by Rachel Aaron
With that, I fisted my hands on my bag strap and started walking. To where, I didn’t know, and I didn’t care. I had no one left to run to, no more clever plans, nothing to do but kill time until my dad inevitably showed up to nab me. I wondered if I’d merit a personal visit this time or if he’d just send a team of goons. Probably goons, I decided, trudging down the trash-littered sidewalk. Dad would have to be stupid to come into the city in his current condition.
I tried to take comfort in the knowledge that at least we were both suffering for this, but I couldn’t. There was no good to be found in this situation. It was just the worst. The absolute pits from every angle all the way down.
“Doesn’t mean it can’t get better.”
The sudden voice made me jump, and not just because it had spoken right behind me. I knew that voice. Sure enough, when I whirled around, the DFZ was standing with me on the sidewalk.
The god looked very different from when she’d spoken to me from inside Dr. Kowalski. Her body was much taller this time, with darker skin and a long, sharp-jawed face that was closer to the masculine side of androgynous. Like me, she was dressed in disposable to-the-minute-trendy vending-machine clothes, except she actually made them look good. I didn’t know if that was because she’d taken over the body of a younger, hipper priest this time or if she could just summon humans like she summoned buildings, but I was certain it was her. If the voice and the intense magic rolling off her like noise from a traffic jam weren’t big enough tipoffs, the inhumanly glowing orange eyes were a dead giveaway.
“Hello, Opal,” the god said, giving me a thousand-watt smile. “Surprised to see me?”
I had been, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I should have known this was coming. “Let me guess,” I said, shoving my dirty hair out of my face. “You’re here to make your pitch again now that I’m at my lowest.”
The DFZ’s blinding smile grew even wider. “That’s the thing about gods. We always appear when you need us most.”
“That doesn’t speak as well for you as you think it does.”
The city chuckled at my bitterness and stepped forward to take my arm. “Why don’t we get some coffee? There’s a good place right across the street.”
I’d been squatting in Nik’s apartment for the last three weeks. I knew for dead certain that there was no decent coffee anywhere inside of five blocks. But sure enough, when I looked across the street, there was a lovely little coffee shop wedged between the VR strip clubs. It even had a patio.
“Wow,” I said. “That’s convenient.”
“Most things are when you can move buildings anywhere you want,” the DFZ said, giving my arm a tug. “Let’s go have a drink and a chat, hmm?”
I planted my feet on the sidewalk. “What’s it going to cost me?”
“My treat,” she promised.
I shook my head. “Nothing’s free in the DFZ.”
“Just give me five minutes of your time,” the god pleaded. “Please.”
Five minutes was a lot to ask given how long I’d been in this part of town already. I was honestly surprised I hadn’t been black bagged and thrown into a trunk already. But my dad’s people could grab me just as easily from a coffee shop as they could off the sidewalk, so I let the DFZ pull me across the busy street into the cafe, which really did look like it had been here forever. I didn’t know how the DFZ had made that happen, but she’d done a fantastic job. The barista at the counter didn’t even look fazed that she was now in what had to be a completely different part of the city than she’d gone to work in this morning. She just took our order with professional indifference, calling out our drinks to the empty shop before walking over to the espresso machine to make them herself.
Since the DFZ was paying, I got the biggest drink on the menu: an extra-large mocha latte with a mountain of chocolate shavings, whipped cream, and so many shots of espresso it was basically rocket fuel. The DFZ got a cup of black coffee with an inch of room at the top. I was wondering why she’d asked for so much space when she grabbed the entire box of sugar packets off the counter and started opening and dumping them into her coffee three at a time.
“Okay,” I said when I’d gotten over my horror. “You’ve bought my time. I’ll listen to whatever you have to say until I’ve finished this.” I tapped my fingers against the side of my half-gallon coffee cup.
“It’s not even going to take that long,” the DFZ promised, dumping another three sugars into her coffee, which was already nearing its solubility limit. “I’ve already made my offer: become my priest, and I’ll save you from your dad.”
