by Lan Chan
I balked.
“Yeah, that’s right,” he said. “I thought that might be your reaction.” He rounded on Sophie. “Close your mouth, cupcake. You’ll catch flies.”
Sophie’s jaw snapped shut. “We can’t be here,” she bit out.
He lobbed a look of disdain her way. “If you’re afraid now, you better buckle yourself in.” With that, he turned and stalked towards a tented pavilion under the cover of a gnarled tree the size of a house. Its branches were bare and would have let in the sun if there was any to be had.
“One of these days...” Sophie imitated swinging a sword. No guesses what the target was.
I shook my head at her. “We need him, remember?”
Her nose scrunched. “I highly doubt that. I bet if you told Eugenia, she’d have taken us.”
“I would rather be here with Captain Psycho than Queen Inappropriate.”
Sophie contemplated this for a second. “Yeah, okay. I see your point.” She scrunched her eyes shut. “I’m still trying to get that image of her out of my head.”
“Good luck,” I snorted. The first week after Christmas, Eugenia had had enough of my moping about Kai and insisted we do a cleansing ritual. Sophie and I had walked in on a drunk sorceress circle where they were all naked, all screeching, and all juiced up on some pheromone potion. Eugenia had told me I needed to purge Kai from my system. Her idea of a cleanse involved replacing my memories of Kai with new ones. That was when I saw the “willing sacrifice.” He was shifter. Bear, I think. I hadn’t had time to investigate because he was waving at me with his third limb and I had bolted. Now the whole of Ravenhall was laughing at me for being a prude. So even though it seemed crazy, Andrei was the lesser of two evils right now.
Mr. Lesser Evil was glaring at us from the perimeter of the tree line. I grabbed Sophie’s arm and dragged her forward. Everywhere around us, supernaturals of all shapes and sizes were milling around. What struck me was that there were guards patrolling the market.
“I thought this was supposed to be an illegal black market,” I said as we approached Andrei.
He eyed the Fae guard who had just rounded the corner. “This is a black market. I can’t vouch for the illegal.” Though the way his irises darkened had me thinking that the really illegal stuff only happened if you knew the right people. Or a secret password. “The guards are here to make sure this doesn’t spill out into the human world,” he said. “Better to regulate a little than to have it go underground.”
A huge sandwich board sitting beside the entrance caught my attention. There were portraits of people stuck to it in three neat rows of four. At the base of each picture was a sum of money. “What are these?” I asked.
Andrei barely glanced in my direction. “Available bounties.”
That struck me as odd. “Why don’t the elite guard take care of it?”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, the elite guard have their hands full. These people are petty criminals.”
I pointed at a picture of a dead-eyed man with a trim beard. “This one says he’s a murderer!”
Andrei squinted at the small writing beneath the picture. “It says he killed human criminals. That doesn’t really count.”
“I’m sure the humans think it counts.”
“At this point, if they’re not demons, it’s considered petty.”
What the heck kind of logic was that?
An announcement was made that the auction was beginning. Uncomfortable wooden chairs appeared in scattered rows. Andrei made us take seats on the right column beside the aisle. I swore I could feel a splinter trying to get me through my jeans. A goblin approached the little raised platform at the front of the tent. His skin was an oak brown with flecks of gold. Rather than pointed, his ears were rounded at the tip and singed black. Raised areas of smooth skin covered the edge as though his cartilage had been sanded down. Two auburn-haired dwarves scampered around him. One carried a lectern, and the other, a wooden box. They set the box behind the lectern. When the goblin stood on it, only his head could be seen above the lectern.
“Get a bigger box,” Andrei remarked.
“Shut up,” I said.
He rolled his eyes. “Oh, right, I forgot you’re the founding and only member of the para-human fan club.”
“Better than a vampire,” Sophie stage-whispered.
