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)
“Maybe the god could,” Niamh said with a shrug.
“That’s not how it works.” Graves led them down a darkened alley. “The coin that you’re using only lets you in and out of the entrance that you came through. You wouldn’t be able to find the New York opening if you went looking.”
Kierse sighed. “Of course. Nothing can be easy.”
“The easier magic makes your life, the more costly,” he said.
“Much more costly,” Niamh agreed. “I doubt there would even be coins if you could jump between one opening and another. The cost is already the goblin fruit, and since I don’t particularly want it to run more rampant, I’m glad for the limitations.”
Finally, from the gloom, a set of stone stairs was illuminated by bracketed lanterns.
“Up through here to the next level,” Graves said as he pulled out his phone. Kierse was surprised to see that it worked. When she pulled out hers, it had no signal.
A handful of straggling humans stumbled in front of them toward the stairs. A pair of goblins stood on either side, one with another giant axe on his shoulder and the other with a big black club across his chest. A box of goblin fruit rested at their feet and one of them kicked it toward the lumbering group.
“Pay for some fruit and eat to move up the floor,” one goblin grunted.
The humans jerked forward, handing off whatever cash they had and grabbing a fruit each out of the basket. They half crawled up the stairs as they brought the fruit to their mouths.
“Eat,” the goblin snapped at their group.
Graves flashed his coin. “We have leave of the market.”
“Don’t fucking care. Eat or leave.”
Graves’s eyes went from thundercloud gray to nearly black as he straightened to his considerable height. It was easy to find his cool demeanor endearing when they were alone together. Sometimes she forgot that he was actively terrifying. “Say that again,” he said in a deep rumble that shook their bones.
The second goblin glanced warily at the first. These seemed like lowly guards compared to the ones at the gate. It was unclear if they were even really guards or just civilian goblins who had enterprised themselves into a side-hustle.
“I said that you have to pay and eat to take the stairs,” the first goblin snapped back, too stupid to be afraid.
It happened in an instant. The first guard swung the axe threateningly but inexpertly at their group. He came within an inch of Graves, who jerked out of the way at the last second, only succeeding in pissing Graves off more. The second guard panicked and lunged at Kierse with his club. Kierse deflected it on instinct, but she felt like her forearm was going to shatter.
“Shit,” Kierse gasped. “Can’t we just pay them?”
Niamh wrestled the second guard to the ground, trying to maneuver the club out of his hand. “We aren’t going to eat the fruit.”
Graves had the axe now and used it to bash the first guard in the head. He dropped like a sack of potatoes. Footsteps sounded behind them, as if reinforcements were coming.
“Knock him out, Niamh,” Graves snapped.
Niamh snarled at him, but it was Kierse who dealt the blow that knocked the final guard unconscious. Niamh stood, breath slightly ragged, and she hauled the goblin away from the stairs.
“Bloody business. This never happens when I need specialty herbs.”
“The market always throws some sort of bullshit at us,” Graves said. “Let’s just take the stairs before more of them show up.”
Kierse couldn’t agree more. So they started climbing. She couldn’t help but admire the stairs, especially as their style changed from an Irish stone to a dark reddish brick. Her arm still ached, and she tried to hide it as they climbed, but Niamh noticed.
“I can fix that for you.”
“When we’re safer,” Kierse said. “I can still hear goblins behind us.”
It was true. She’d thought the farther they climbed, the safer they would be, but it seemed the reinforcements had discovered their unconscious brethren and were giving chase. If a horde of goblins caught up to them, they were in for a world of trouble.
The stairs had changed again to a modern concrete. They had climbed high enough to be in the cloud line—or what Kierse had assumed was a foggy cloud, but what turned out to be a barrier of some sort between the Dublin she had left behind and the next city on the wheel.
Kierse stepped off the stairs onto familiar pavement. Her heart stuck in her throat at the sight of the sleek city gleaming before her. A version of Manhattan, with its characteristic brownstones and fire escapes. Humans and monsters bustled through the metropolis at a relentless pace. Their clothes were mostly black and inconspicuous, but some were outrageous and unique. The air somehow even smelled like the city.