keep my masked face as cool and indifferent as if I didn’t really care.
“Sorry,” I said. “Who’s the one living in a basement with a pack of rats?”
“Least we got a pack, like,” Jig said, eyes narrowed to slits. “Wha’ve you got? You got nothing here. Nothing.”
What could I say to that? He was right. I had nothing, because I belonged nowhere. A stranger in every world I walked. I glanced at Anuk, who didn’t laugh with the others but stood observing the scene with frigid indifference.
The Madness Project (The Madness Method) Page 18
