by E. A. Copen
Unfortunately, since I didn’t have any retainers or whatever, that also meant I had no currency to make a trade. That meant I had no way of getting Nyx’s box. I relayed that concern to Osric, who nodded.
“I have nothing of value either,” he said, “since, technically, I am still indebted to my queen.”
We both looked to Beth who flushed. “Well, don’t look at me. I’m pretty attached to my soul.”
I sighed. “Well then, how do we get the box?”
The auction for the cursed organ had ended with a man in black robes placing the final bet, and they’d moved onto the Jade Scroll. I tried not to pay too much attention to the winged guy I’d seen earlier and how many years he was bidding on it. He surely wasn’t bidding with his own years, but someone else’s. My hands tightened into fists. Someone who didn’t have any say in how their years were spent.
“I have the authority to bid on Her Majesty's behalf,” Osric said, “but I don’t have a bidding card. You do.” He nodded to the sign I was carrying with the number thirteen on it. “Whatever bid you decide, Nyx will fulfill it. I’ll see to it that no years are lost from your own life.”
“No deal.” I shook my head.
Osric twisted his face in confusion. “What? Why not?”
I watched Fade hand the Jade Scroll to the baboon man who handed the winged guy a slip of paper and sent the scroll to be boxed up. “Because while you might have the authority to bid for your queen, she doesn’t have her people’s permission to sacrifice years of their life, their souls, for some stupid box. Even if that box contains a part of her soul. Her soul’s no more important than theirs.”
“Hold up,” Beth said, turning on us. “A soul box? You’re here for the sheut box too?”
I winced. I hadn’t meant to let that slip, but it was going to come out sooner or later either way. They couldn’t both be in possession of the same box at the same time. “You don’t want this sheut box,” I said to Beth, shaking my head. “No artifact is worth years of your life spent in servitude to these guys.”
She squared her jaw and lifted her chin. “Says the man who willingly gave six years of his life for the chance at solving his sister’s murder.”
I opened my mouth to tell her that was different, but the words wouldn’t come out. She was right. I’d traded six years of imprisonment, and the two years of parole that followed, for the minuscule chance that it’d get me closer to Lydia’s murderer. What she didn’t know was I’d traded even more for the same chance. I’d have traded everything to get my hands on the guy who was responsible for siphoning the life out of my kid sister. Even my soul.
“I’ve already spent four years looking for this,” Beth continued. “Four years of scouring over historical documents, hieroglyphs, browsing through libraries and perusing dusty rooms full of dead things. Do you know what that’s like for a normal person, Lazarus? Spending all of your waking hours among the dead in hopes that somewhere in that room lies the answer to a question you don’t even know how to ask?”
When I didn’t answer, she turned on her heels to face the front. “I’ve already traded four years for this box. What are a few more?”
This type of trade wasn’t the same but telling her that wasn’t going to change her mind. Beth’s stubbornness was one of her best qualities most of the time. When she wanted something, she’d never back down, no matter how bad things got or how hard getting there was. Once she set her mind to something, she kept at it until she got it.
If I wanted to keep Beth from selling years of her life to Fade and his baboon pal, I’d have to stop her from bidding.
I looked around. Guards blocked every exit, but I was willing to bet I could get them to open the doors under the right circumstances. Something like a medical emergency. That’d get us out of the auction hall, but leaving without the box would cause me to break my contract with Nyx. She wouldn’t be happy. She’d probably even send Osric to kill me, and I wouldn’t be able to stop him. If it were just me, I’d have chanced it, but now Beth was on Osric’s radar. Nyx might word the order in such a way that obligated Osric to hurt Beth too, and I couldn’t risk that. I had to find a way to keep Beth from winning the auction that also gave me the box.
My shoulders slumped with a heavy sigh. The only way that was going to happen was if I outbid her. Since my time was arguably worth more than hers, I wouldn’t have to bid as much to beat her. Still, I was sick at the thought of offering a blank check to a bunch of bad guys. That was exactly what Pony had taught me not to do. But what choice did I have?
