“And now you’re going to tell me we need to go down there?”
I nod again.
“Nope. Nuh-uh. That’s how horror movies start.”
Despite my grim focus, the townspeople... do not seem entirely afraid of me.
They stare, yes. But not with fear. With interest. One woman asks if I’m a “WWE stuntman.” I tell her I do not know this ‘double-you-double-you-ee,’ but if it involves battle, perhaps I am.
Olivia rolls her eyes. “He’s new in town. Norwegian exchange program.”
“Explains the accent,” the woman says, handing over a basket of scones. “And the biceps.”
We walk on.
Children chase each other between stalls. A man sells raw honey from glass jars that sparkle in the light. A wrinkled woman with hands like twisted bark offers us peach preserves in tiny paper cups.
I sniff it. Sweet. Cloying. Poisonous, maybe?
“No, it’s jam,” Olivia whispers. “Just try it.”
I do. And... it is good.
Dangerously good.
As we walk, she talks. More than before.
Her voice is lighter now, not weighted with suspicion or fear. She laughs at small things—my confusion at a sign reading “locally-sourced arugula,” or the way I duck instinctively when a pigeon flies too close.
“You’re not exactly subtle,” she teases.
“I was not forged for subtlety.”
“No kidding. You walk like the ground owes you money.”
“Does it not?”
She snorts, shaking her head.
I catch her smiling when she thinks I’m not looking.
This place is strange. Weak on the surface, but there is strength here. In her. In the way she guides me through her world, fielding questions with dry wit and answering danger with defiance.
There is steel beneath her softness.
She does not wear it on her back, like I do. She carries it in her tongue. Her stance. Her refusal to be broken.
We round the far edge of the market, past a table stacked with loaves of something called “zucchini bread,” when the stench hits me full force.
Rot.
Fresh.
Blood was spilled here. Not long ago.
I crouch, ignoring the murmurs from a trio of young mothers sipping iced drinks.
The scent curls under my tongue—hot metal and meat. The Vorfaluka was here, and recently.
