The buildings loomed close in the alley. They amplified the voices of the officers and, it seemed, Adren’s own breathing. Her flesh crawled at the narrowness of the space. She glanced back again. The officers were still a decent way behind her, but there appeared to be fewer of them. Adren did a quick count. Yes. Definitely fewer. They must have split up at the alley entrance. Everything drew in closer around Adren, the light harsher, the sounds more discordant, the smell…
No. Now was not the time to panic. They thought they could cut her off, did they? Well, then.
The alley took a sharp turn and then forked. To the left, it continued to wend its way behind and between. To the right, it opened out onto a quiet street. Adren couldn’t see any officers on it yet, but she was certain it was only a matter of time. She made herself invisible and turned right.
The missing officers shot out from the street and barrelled down the alley. They shouted at their comrades behind Adren, asking them where she was. The officers behind her, who would have only seen her form waver, replied that she was right there, and to grab her before she got to the street, you idiots. This offended the officers in front, who stopped, shot off a barrage of insults at their fellows, and berated them for losing her.
Adren grinned. She darted past the stalled officers and onto the street, letting go of her invisibility as she did. Commotion ensued in the alley, and she would have laughed if she didn’t think it would to draw more attention to herself. Instead, she let her mirth pass through the back of her mind and to the unicorn, who responded in kind.
It wouldn’t take long before they reorganized themselves, so Adren scanned the street for somewhere to hide. It was nearly empty, mostly made up of houses in need of repair and a few boarded-up shops. The few people there didn’t even look up as Adren ran past. Perfect.
The chaos behind her had become purposeful again. She could tell just from listening that she had increased her lead, but not by much. It was time to find a hiding place.
None of the buildings presented a simple solution. The problem with residential areas was that people kept their doors closed and, in an area like this, locked as well. A few had fenced yards, and Adren entertained the idea of leaping over them for a moment before shaking her head. She didn’t have the height for that. What she needed was an empty building, an abandoned shop that wasn’t quite boarded up enough, a barn.
A barn?
Yes, there was an old livery barn on the corner. If she could get into a stall quickly enough, she should be able to turn invisible without anyone seeing her and negating the magic. Well. Without any humans seeing her. It could work. She made the turn and, spotting the entrance, crashed through the doors.
But there were no stalls. The barn didn’t even have any inner walls. All it had were support beams and a ladder at one end leading up to a trap door. She could hear the officers nearing the corner. Gods in hell.
It would have to do.
She raced to the ladder and clambered up. Her body out of sight, she held onto the top of the ladder with all her might and made it invisible.
Before long, the officers came to the barn entrance. Their voices echoed through the barn as they decided what to do now that they’d lost sight of Adren. A few were sent to search the street, a few to wait and see if she'd double back, and two entered the barn. Their boots squeaked on the floorboards as they walked the length and breadth of the dingy space.
One stopped under the trapdoor, and Adren had to keep herself from peeking through the opening in case he looked up and saw her. She held her breath, which did nothing to help the slow-growing tightness in her chest, and hoped the officer didn’t bump into the ladder and make it fall from her grasp.
The officers outside called into the barn, and the one under the trapdoor replied that the barn was empty. He and the other left, and Adren started breathing again. She was about to release the invisibility, too, when she heard the officers, still in front of the barn and in clear view of where the ladder would reappear, conferring amongst themselves. Her hand ached. Her chest ached. The officers continued to pool details to come up with a consistent and disconcertingly accurate description of her. She'd have to find a dye shop before the morning was out. Hadn’t she seen one earlier? If only she could remember where.
Would those officers ever leave? Adren’s heart felt like it barely had space to beat, and she had to keep her breaths shallow to avoid pain.
Another voice joined those of the officers, the polite voice of a boy or young man. The officers grew quiet, and one explained the situation to the newcomer, asking him if he had seen Adren. The boy said he hadn’t, and then asked them to leave, saying they were disturbing his ill mother’s sleep. With apologies, the officers left. Then the barn doors closed.
Adren waited, ears straining, but she didn’t hear anyone inside the barn. She let go of the ladder. Her body sagged in relief as the tension of keeping up the magic drained away.
“Well,” said the boy’s voice from inside the barn. “That’s interesting.” Footsteps came next, and then the ladder shook.
Adren’s muscles tightened and she made herself invisible out of reflex. Everything within her protested; it was too soon, but there was no helping it. Magic held in place, she watched as a face peeked up through the opening. The boy was older than she had thought, too young to be considered a man, but only barely clinging to childhood. He looked right at Adren. She tried to convince herself that she had become invisible in time but, as he got up, his eyes never left her.
“And now it makes sense.”
Adren pushed the boy into the wall as hard as she could, and then she flew down the ladder and out of the barn. That cure had better be worth all the trouble. Robbing Lord Watorej’s private vault hadn’t been her best idea, but with the potion maker’s prices, Adren hadn’t had many other options. Certainly not any that would have worked this quickly.
