Nix chimed in. “And empanadas for both of us.”
He walked away without another word, and we went back to staring out the window.
Soon, cups and plates piled with puffy, savory treats were being laid in front of me, but I’d stopped paying attention to what was happening directly around me. I’d spotted someone on the other side of the road, a black-clad head bobbing in the crowd.
“Nix,” I said, trying to hold down my excitement. “Is that one of them?”
“Where?” She turned and gazed out the window with me.
I pointed. “When that carriage passes, you’ll see him.”
She shook her head; I felt deflated. “That’s not one of them,” she said. “Hmmm... He looks like he might know them, though.” She picked up one of the pastries and took a bite.
I did the same. “Oh my god, this is amazing.” The crust was buttery and crisp and filled with a thick paste of cheese and vegetables. Better than anything I ever had back in the human world.
“I told you! Makes being here worth it,” Nix said, then suddenly leaned closer to the window. “Wait, hold on. I think it is one of the guys I saw.”
“Should we go over there?” I asked, even if I kind of hoped she’d say no. This was the second merienda we hadn’t finished. But she was up and heading out the door before I could stop her. I took out some coins and left them on the table.
Nix was already prepared to cross the street when I caught up to her. “Hey! Wait for me.”
“I’m not ditching you,” she said. Her head swayed back and forth, watching for a break in the traffic. “Just wanted to make sure one of us got there before he left.” She tugged on my sleeve. “Come on.” We dodged horses and calesas, almost getting run over by a farmer’s cart, until our feet were planted firmly on the other side.
“That was harrowing,” I said.
“He’s still there,” Nix said. “Let’s hurry.”
We dashed down the street, swerving around slow walkers. Right before we reached the flower stand, we slowed down. “Here,” Nix said, tilting her head toward the bookshop next to us. There were tables out front, covered in old books. She began leafing through one of them, looking up at the suspicious man frombeneath her hood. I followed suit. The nearest book was huge, like a coffee-table book but hundreds of pages long. The cover was plain brown leather. I opened it and read the title:Spells and Incantations: A Forbidden History. I wondered if there was anything about the beetles in here. I flipped to the back, but there was no index. So I paged through it randomly instead. If the entries were in any sort of order, I couldn’t make sense of it. There were some about potions and poisons, coercion spells, love spells—nothing about beetles or bugs.
Nix grabbed me again. “He’s on the move.”
We followed the man a little farther up the street, past the flower stand, a fabric shop, and a rug seller. He didn’t stop walking until he reached the spice merchant. We jerked to a halt and started examining the rugs.
“These are very expensive,” an old woman said to us. “If you want something more affordable, they’re on the other side.”
“Just browsing, thanks,” Nix said. We walked away while the woman glared at us.
We were going straight to the spice cart. “What are we doing? Do we have a plan?” I whispered. The possible insurgent was only a few feet away from us now. And he didn’t look particularly friendly.
She nudged me gently in his direction.
“Why me?” I asked. Now, all of a sudden, Nix lost her nerve?
“You’re right,” she said. “This was a bad idea.” She retreated a few steps and turned as if she was going back to the palace.
This time, I grabbed her by the cloak. “Oh, no,” I said. “We didn’t come all this way for nothing.” I was still reluctant, but I tried to feel brave. Nix was looking at me, encouraging me to go ahead. Counting on me to lead the way. I figured if I was going toget any respect as queen, I needed to prove I deserved it. No one would approve of a leader who couldn’t even start a conversation with a random guy in the market, no matter how sketchy he looked.
I took a deep breath and started walking toward him before I could talk myself out of it again. Nix followed me. “Here’s that cinnamon I was telling you about,” I told her.
“Oh, wow, yes,” she said, picking up a small jar. She smelled it. “Ah, yes.Wonderfulindeed,” she said in a weirdly formal voice. I felt like slapping my hand to my face. It was obvious we were up to something. The spice merchant gave us a withering look. “I’ll take this one,” I told him, yanking the jar from Nix’s hands.
The old man nodded. “Twenty gold crowns.”
“I left my money at home,” Nix whispered to me.
I took the coins from my skirt pocket and handed them to him. The shady guy was still looking the other way, but I could tell his ear was perked and he was listening to us. At that point I knew for sure he’d noticed us following him.
I stepped closer, as if I was also inspecting the cardamom pods. I watched his hand inch closer to the knife on his belt. I felt a lump in my throat and belly at the same time.