Chapter Seventeen
The rest of the auction flew by. Not everything I’d seen out on the floor went up for sale, which was somehow comforting, but enough powerful artifacts were bought and sold with souls in an hour that I lost track. The casual air with which everyone went about it almost made me forget at times that’s what was on the line. Enough souls changed hands on a temporary basis that afternoon to make the bids I was planning seem insignificant. I hoped Osric was right when he guessed how useful ownership of my soul would be.
“And now for the next lot.” Fade gestured to the cart his baboon friend had just wheeled onto the stage.
A cardboard sign in the front of the cart announced this was lot forty-two, the lot containing Nyx’s box. If memory served, the lot also contained a couple of other boxes and some magic thread. Not much of interest to most people in the room. For the three of us in the back, it was everything.
“Who would like to start the bidding?” Fade asked, tapping his gavel in the palm of his hand.
Beth raised her card, and I closed my eyes as she announced, “Fourteen days.”
A toothy smile spread over Fade’s face, and he pointed the gavel at her. “Two weeks from the only human in the room. A low bid! Who can beat it? Come on, should be easy. What’s two weeks, am I right? Barely a morsel.”
A chuckle went through the crowd. Beth’s face turned beet red.
I was about to chime in with my bid when someone else called out, “Sixty seconds.”
My eyes popped open, and I scanned the crowd for the raised number. It belonged to someone in the front row, but I couldn’t see his face. He was wearing an expensive powder blue suit, though, and must’ve been someone really important if a minute of his time was worth more than two weeks of Beth’s.
Fade gestured to the new bidder with the gavel. “Sixty seconds. Do I hear more?”
I threw my bid paddle up. “Twenty-four hours.”
The pews in the room let out a collective creak as every head turned to look at me, every head, that was, except for the gentleman in the front row. The look people’s faces ranged from bewilderment to fear. Maybe I’d bid too low. It’d taken me a while to work out a hierarchy in the room based on what little I knew, and the souls I could see. Using that hierarchy, I worked out a rough equivalency in my head for whose time was worth what.
Except I didn’t know where I stood in the hierarchy. I assumed I was higher than most people who had no souls but not as high as the gods. Or maybe I was above them. I could rip out their souls if I wanted after all.
Fade’s eyes grew wide and sparkled. “My dear, I believe you’ve been outbid,” he said to Beth. “For an equivalent bid, you would have to offer much more substantial time.”
Beth shot me a furious glare. “Ten years.”
“I’m afraid that’s not enough,” Fade said with a frown. “Going once.”
Ten years of her life wasn’t equivalent to one day of mine? Holy shit, I’d vastly underestimated where I stood then.
“Twenty-five years,” Beth shouted, turning back to the front.
I grabbed her arm. “Are you crazy? No trinket is worth that.”
She jerked her arm away. “Is twenty-five enough or isn’t it?”
Fade inclined his head. “The bid is twenty-five years from the human woman. Who can best it?”
The guy in the front row raised his card again. Damn him. “One hour.”
; The smile Fade had been holding onto faded, and I could swear I saw sweat beading on his brow. “One day from the gentleman in front.” Fade’s voice cracked, and he cleared his throat turning back to me. “Will you continue?”
I was almost too busy trying to work out the crazy math in my head to answer. If Front Row Guy’s single hour was worth more than my twenty-four, I definitely ranked below him somewhere. But my day was better than his sixty seconds, enough so that everyone seemed shocked by the bid. I’d also forced him to bid significantly higher.
“Two days,” I said holding up my sign and flashing two fingers.
Beth opened her mouth but stopped when I squeezed her arm.
“Bid again, and I’ll drop a knockout spell on you,” I whispered. “This is for your own good.”
She scowled at me but said nothing. Maybe she’d finally thought this through.