“No,” I said without missing a beat. “I will not be owned.”
“You might like it,” the god said in a sing-song voice.
I crossed my arms stubbornly on the counter. “If I didn’t say yes to Nik, I’m not going to say it to you.” At least with Nik I’d get kisses. Thinking about the disaster I’d left in his apartment opened an abyss of feelings I couldn’t deal with right now, though, so I turned my attention stubbornly back to my coffee.
“You don’t know what you’re missing,” the DFZ said when I’d drained half my cup. “I’ve been watching your progress with your magic, especially that spectacular pair of rapid-fire blocks you put on Nikola Kos’s feet. Dr. Kowalski is very impressed. She’s convinced you’ll be an amazing addition to our team.”
I shook my head again, and the spirit pouted. Then her orange eyes lit up. “What if I gave you my powers provisionally? You know, let you try them out for a while?”
I snorted. “You mean like a free trial? Fourteen days of divine powers, no obligation!”
That was supposed to be a joke, but the god nodded excitedly. “Exactly! You’re being belligerent right now because you’re feeling cornered, but I’m confident you’ll change your mind once you experience what it’s like to serve a higher power who actually appreciates you.”
I arched a suspicious eyebrow. “Is this one of those ‘the first hit is free’ sort of things?”
“That depends,” she said innocently. “Are you the sort who gets addicted to power?”
Of course I was. Everyone got addicted to power. But even knowing it was a trap…I could do a lot in a week with the strength of a city. It would certainly be nice to have my dad cowering before me for once. But tempted as I was, I shook my head.
“Come on,” she pleaded. “Just give me one week. I can take you to safety right now, and if you still don’t want to serve me when it’s over, I’ll toss you right back out onto the sidewalk and you can resume running for your life. You can’t say no to that.”
“No,” I said.
The god huffed and took a slug of her coffee-flavored sugar. “You are a stubborn one, aren’t you?” she grumbled into her cup. “So much pride. Are you sure you’re not a dragon?”
A few days ago, I would have been mortally insulted by that. Now, all I could do was shrug. “I’m culturally draconic.”
“Yet another reason we should team up,” the DFZ said. “I love dragons.”
I smiled appreciatively at her hustle. “You don’t give up, do you?”
“Never!” she said, straightening to her full height. “What city do you think I am?”
“Touché,” I said, tilting my cup at her so she could see how much was left. “So are there any other pitches you want to roll out? Because you’ve still got four inches of coffee left.”
“I think I’ve made my point,” the DFZ said, dumping the dregs of her syrup-coffee into a trash can I swore hadn’t been there a second ago. “I’m the city of freedom. Forcing obedience isn’t my style, but you’ve been living in me for a long time now, Opal Yong-ae. I’ve never seen you pass up a good deal, and I don’t think you’ll pass up mine. You know where to find me when you change your mind.”
I nodded at the street outside the dusty cafe windows. “Everywhere?”
The god smiled and reached out to tap her finger against my temple. For a second, her touch res
ted cool and hard as a cement sidewalk against my skin, and then she was gone, leaving me standing alone at the counter with what was left of my coffee and a giant pile of empty sugar packets.
I shook my head and downed the last of my drink. Once I’d licked the last drops of sweetness from the sides of my cup, I went back to the counter to ask the barista for the key to the restroom. I didn’t actually have to go, but public bathrooms were as rare as unicorns in this city, and I’d already given Nik all my money. I didn’t think it’d be that much time before I got caught, but I’d lived in the DFZ for too long now to pass up any opportunity. I used the restroom, washed out my coffee cup in the sink and filled it with fresh water, dropped the last few coins of change from my pocket into the barista’s tip jar, and headed back out into the city.