It wasn’t until she had neared the dye shop that she remembered to check her coat pocket for the money. Yes, it was all there. Twenty thousand keb. Or five hundred olen, however you wanted to count. Plus some extra, for emergencies. None had fallen out during the chase. As she stood before the entrance, Adren congratulated herself on her foresight. Hair and skin as light as hers never went unnoticed, no matter how big the town, and the potion maker’s shop was clear on the other end of this one. Now that the officers had seen her, she had to blend in, and that cost money.
Still, she hesitated. Visible through the shop windows was a crowd of both humans and vivid fabrics and dyes. It would be difficult to escape once entered, if the need arose. A customer exited, and the door's swing set off chimes with a ringing that hurt Adren’s ears. What was it about humans and noise?
Adren took a breath, then opened the door to step inside. A conflicted collection of odours enveloped her, emanating from a section of perfumes and scented candles. The bright oranges, reds, yellows, and blues of clothing and rolls of fabric attacked her eyes, their brightness a sword. A burst of laughter came from one corner as the shopkeep, bangles jangling, regaled customers with the values of silk, her hands jabbing the air with every syllable. Two women pressed by, arms full of goods, while they whispered and shot furtive glances at Adren. A clock ticked in the back, each pulse a stab of pain in her skull, each pulse a cue for the walls to inch in ever closer. It took her a bit to steady herself before she could enter, in time for the door to swing shut and set off the chimes again. She shuddered and tried to make her way to the dyes without being noticed.
“What can I help you with, my dear?” No such luck. Adren turned to face the shopkeep, whose voice was so strident and expression so delighted that Adren considered strangling her.
“This.” Adren picked up a small roll of sturdy white fabric. She really did intend on buying it—she had run short of bandages. Its more immediate function, however, was to keep from being subjected to a sales pitch. The shopkeep, obviously disappointed in such a plain choice, focused her attention on Adren’s appear
ance, as if to find a way to remedy such frugal taste. She wrinkled her nose at the worn clothing, but her lips curved slightly when she appraised Adren’s face.
“Such a pretty girl like you would surely want something more colourful. A bold red would contrast splendidly, or a blue to bring out your eyes? This,” she dismissed the fabric in Adren’s hand, bangles clanking, “this would wash you out, make you sickly. You don’t want it; it would be a poor purchase.”
“I do, in fact, want it. It and two bottles of dye. Brown and black.” Adren indicated them with a jab of her chin.
“Oh, no, that is too simple, too demure. Come with me—” at this point, the shopkeep tried to put an arm around Adren, surely expecting unmeant protests and submission, as any girl of her age in that town would react to an elder. Adren stepped away, neatly avoiding the arm.
“Stop trying to squeeze money out of me, or I’ll leave without purchasing.” She kept her words quiet enough to avoid attracting notice, low and threaded with steel. The shopkeep frowned when she saw Adren’s hand move, as if by reflex, to her hip. Her eyes flicked up to Adren’s face, but Adren gave no indication that the threat had been made on purpose.
The shopkeep pursed her lips and retrieved the bottles of dye. She then went to the counter and made a great display of looking up prices.
“Thirty keb.”
“Does this look like perfume and silk to you? Four and one.” A small child started wailing from somewhere in the middle of the shop. The air seemed to thicken in response, and it took all Adren had to keep her breath even. She took out the money from her pocket. The shopkeep grabbed it and handed over the dye, her expression sour.
“I’ll serve you today,” she said, “but do not return. You darken the room with your manner.”
“Good. It needs the darkness.”
After dyeing her hair and skin in a public bathroom, Adren went to the potion maker’s shop. This took longer than she had expected—the sun was setting by the time she arrived—and she longed to be out of the town. This was, of course, the most appropriate moment to discover that the door was locked. Adren swore. Then, containing her frustration, she knocked more or less politely.
“If she doesn’t come to the door then, saints help me…”
The curtain on the window drew back and the potion maker peeked through. She proceeded to fail to recognize Adren and pointed at a sign on the door that Adren couldn't read.
Adren responded by pulling out some some of the money. On the surface, this seemed to confuse the potion maker, but her eyes gleamed with interest. She opened the door.
“The store’s closed. Can’t you read the sign?”
“You mentioned that,” Adren said drily. “I have the price you quoted for a madness cure.” The woman peered at Adren.
“That was you?”
“Would I have said that otherwise? Let me in, and never mind how I look now.”
“Show me,” said the potion maker as she pulled the door slightly closed. Adren sighed.
“I’m not showing you all the money while I’m standing out on the street where everyone can see. Unless you want thieves coming by later tonight to claim your earnings.”
The potion maker made a sound of displeasure, but she let Adren inside, locking the door and closing the curtains after.
“Now, show me.”
Adren obliged and pulled out the bills one by one, counting as she went, using the pictures to identify their value, watching how the potion maker’s eyes widened with each increase.
“Twenty thousand keb, which makes five hundred olen, exactly as you asked. Your turn.” She kept in her pocket the extra fifty and forty-five that she had stolen for herself.
“How did you get all of this so quickly?” asked the potion maker as she snatched up the bills.
Adren raised an eyebrow.
“Well, then…” The woman cleared her throat. “It’s just that… I… well. I didn’t expect anyone to be able to come up with that much money.” She paused.
“And?”