The goblin tapped a small, wooden gavel against the lectern. The noise of the crowd dimmed into a low hush as last-minute bidders took their places. A rotting-fish smell hit my nose. Sophie inched closer as a robust man in a soaking grey cloak shuffled past us. He sat down on the seat by Sophie’s left. Wood groaned. There was Neptune’s Beard seaweed clinging to his actual beard. He shifted in the too-small chair, flinging saltwater at us. I made a note to burn my clothes when we got home.
The auction got underway. A dome of white appeared above the head of each person at the auction. When they bid, the domes changed colour to represent their intentions. Gold for the highest bid, green for the last winning bid, and red for those who were in the game but not winning. At first, I couldn’t keep up because the colours would change at times when I didn’t hear a verbal bid. It took me a while to realise some of the bids were coming in telepathically.
The first few auctions were your run-of-the-mill magical artefacts. It was like a twisted version of Antiques Roadshow. I tried not to dwell on where these artefacts were extracted from. Andrei stamped on my foot when the dwarf assistants dragged in a silver cage with a knee-height alicorn inside it. The white of its hair was so bright it was almost blistering against the grey sky. There was a small bump on its head where its horn would eventually erupt. Its wings were tiny little feathered limbs on its back.
The bidding started off at five hundred manna and skyrocketed from there. I nudged Andrei with my elbow. “Don’t even think about it,” he said. “They’re a pain in the ass.”
About nine auctions in, an antique sword came up for sale. I nudged Sophie. “Could be a good ascension present for Max.”
She swallowed hard. “A gift at an ascension carries a lot of underlying implications for shifters.”
The bidding began at two hundred manna and climbed steadily higher. Way out of our price range anyway. I had my winnings from the Unity Games to fall back on, but Basil had taken it and deposited it somewhere in Rivia in case of emergency.
“Aww c’mon. So you’re not getting him a present?”
Her hands clenched. “You mean besides my dignity offered up on a silver platter?”
Jeez. Sorry I asked! I wasn’t sure what was going on with them, but something told me that the rigid shifter customs were starting to wedge their way between them. My thoughts were so full of concern that I almost missed our lot coming up for auction. Shaking myself of worry, I focused on the task at hand.
“I’ll start the bidding at five thousand manna,” the dwarf announced. I almost had a heart attack. What the heck! Sophie and I exchanged glances. Her skin was becoming bleached of colour. Five thousand! It was a bloody rattle for goodness sake. What happened to small increments?
Andrei raised his hand and the orb above his head turned gold.
“Ten thousand,” a high-pitched voice at the front of the space called out.
“What the hell?” Sophie said.
“Fifteen,” Andrei threw out.
“Twenty,” a gruff voice to the left offered.
I could barely turn my head in time to keep up. The bids came from all directions. Thirty-five thousand, forty-five. Sixty.
“Seventy-five,” Andrei snarled.
“Andrei…this is insanity. Surely Victoria will come through eventually?”
He wasn’t listening. When I turned to study him, his features had hardened into stone. His jawline could have cut diamonds. “What’s going on?”
He was too intent to answer. I focused my attention on those around us and saw more than one set of eyes watching him closely. Sophie’s fists balled where she had them rested on her thighs. A
s soon as Andrei made a bid, someone would up the ante. The shoe finally dropped when a lithe Fae man cast Andrei a withering glare.
This wasn’t about the item. They just wanted to get on his nerves. Saying that he was in the bad books was an understatement.
The auction was rigged. If Andrei kept going, he would lose his entire inheritance on a toy. Not a very well-kept one at that. Even from where we sat, I could see the teeth marks on that thing. If we didn’t need it for the summoning, I’d have thrown it in the trash.
Andrei wouldn’t be dissuaded. The bidding reached a hundred thousand. My head spun. I couldn’t imagine that kind of money.
“Two hundred thousand,” the Fae shouted.
Andrei didn’t miss a beat. “Three.”
I clamped my hand on his arm. “You’re being played! Take a look at them. Do you think they have that kind of money?”
His eyes had glassed over into unseeing orbs. There was only one track in his mind, and it was running steadily towards bankruptcy.