I walked for what felt like a long time. I’d turned off my AR, so I wasn’t sure what time it actually was, but the Underground had that early-morning feel. It was still busy—it was always busy—but the bars and casinos were emptying out rather than filling up, and the busses were full of shift workers on their way to the factory part of town. Since I wasn’t going anywhere in particular, I didn’t bother with maps. I just walked in a straight line, following the cracked sidewalk to see how far it went. “Pretty far” seemed to be the answer. I was starting to wonder if Nik’s street went all the way to the Ohio border when I spotted something gleaming in the gutter by my boot heel.
It was a penny. An absolutely filthy one but still remarkable. Pennies had been phased out of the U.S. currency system fifty years ago after a decades-long campaign by David Heartstriker, Senator from New Mexico and the only dragon in Congress. He’d argued that the coins cost more to make than they were worth, which was true. Of course, once the law passed, it came out that he was also on the board of a company that was poised to make millions off government contracts to collect and recycle all those useless pennies, but those were the sort of shenanigans you got when you elected a greedy dragon to be your representative.
Anyway, the important thing was that pennies were rare these days and thus highly collectible. This one looked like it was in good condition, too, once I wiped the road grime off. It was only worth about a dollar, but that was still a great return on investment for something that was supposed to be one cent. I was sliding my lucky find in the front pocket of my bag for safekeeping when it suddenly hit me.
I’d just made money.
I froze, causing the drunk walking behind me to swear and stumble into the carts for the tiny grocery automat I’d stopped in front of. Holy shit. Holy shit.
I dug the coin back out and turned it over frantically in my hands, but there was no mistake. It was a penny. Even half a century after being discontinued, it was still technically legal tender. Money. The thing I was cursed not to make, and I’d just picked it up off the ground.
A horrible feeling blossomed in my gut. I grabbed the phone out of my bag and dialed the number I still knew by heart after all these years. It was daytime in Korea, but no matter what hour it was, Mom always answered her phone. She was First Mortal, the one who was in charge of keeping the domestic side of Yong’s empire running so smoothly he never even noticed it. Even when she was spending the night with my father, someone would pick up if only to say she was indisposed. This time, though, there was nothing. The phone just rang and rang.
I left it ringing, switching to a new line to try my dad. I knew full well that I was being an idiot. This was probably just a ploy to freak me out and make me call so I’d be easier to find, but I couldn’t shake the horrible sense that something was wrong. Really wrong. The Peacemaker had told me just a few hours ago that my curse was tied to my dad’s life force. If it wasn’t working, then either my dad had finally decided to let me go, or he was dead. It didn’t seem possible that Yong had had a change of heart since I’d last spoken to him, so that left “dead.” Or a fluke. It could have been a fluke. Pennies were in a weird area between currency and collectibles. Maybe the curse had made a mistake?
It had never let anything remotely like money slide before, though.
“Come on,” I whispered, pacing the sidewalk as my dad’s phone rang and rang. “Come on, you decrepit old lizard, pick up.”
Nothing.
Swearing under my breath, I flicked my finger across my phone’s screen to bring up my contact list. I was debating waking Sibyl up so she could call everyone at once and save me some time when I heard tires crunch to a stop on the street beside me.
“Opal!”
I looked up in alarm. There was a bright-yellow sports car stopped on the curb to my left, one of the super expensive models that looked more like metal origami than a car. The triangle-shaped windows were so heavily tinted I couldn’t even see who was yelling at me until the driver’s side door opened, and an intimidatingly stylish, dark-skinned man got out to give me a smile.
“I thought it was you,” he said, flashing me a perfect smile as he took off his pair of super-slick AR sunglasses, which he’d apparently been wearing at night. “Remember me from earlier?”
Of course I remembered. It was hard to forget someone who’d given you a briefcase full of gold. It was Ainsley, the rich collector who threw money around like confetti. He was still doing it now, leaving his ludicrously overpriced sports car idling with the door open as he jogged over to join me on the sidewalk
“Are you all right?” he asked, his charming voice all concern. “I was driving by when I spotted you. You looked quite upset.”
