Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
“What would you like me to do, sir?” George asked once Graves arrived at their location.
Graves ran a rough hand through his hair. He looked for all the world as if he truly had no idea.
“Can you trade for a coin?” George asked.
“They won’t trade with me.” He said it resolutely, as if he already knew that it was impossible. “I’ll eat the goblin fruit.”
Laz choked. “Boss, that’s a death sentence.”
“It’s worse for humans,” Graves said. “Magic users can fend it off better.”
Edgar glanced at George and shook his head once. George cleared his throat. “Sir, she’s already ten minutes ahead of you.”
“I have the tracker’s signal. I’ll be able to find her.”
He was serious. He was going to go in after her. Graves knew the consequences if he ate the fruit. He’d always had a coin nearby to get in—they had another back at the brownstone—but there was no time to return home.
“You don’t know that she’s in any danger,” George said slowly.
Graves shot him a death look. “The market is the danger.”
“Immediate danger,” he amended. “And you trusted her to get this far. Trust her to come back out.”
“He’s right, sir,” Edgar agreed.
Laz nodded. “I’d go in there to back her up in a heartbeat, but you know she doesn’t need it. Not after what I just witnessed.”
“Then you’ve never been in the market,” he growled.
“But we know her,” George argued.
Graves looked between them as if he couldn’t quite believe that his staff was disagreeing with him. It had never expressly happened before. They had opinions, of course, but they generally let Graves do whatever was in his best interest.
This was not.
“You believe I should just stand here…and wait?” he asked gravely.
It was obvious that went against his sensibilities. He was clouded by his feelings for Kierse. It was a welcome change, but under the circumstances, George didn’t want to have to find a new boss.
Not that anyone would be able to put Graves back together if something did happen to Kierse.
“Yes,” George said. The daredevil asking for patience. How ironic.
“Edgar, go back for another coin. I’m calling Vale for backup,” Graves said. His hands were fists at his side. “We’ll wait here for my wren.”
Part IV
the cauldron
Chapter Thirty-Nine
The tracker directed her up. Past the main streets of the New York side of Nying Market, away from the elevator, to a set of laborious stairs. Up, up, up they went.
Her heart beat a fast staccato in her chest while the streets grew quieter, darker, more dangerous. She held her gun out in front of her as she navigated the streets with the help of George’s cell phone. The red dot on the map was the only thing telling her she was going the right direction.
A pair of goblins rushed out at her on the next corner, and she leveled her gun at their heads. The first one reared back, stumbling into the second, who pushed him out of the way and snarled at her, “Pretty little thing’s lost?”
“No,” Kierse said. Her last market experience was traumatic enough to put steel in her voice.
She probably looked lost. Mostly naked save for the cutoff dress that hid next to nothing, walking barefoot in the grimy streets. It wasn’t how she wanted to be spending the night, but she was going to leave the market tonight with or without the cauldron, and no goblins were going to stop her.
“Do you even know how to use that?” the goblin asked.
She fired at his feet. He yelped and jumped backward.
“Yes,” she spat. “Now let me pass.”
The goblins dashed away, a furious “crazy bitch” muttered under their breaths as they left.
Kierse didn’t like that the sound of the gunshot would call attention to her, but she had bigger problems. The tracker had stopped.
She jogged forward, hoping to make up for their head start. Luckily, her speed had increased, and though she needed some concentration to see where she was going, she didn’t let up. Just let the thrill of the chase rush through her as she promised herself that it’d only be one more minute. One more minute and then she’d have the cauldron.
She’d just need to get the thing out of here. A problem for later.
Kierse whipped around a corner, chancing a glance at the phone, and caught the moment the tracker blinked and then disappeared.
“No,” she gasped.
This couldn’t be happening. She was this close. Just around this corner.
Her breathing was ragged as she jogged ahead into a deserted alley. She turned in a circle, encountering only blank walls. Where could they have gone?
With a crunch she stepped on something with her bare foot and yelped.
She bent down to retrieve what she’d stepped on. She groaned. It was the tracking device. Busted.
“Fuck.”
She didn’t know what to do. The tracker was destroyed. The cauldron was gone. She’d come in here alone for nothing. Anyone who’d managed to get into the market after her would never find her now without the tracker’s signal.