“Four hundred thousand,” a primly dressed witch in the front row piped up.
Sophie gripped the back of the chair in front of her. “This is crazy. They’re not going to stop until they’ve taken all your money.”
For some reason, her words seemed to permeate his brain. All of a sudden, I found myself locked in a red-eyed stare. Andrei brushed his palm over the back of my hand. Bid.
“Four hundred thousand and one manna,” I shouted.
Where the heck had that come from?
Sophie’s head whipped in my direction, her eyes bugging out of her head. The rest of the auction goers followed suit. I clutched at my throat as realisation caused my chest to tighten.
“You bastar –”
Stay quiet.
Stunned silence permeated the auction tent. My lower lip trembled, but no matter how hard I tried to open my mouth, it wouldn’t move. Sophie sat rigid in her chair, the dark skin of her hands gone white at the creases. She stamped her foot, but she too couldn’t speak. After what felt like an eternity, the goblin cleared his throat.
“The bid is at four hundred and one thousand manna. Going once.”
The uncertain glances the other bidders shot at each other made my eyes water. C’mon! Just one manna more.
“Going twice.”
The Fae man settled back in his chair. For goodness sake! Now I knew for certain they didn’t have the money to back it up. Couldn’t they see I was just an extension of Andrei? But for whatever reason, they were reluctant to bid against me.
“Sold to Alessia Hastings!”
We sat there through two more lots before the auction ended. The tightly wound ball of fire in my gut smouldered as each second ticked by. Only when the other patrons began to leave did Andrei finally turn to me. He snapped his fingers in front of my nose and the balled-up tension locked inside my chest released. He did the same to Sophie. I clocked him in the head, rage blunting the shock of pain that ran up my arm. He rubbed at his cheek, looking mildly concerned.
“Screw you, Andrei!”
Sophie and I got up at the same time. Andrei snagged my sleeve. “I had no other choice. They weren’t going to stop.”
I shook him off. “Bullshit. You knew exactly what was happening!”
His bewildered expression threw petrol on my blazing anger. “I didn’t have time to ask you,” he reasoned. “If they saw us colluding, they would have known it wasn’t real.”
“I don’t give a shit if they had a blade to your throat! You have no idea what it’s like to be completely helpless while somebody has control of everything you do.”
I blinked, and in my mind, I was in purgatory again, helpless as Jacob stabbed me. My jaw tensed. Tears stung the corners of my eyes.
“Lex.” His frown was quizzical, like he couldn’t work out why I was so worked up.
“Seriously, screw you, Andrei.”
My exit was cut short by a mountain of muscle masquerading as a dwarf. “Alessia Hastings?” the Mountain grunted. “Time to pay up.”
I pointed at Andrei. “He’ll take care of it.”
Another grunt. My temper was starting to make my vision blurry. A tinge of blue light lit up the periphery of my vision. Inside, the churning of the pool of magic was a warning. “You gotta pay,” Dwarf Mountain reiterated.
“I said he’ll take care of it!” My shout carried throughout the clearing, drawing the attention of the market goers. Most of them were unfazed by the spectacle until they did a double-take as though recognising me. People began to inch closer.
“I’ll pay,” Andrei offered magnanimously. Where had I left Morning Star? I was going to carve me some vampire meat.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” a voice behind Dwarf Mountain spoke. I recognised it as the auctioneer’s voice before he stepped out. His hands were clasped behind his back. It was odd speaking to somebody who was actually shorter than me. “The terms of the auction stipulate that whoever bids must pay.”
Andrei loomed. “Since when?” Oh, now he was worried, was he?
“Since we changed the fine print. It stops unsavoury characters from taking advantage.”
“What do you call what just happened in there?”
The goblin shrugged. “Everyone is responsible for their own bids. If you’ll check your passes, you will see it’s all above board.”