“Personal emergency,” I told him tersely, keeping an eye on my calls, which still hadn’t been answered.
“Do you need a ride?”
“No thank you,” I said, turning away in the hopes he’d get the hint.
“Aw, come on,” Ainsley said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “You look like you’re in real trouble. Let me give you a lift.”
“I said no,” I growled, yanking out of his grip. Rather, I tried to. Despite me putting my whole body into it, Ainsley’s hand didn’t budge from my shoulder.
“That wasn’t a request,” he said, fingers digging into my flesh.
I dropped my phone with a curse and grabbed his wrist with both hands. When I tried to pinch his nerves and make him let go, though, I realized that what I’d assumed was skin wasn’t actually flesh at all. It was textured plastic covering an arm that felt just like Nik’s.
Crap.
Ainsley smiled down at me, clearly relishing my fear as I realized my situation. I didn’t know how much of him was metal under those stylish clothes, but it didn’t really matter. That arm alone was enough to overpower a normal flesh-and-bone human like me. I was about to ask him what the hell he thought he was doing—because this felt seriously out of left field—when he tapped the side of his fancy AR sunglasses to take my picture. Sunglasses I suddenly realized I’d seen on two other guys just this afternoon. And then it all came together with a crash.
“You’re one of White Snake’s mortals.”
“Took you long enough,” Ainsley replied in Korean. “My lady has another job for you.”
“I’m not doing anything for her!”
“But you already have,” he said with a cruel smile. “You’ve done more for my beautiful mistress than she ever could have dreamed, but you’re not done yet. You see…” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “He’s not quite dead.”
Ainsley reached into his pocket, pulling out three more of the slender, one-ounce gold bars he’d paid me earlier today. I went still at the sight of the glittering metal, my knees going weak as the full weight of just how badly I’d been played landed on top of me. White Snake knew about the curse. Of course she did. Everyone did. The Peacemaker had told me as much this evening. She knew how much it hurt my dad, too, so she’d given me everything I needed. No wonder Ainsley had been so eager to overpay me! He wasn’t the one being stupid, I was. I’d been so focused on beating my dad that I’d let them play me like a chump. Idiot, idiot, idiot.
“Aw, b
aby, don’t look like that,” Ainsley said, his deep voice teasing. “You should be happy. You’ve made no secret how much you hate being the Great Yong’s favorite pet. This is your chance to pay him back.” He pushed the gold toward my hands, which were still wrapped around his arm. “Take it. It’s yours to keep. You need money, right? Don’t you want to be free?”
I blew out a long, shaky breath, brain spinning. “Okay,” I said after several seconds, looking up at him with my best “innocent-mortal” expression. “But can I get my potato out of my bag first?”
A look of confusion passed over Ainsley’s handsome face, and I seized my chance, letting go of his arm to plunge my hands into my bag to grab the tuber Dr. Kowalski had given me. I probably could have done what I was planning without it. I knew its size and weight by heart now, but even after my unexpected success at Nik’s, I didn’t dare take the training wheels off this time. Not when I was this scared. Even with the potato to guide me, I still grabbed too much, but I didn’t have time to try again. Ainsley had already realized what was happening and grabbed my throat, his wired reflexes moving faster than mine ever could. I could already feel his metal fingers digging into my windpipe. It was this or nothing, so I slammed the magic into him, frantically picturing a hammer as I crushed it against his face.
Just like with Nik, the effect was immediate. Ainsley went flying, but so did I, tossed back into the shopping carts behind me by the force of my own magic. It was a pretty small backlash by my usual standard, but I hadn’t sucked one up in three weeks now, so it hurt way more than it should have. I collapsed to the ground in a fetal position, sucking air through my clenched teeth as I waited for the pain to fade. It always did, and while this one seemed to be taking forever, it couldn’t have actually been that long, because when I lifted my head again, Ainsley was lying unconscious on the ground next to the exploded remains of my potato.