The man in front raised his card again. “I’ll go as high as thirty-two hours.”
A woman a row ahead of us turned to the man she was with. “Do they know something we don’t? It’s just a bunch of worthless boxes.” Her date shrugged.
“Thirty-two?” Fade tugged on his collar. “That’s quite a high bid. Horseman, will you beat it?”
“Seventy-two hours,” I said. “How’s that?”
Fade looked to the gentleman in the front row who shook his head. The gavel struck the podium with a loud crack. “Lot forty-two sold to number one-three, the Pale Horseman.”
Baboon guy tore off a slip of paper and jumped down from the stage to bring it to me, a huge grin on his face. “Nice knowing you.”
As he retreated, Osric pulled on my sleeve. “I hope you know what you’re doing. A lot can happen in three days.”
I shrugged, pretending it was no big deal I’d just sold my soul to a bunch of monsters for three days’ time. “We got the box. Now come on and let’s go collect it while we still can.”
I turned and marched to the back of the room where another cat shifter guard scowled at me until I waved the ticket at him. “I’ve got a golden ticket! Now let me through so I can go get my stuff and get gone.”
“No one leaves until the auction is concluded,” the cat shifter said, tail swishing. “Then you go to the office and sign your contract and render payment. Only after payment is rendered can you receive your goods.”
Well, shit. I hadn’t even thought of that. Fade and Baboon guy would want me to pay my three days’ worth of service before I could collect the box? No way that was going to work out. Maybe I could find a little wiggle room in the contract, or force them to accept a payment plan of some sort. Anything to buy me enough time to figure out a way out of this.
“How many more lots?” Osric asked. “Surely those guests who are fae aren’t required to stay through dusk.”
I blinked at him. “You slimy son of a bitch. You’d really slink out of here and leave me on my own?”
“Relax.” Osric rolled his eyes. “I’d come back after the transition. I just can’t be in the mortal world during that time. I’m virtually powerless during dusk and dawn. And since I’ve no idea how time is passing here compared to Louisiana time, I need to get out before dusk. Well before, preferably. Her Majesty of Shadows would be upset if any harm were to come to her Knight.”
I cleared my throat, drawing another eye roll from the fae.
“And his guests,” Osric said, gesturing to Beth and me.
The guard eyed us, tail swishing hard. “I suppose an exception can be made. There are only a few more lots. But you’ll have to go to Mr. Emits’ office instead.”
“Emits?” I almost choked. It was a Seth Emits who had pointed me to this auction in the first place. It couldn’t be the same guy, could it?
“That will suffice so long as Mr. Emits can speed up the process.”
The cat guard bowed slightly to Osric. “Then come with me.”
In the hall, Beth linked her arm in mine, making me look down at her. She hung onto me as if I were the only thing holding her up. Her dark eyebrows were knitted with worry. “What are you going to do? You won’t make it working for that creep in there. Not even for a few days.”
“I’m pretty much playing this by ear,” I whispered back. “What was your plan? You offered twenty-five years, Beth. For a box? Why?”
She ducked her head, leaning against me. We didn’t have any direct contact through the leather of my jacket, but I could feel the warmth of her through it. Had she been touching me directly, my skin would be burning with the difference in temperature. “I wanted someone to remember me.”
I stopped walking. “Remember you?” When she didn’t answer, I put my hands on her shoulders and held her away from me. “Beth? What’s wrong?”
Her chest heaved, and she wiped away a tear. “Nothing. It’s nothing. Just… If I had that box, I’d have done something, you know? I’ve spent my whole life in books reading about other people discovering things or gathering rare artifacts. I thought this was my chance. And now that I don’t have it…” Her shoulders slumped. “I’ve wasted so much time chasing a treasure I’ll never even hold. When I think about all the other things I could’ve been doing, I just…” Beth hugged herself and shrugged.
“Hey, tell you what. When we get the box, you can hold it. Maybe even talk to the queen about studying it a little bit.”
