Sabina laughs, a sound that recalls the murmur of a stream.
“I'm a siren.”
“Come on,” I scoff.
She pulls a small vial from her pocket and touches the liquid with her fingertip. For an instant, her skin seems to acquire an iridescent glow under the light.
“Though I prefer to maintain a human appearance on land. It's more... practical, you know. I can also get people to do things, manipulating their will.”
“Seriously? And you come with the typical fish tail and everything?”
“When I'm in water, yes,” she responds with an amused smile. “Though you should be more worried about the mind-control part.”
“And you?” I ask, turning toward Althea. “Let me guess... You're a dragon? I saw you shooting sparks from your fingers when you got nervous.”
“I'm a Kobold. Dragons don't exist,” she corrects, pulling a small piece of obsidian from her pocket and rolling it between her fingers. “We're fire elementals who live in the depths, near the Earth's core.”
“Of course, how could I not know that?” I respond. “And you work out a lot from what I can see.”
Althea frowns. She hasn't caught my irony.
“Okay. So to sum up, I'm half Fae, that psycho wants me to steal magical things for him, and you three are...”
“Your companions on this mission,” Sylara completes. “Though the half Fae thing, I'm not so sure about. The power I sense in you is great, even if you have no idea how to use it.”
I open my mouth to protest again, but I stop when I notice the building around us begins to vibrate slightly. The walls seem to ripple, like the world is built with a semi-liquid structure instead of solid matter.
“What the hell is happening now? An earthquake?”
“It's time to go,” Althea announces, grabbing me by the arm and lifting me into the air, though carefully so as not to hurt me. “The palace is returning.”
“What is doing what? What palace? I don't understand anything you just said.”
“We'll explain outside,” Sabina insists, heading toward the door.
The four of us rush out of the penthouse. As we descend in the elevator, I feel a strange pressure in my ears, like when you get on a plane, though I've only done that once in my life.
When we step onto the street, I turn to look at the building. For an instant, it seems to glow with a strange light, its contours blur like it's a mirage in the desert. Then the effect disappears, and it's just a normal skyscraper in the middle of the city again. A pretty ugly skyscraper, actually.
“What just happened?” I ask, rubbing my eyes.
“Kaelisar doesn't live here,” Sabina explains as we walk down the sidewalk. “He brought a piece of his palace from the realm where he's exiled and disguised it as this building's penthouse. Now it's returned to his home.”
“He can do that? Bring buildings from other... dimensions or whatever? Damn, that's wild.”
“He can move between some realms, but he can't return to Aifshara, the original home of the Fae,” Sylara clarifies. “That's why he needs the artifacts.”
My stomach growls, reminding me I haven't eaten anything since before the heist. Despite all the questions bubbling in my head, I can't think on an empty stomach.
“I need food,” I announce. “And if we're going to continue this conversation, I'd rather do it sitting down, because my head could explode any second.”
“You like burgers?” Althea suggests.
I nod, and we walk in silence until we reach a small place with dim lights and tables worn by time. At this hour of the night it's practically empty, which works perfectly for us.
“Please don't order fish,” Sabina sighs and something in her gaze tells me she's serious.
Abundant food has always been my response to stressful situations, so I order a triple burger, though it's nothing compared to everything Althea plans to eat.