Andrei passed his right palm over the back of his left hand where they’d drawn a rune on us when we entered the market. When his teeth elongated, I knew we were stuck. The goblin turned to me. “If you’ll follow me, Miss Hastings, we will settle payment.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” My feet planted firmly on the grass. “I don’t want that thing, and I sure as heck don’t have four hundred thousand manna.”
“And one,” the goblin reminded me. My gratitude was understandably absent.
“I can give you the one,” I snapped.
When I tried to sidestep, two other mountains appeared on either side of me. One was a troll with snot blocking his left nostril. The other was a burly man with a scar running vertically over his cloudy left eye. For some unfathomable reason, he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Across his torso was a plethora of ritualistic tattoos that pulsed with energy when I brushed my magic up against it.
“I’m afraid we can’t allow you to leave,” the goblin said. “In any case, the contract is very clear. If you default on payment, you forfeit your life and services to the Guild.”
“What friggen contract?” This was getting out of hand. I was so done with these supernaturals tricking me into things. The earth groaned beneath my feet as a tendril of hedge magic leaked from the barely contained pool.
Greed shone in the goblin’s grey eyes. “Fascinating,” he said. “You will be perfect.”
He took hold of my arm and tugged. To my dismay, my legs moved without my brain agreeing. Alarmed, my head turned from side to side, trying to piece together what the hell was happening. Andrei tried to chase after me only to be blocked by the mountains. Behind him, Sophie was speaking into a palm mirror.
“Get the hell off me!” I hissed. When I tried to pull away, my limbs felt like they were weighted down by sandbags. It called to mind the golden ropes that had appeared outside the Grove and stopped me from causing it any harm. Once again, I had been outsmarted by a contract.
Bone magic joined the hedge magic rattling inside me. The tree in the clearing shook off a layer of its branches. Roots squirmed as though brushing out the kinks of a long sleep.
Just as the tree was about to become mobile, a cloud of green angelfire soothed my nerves. The tree groaned as it settled back into place.
Kai touched down beside me, his wings retracting in a sharp snap. His eyes flicked to where the goblin had hold of me. I found myself suddenly free.
His voice was dagger-laced. “Touch her again and you’ll wish you were dead.”
There was well and truly a crowd around us now. The way the goblin cowered made me think if we w
ere alone, he would have run. But with so many onlookers, he couldn’t back down.
“She made a deal,” the goblin said.
“The vampire compelled her.”
A shaky smile appeared on the goblin’s face. He rifled around inside the pocket of his tunic and pulled out a scroll. Unfurling it, he read:
“They who bid on any lot, whether freely or through coercion, will pay the price in coin or in servitude.” Allowing the scroll to curl in on itself when he was done reading, the goblin slapped his palm with it. “So you see, we haven’t done anything wrong. You may inspect the contract if you wish.”
Kai’s scarred brow jerked. “Whose coin does it have to be?”
“It must belong to her.”
“How much?”
“Four hundred and one thousand.”
His flat expression caused the crowd to take a collective step back. They weren’t the ones who should have been afraid. Inside the bond, Kai’s fury was directed towards Andrei. The vampire was a colossal moron, but he knew something was up because he was backing away too.
“Make the transfer,” Kai said.
The goblin’s glee was barely contained when he peered at me. “She says she doesn’t have the money. The contract is very clear.”
In my periphery, a half-dozen Nephilim guards touched down. The three mountains cast about, confusion on their dopey faces.
“I said make the transfer!”
Visibly gulping, the goblin produced a small golden abacus that he held out in front of me. “Place your palm over the counter,” he instructed.
“Ahh.” Eloquent to the last.
Kai took hold of my wrist and settled my hand to hover ten centimetres above the abacus. His grip was firm but gentle. A beam of light branched out from the abacus and scanned my palm.
“Alessia Hastings,” spoke a disembodied voice not unlike the MirrorNet personality. “Account number two, two, eleven, two, zero, two, zero. Rivia Bank, insufficient funds.”
Oh brother. I could have told them that. I’d won ten thousand manna at the Unity Games and had thought it was a fortune. This was on another level. But the voice continued.