Her eyes brightened. “Really?”
“Sure,” I said with a shrug. “Though that last part will be up to the queen and her knight. I don’t have any problems with it though.”
She practically bounced at the announcement, hopping up on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on my cheek like we were old pals again.
Except we’d been more than friends. The gesture brought memories of that time back to me. My cheek burned against her lips, the warmth spreading through me. I’d forgotten how cold I was until she reminded me. Guess it’s easy to forget when you’d hardly touched anyone for two weeks.
For a moment, my brain was fooled into thinking we were back in a time where that quick peck on the cheek could’ve turned into something more. I remembered the feel of soft skin under my fingers, the dampness of sweat at my hairline, muffled moans of pleasure as her face pressed hard into my chest.
“Lazarus?” Beth frowned. “What’s wrong?”
I shook the memory away. That had been a lifetime ago when my biggest daily worries were paying the bills on time and slogging through my homework. “Nothing.”
“Are you two coming?” Osric asked, tapping his foot. He stood a short way down the hall with the cat shifter guard, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised.
I didn’t satisfy him with an answer, choosing instead to just walk the short distance to meet him.
We continued through a maze of sandstone hallways in silence, making so many turns it was impossible to keep track of where we were in relation to where we’d started. The place was a labyrinth of empty halls, low ceilings, and echoing voices that didn’t seem attached to anyone or anything. I hoped we didn’t have to find our way out, because I had no idea where the exit was, let alone where we were.
At long last, the guard stopped in front of a boring-looking wooden door that had been painted brown to match the sandstone around it. The door, however, looked much newer than the stone as it was free of any dust or wear.
“Mr. Emits,” said the guard, cracking open the door after a knock. “Sorry to disturb you, but the Shadow Knight and the Pale Horseman were hoping to make their payment and have an early exit.”
I glanced at Beth. The guard had failed to mention her to his boss, but maybe it was a simple oversight. Most supernatural creatures probably thought humans were barely worth mentioning anyway.
“Show them in.”
The guard pushed the door open all the way and gestured with his head that we should enter.
I patted the guard on the shoulder on my way through. “Thanks, Mittens. Say, I think I saw a mouse a few hallways back if you want to bring the boss a gift.”
The guard scowled at me and swished his tail so that it hit my back on the way through with just enough force to send me stumbling into the next room before the door slammed shut behind me.
I don’t know what I expected to find on the other side of the door, but it certainly wasn’t what I found. For starters, this was the first room in the sandstone building that had been carpeted. In fact, even the walls were different, made of dark wood paneling instead of sandstone. A large reclining couch took up most of the room on my right, while a simple padded chair, the kind you find in a doctor’s office waiting room, sat on the left. Dim lighting made the room feel comfortable, less intense than the rest of the place.
At the back of the room, seated at a large, cherry desk, was Seth Emits. He still wore his business casual getup from the day before, though it still looked as crisp and pressed as it had yesterday. He looked up from whatever he was jotting on the paper in front of us, a smile slowly spreading across his lips. “Good to see you found your way after all, Horseman. I was beginning to worry the trap we’d sprung hadn’t worked.”
Trap? Well, shit. And I’d brought Beth.
I offered him a smile despite the bees buzzing in my gut that screamed I should turn around and run. “Usually the bad guys don’t tell me about the trap until it’s too late for me to get out.”
“I’m afraid it’s quite late.” He stood, the rolling chair bumping gently into the wall behind him.
“Laz,” Osric whispered and tilted his head toward the wall.
There, perched on the wall was a miniaturized version of the gator responsible for totaling my car the day before. It wasn’t moving and didn’t look particularly lifelike since it was made of wood, but there was no mistaking that it was the same fanciful animal.
I turned back to Seth and activated my Soul Vision. His shone bright gold, as I suspected. It felt like things were falling into place somehow, but I still didn’t have enough information to put the whole puzzle together.