He had been bent over the body on the floor, which was surrounded by what appeared to be a thousand shards of glass and a single lantern.The latter had been knocked on its side, but still shed enough dim yellow light to make the glass sparkle like diamonds and to shine golden bright in Lee’s eyes.It made him appear even more fearsome than his transformed state usually did, but the girl did not seem intimidated.
Or impressed.
“You wouldn’t try this shit if Lia was up,” she said, coming into the room.“She’d have your hide for it—maybe literally!”
The girl named Jen entered behind her, along with the one called Kimmie.They had to do so one at a time, as the passage outside was less of a tunnel than a crack in the earth, which seemed an odd setup for someone in his line of work, I thought, looking at the dead man on the floor.The narrow opening might help with defense, but would almost certainly prove a trap in a crisis.
Unless…
I began examining the small space.
“You scared me half to death!”Lee snapped at Sophie.
“Why?You’re the one with the dead body.”She bent to get a better look at it.
He was still there, or most of him.He was lying face down, but she did not have to strain to turn him over, as the damage was evident.A bloody shirt, a shattered rib cage, a missing heart.And the smell of his attacker...
I saw her nose twitch, but knew she was getting nothing.The small workshop had contained rows of wooden racks along the walls, holding hundreds of bottles that were now smashed, the contents absorbed by the sand underfoot, their smells rising in a thick miasma.That was especially true now, with more people shuffling about and stirring up the potion-filled dust, but it had already been overpowering.
More so even than the market.Some of these concoctions were the same as those sold there, but others were more illicit and far more powerful.The latter had already eaten halfway up the walls, like mold; they had caused the surface of the earth to bubble up beneath them like paint under a remover; they had puddled on the floor, mixing with the dead man’s blood, and yet I couldn’t smell even that.
They had blotted out everything in their magical profusion.
Except for the voices.The many people who had spoken words over the potions, had mixed their magic into the ingredients, bringing them to new life and new purpose, shouted loudly enough to have caught my attention from halfway across the complex.I had quieted my mind when we arrived to allow me to think, but focusing on the potions had turned the volume back up.
I looked away, annoyed, as Sophie reached her verdict.
“Gross,” she announced.
“He hasn’t been dead for that long,” Jen murmured, her eyes closed and her hand extended.“Maybe an hour at most.He’s on the cusp, but…” Her eyes opened again and met Sophie’s.“He’s still fresh.”
“Oh, God,” Sophie said.
“What the hell does that mean?”Lee demanded.“And you shouldn’t be here!Any of you!”
“Neither should you.Kimmie saw you sneaking off—”
“We weren’t sneaking.Chaysnuck.Wewere going after him to bring him back before anyone saw!”
“Oh, is that what you’re doing?”Sophie looked from him to the mutilated corpse on the floor.
“Do you guys have any money?”Jace piped up, looking hopefully at the girls.
“Why do you need money?”Jen asked, but Sophie’s eyes widened.
“You absolute losers!”she gasped.“You Changed with no extra clothes or a way to buy some?You know, we ought to let you run home with it all hanging out!It would serve you right!”
“Do you have any or not?”Lee demanded harshly.
“Don’t take that tone with me!You’re in enough trouble—”
“That tone?That tone?”he squared up with her, nose to nose.“Who the hell do you think you are?You’re not my Lupa—”
“But I knew where to find her,” she said sweetly.
“—and you’re not even involved in this.This is clan business!”
“And we’re not clan?”Jen demanded, looking up from where she’d knelt by the body to examine it.
