One final session.
Leo sucked in a deep breath and exited the arrival hall.
Makeshift stalls bordered the streets and created jams in the pedestrian areas.Fly-scoots darted overhead, avoiding the hordes of people, but facing problems of their own as they jockeyed for airspace on their journey through the city.Market day was profitable for some, but it made for volatile crowds and short tempers.
Up ahead, the crowd jostled a stooped and wizened woman.Several Tigrus youths, recognizable by their striped skin, hooted with laughter as the woman’s shopping flew through the air.Bright-pink fruits spilled from a bag and rolled along the rutted cobblestones.A jar of liquid struck the ground and shattered in an explosion of white.
Leo glared in the youths’ direction and stooped to pick up as many of the woman’s possessions he could find.“Here you go, ma’am.How far are you going?”
The woman was even older than he’d thought.Her face was a mass of lines, and she had one large milky eye instead of two like him.It blinked as she regarded him.Alarm jerked in him, a wince in reaction, and he broke their gaze.That was plain creepy.
“To the corner,” she wheezed.“My shop is there.”
“Let me carry your shopping for you,” Leo said.
“Thank ye.”Her bony hand fastened around his arm, and he fought to maintain a pleasant expression.She not only looked and sounded old, but she smelled ancient—a combination of dirt and moldy leaves with a hint of green to freshen her scent and push it a tad above disgusting.
She leaned on him and moved at the pace of a snail in ponderous steps.The journey to her shop stretched along with his disquiet.He unlocked the door and helped her inside.The building appeared dingy from the outside but bore a clean and ordered interior.Much bigger and cavernous than he’d expected.Herbs and dried flowers hung from hooks and perfumed the space.Transparent boxes and jars held things foreign and creepy.His attention snagged on one.Were those dried fingers?
“Thank ye,” she said again.“Can I offer you refreshments?”
“No, I’m fine.I was glad to help you, but I have an appointment.”Leo turned away, unease pushing him to haste.
“Wait.”The woman’s hand shot out, and she gripped Leo’s arm, her fingernails digging into his flesh.“Let me give you some advice.”
“Advice?”Leo’s skin crawled, and he had to force himself not to bolt.
Her gaze bored into him, equally horrifying and magnetic.Scary as hell.“Today will be hard, boy, but you will live where others have died.”
Leo’s stomach bucked, the remnants of his coffee and chocolate roll eaten at the resort sloshing in an alarming manner and threatening to charge up his throat.How could she know what he intended to do today?What was expected of him?“I don’t know what you mean.”
Bright red swirled into her eye, combined with the white, and bled into pale pink.“Listen to me, boy.You will survive.Don’t let revenge blacken your heart and make you so blind you can’t accept what is in front of you.”Her fingers tightened on his arm.“Remember what I say, boy.Don’t let revenge take you over.Now let me give you some tonic.No charge,” she added before he could argue.
Leo nodded even as his mind tried to reject her words.
She hobbled over to a shelf, appeared to ponder her choice, then reached for a glass vial.After pausing again, she reached for a second.“This will help you recover.Drink entire vial.One now.One after.”She pulled out a stopper and handed the glass vessel to him.“Drink,” she urged.
Leo scrutinized the vial then figuredwhat the hell.God, the liquid smelled revolting.He glanced at the woman, and she gave a small nod of encouragement.
She wasn’t going to let him escape without drinking the stuff.He took a quick breath and gulped the contents.His stomach pitched and roiled, and he swallowed urgently to keep down the tonic.
“Good.Good.”She cackled, displaying a gap in her bottom set of teeth in her amusement.“Put other in jacket pocket.Drink after.”
Sharp teeth, he noted, and shuddered as he stuffed the vial in his pocket.Some of these alien types were freaky.“Thank you.I’d better go or I’ll be late for my appointment.”
“Thank ye, boy, for a kindness to an old lady.”
“You’re welcome,” Leo said with the manners ingrained by his parents, and with a last polite smile, he stalked from the shop.His rapid breaths evened out as he stepped into the street to merge with the market crowd.The semi-fresh air helped to settle the rocking and rolling in the pit of his stomach.Instead, a strange warmth filled him.Peculiar, but not unpleasant.He continued to his destination.
Iseult Orna lived in the better part of the city, near the palace.Her mansion stood at the end of a cul-de-sac with no near neighbors.A tall stone fence kept unwanted visitors out, the razor wire running along the top and security guards punctuating her preference for privacy.
The closer he came to the palace, the harder he needed to work to force his limbs to function.
Fear.
It was a tight band around his chest, restricting his breathing until it felt as if each breath emerged and entered through a straw.
The mansion came into sight, and each inhalation sawed into his lungs.He forced his tense limbs to carry him to the gates, to ring the bell for entrance.A voice squawked from a concealed speaker, and Leo backed away in quick, jerky steps, the flight response kicking in big time.