“I… er, that is to say, I was trying to make you go away. To be completely honest, I cannot make you the cure.” Gods. This woman could not possibly be serious.
“Explain.” Adren’s was not a hot anger, the kind that would explode and slop around. Rather, it froze, bringing a calm to her body like that in the eye of a storm. Her voice remained utterly level, but the same steel she had partially unveiled earlier that day for the shopkeep now lay naked in her tone.
“It’s not that I don’t have the knowledge or the skill,” said the potion maker, her words coming out in a rush, “It’s only that I don’t have the tools. One tool in particular.” She stared at the money. “The lord has it. He stole it from me years ago in punishment for an imagined slight. If I had it, I would be able to make the cure, and a great deal more besides.”
For obvious reasons, Adren did not want to break into the lord’s mansion. Also, depending on what the tool happened to be, searching for and transporting it could be difficult.
“What is this tool?”
“It’s a jewel. You wouldn’t be able to get it, would you?”
“That depends.”
“Well, it houses magic I need for the most potent potions I am able to make, but you won’t find it by looking for it. What you need to find is its case, which is a sealskin. Only I know how to get the jewel out of it, so you won’t be able to check, but you’ll know when you find it.”
Adren could see the possibility in this scenario. Unfortunately, using a sealskin as a jewel case was one of the more ridiculous things that Adren had heard over the past few years. She paused and took a breath. Reminded herself how far she’d already come, and how far she intended to go.
“How will I know it when I see it?” Adren crossed her arms.
“Who would keep an old sealskin around if not for what it contained?” The potion maker shrugged. “You’ll know.”
“Where is it?”
At this, the potion maker’s expression fell. “I don’t know. It’s most likely locked up somewhere in the mansion, not the vault, seeing as his steward and accountants would have access to that, but somewhere only he has access to, because of its magic. Which could be anywhere.”
“How remarkably helpful.” This whole situation set her teeth on edge, but what other options did she have? There had been so many failures…
The unicorn’s terror spiked, the emotion followed close by pain. Due to its insanity, it had a tendency to find danger, and if it got free, it would come running to her. If it didn't… well. Either way, Adren couldn’t stay any longer. If she needed more information, she would have to return in the morning.
“You’ll be able to get it?”
“We will just have to see, won’t we?” Adren turned and headed to the door.
“Don’t you want to negotiate the payment?”
“I don’t care about payment. All I want is the cure, yesterday.” She let the door swing shut as she headed down the street, pulling her coat tighter against the wind. A couple of men whistled and laughed at her from a shady corner, but she waggled the two middle fingers of one hand at them, offending them enough that they shut up. Usually, she would have just walked by with a cringe to let them think their actions had had the desired effect, but tonight she needed to focus.
Fear still flowed through their connection at the back of her mind, as did pain. The unicorn was moving, so it had escaped whatever had hurt it, but Adren wasn’t sure how to get to it before it entered the town. As far as she could tell, going down the street would lead her in the right direction. Even if it didn’t, she remembered that it ended right at the forest on the edge of the town, at a place not too far from her camp. Perhaps she could direct the unicorn with her movement, keep it away from the humans as it followed her.
A lamplighter had arrived at the far end of the street and now he worked his way towards Adren, his process rhythmic as he moved from lamp to lamp. She shivered when she saw him and
refused to be comforted by the glow. All it ever did was give movement to the shadow.
The unicorn’s emotions dulled while Adren neared the lamplighter, down to a more manageable anxiety. It slowed and its path meandered. Adren’s shoulders relaxed, only to tighten again as she passed by the lamplighter. He nodded, but she did not return the gesture. She hated him, his calm, the hiss of gas as his flame caught, the smell of rain on the air. Her hatred made the unicorn’s emotions unsteady. They clashed through her, a reminder to calm herself, to keep the unicorn from unbalance. To focus on its wellbeing and the fact that it was out of danger first and foremost. Before long, its turmoil smoothed back to normal. Adren muttered a quick prayer of thanks and headed to her camp, knowing the unicorn would do the same.
Chapter Two
Of course, by “head to camp” Adren meant “stop by the lord’s mansion first.” She may have broken into his vault, but a mansion was another matter. And a different building. It required different information.
As darkness filled the sky, drizzle came down, misting the air more than falling. The glow of the gas lamps became ghostly with it. Adren pressed her lips together and put her hood up. She hated getting her hair wet almost as much as she hated not being able to see the stars because of the illumination. Still, as she appraised the building before her, she had to admit that the lamps made her task easier.
Three stories and spread across an area at least four times the size of the barn she’d hidden in earlier, not to mention the space taken by the garage, the mansion’s sheer size gave Adren pause. Even supposing Lord Watorej had hidden the sealskin there, finding it would prove a chore. But first she would have to get inside. She stared up at the eaves, the sloping roof, the intricately carved beasts perched on its corners. Her original thought had been to climb to the roof while invisible and then enter through a window which, now that she thought about it, would have been a terrible idea. Saintsall, was it a terrible idea. There was no way she would be able to remain invisible long enough for that, and then there she would be, in full view of anyone who happened to walk by, the sealskin suddenly become the last of her priorities.
Hidden in Sealskin Page 2
