My certainty was enough for Ehuna. She sighed once, so softly I almost couldn't hear it over the noise of the crowd. Hergaze lifted to the sky, and she nodded, her expression resigned. Whatever meeting we’d had would have to wait.
The muscles in my calves clenched in anticipation of what she would say next. I knew that look. I’d seen it often enough, and now I only had to wait for the words to come out of her mouth.
"Fine. Go find it."
I whooped, grinning widely. Despite the seriousness of the situation, I was more excited than anything else. I wasn't good at much, but I was better than anyone else at this, better than any dog, and no one could do what I did. Ehuna was the closest thing I had to family, and I wanted to show her that I was useful, that I was good at this one thing at least.
My nose twitched as I followed the scent of magic in the air. Normally, the scent of magic enticed me, a sweet aroma reminiscent of fresh-baked bread and strawberries, beckoning to the power that flowed through my veins.
But this time, it smelled bitter and acrid, burning the back of my throat with every breath. Yet I kept sniffing, determined to follow the scent to its source. I wouldn’t give up until I found it.
Pushing my way through the bustling crowd, I paid no mind to the feet I stepped on or shoulders I brushed against. I had grown up as a thief and normally had clever feet, able to dart between people without ever even touching them, but not this time.
The magic coursing through the air made me stagger and stumble, my head pounding as it mingled with my own power. It was a heady tangle, enough that I struggled to focus.
And then suddenly, the magic burst higher within me, a bright spot of intense energy and pain. Without hesitation, I took off running, my boots crunching against the hard stone pavement.
Ehuna called after me, but I ignored her pleas as I pushed through the crowd, following the pull of magic like a fish hooked on bait.
As I slowed to a cautious walk, I eyed the building in front of me warily. The scent of magic burned my throat and turned my stomach, causing my gauntlets to glow with an eerie light.
But it wasn't the usual color of my power—something was very wrong here. I knew it in my very bones.
Still, it was far too late to turn back now. If there was magic in this place to be found, I would find it.
The door was cracked open, as if someone had stepped out for just a moment and thought they would be back before the flies and the breeze could bother anything inside. There was no one nearby when I looked both ways to check, and my fingers twitched uneasily.
Considering the amount of people I'd had to shove through in order to get through the market, I would have expected there would be at least a few people milling about, rather than this dead silence. Instead, there was only the tantalizingly bitter scent of magic and the open door practically begging me to step inside.
"I shouldn't," I mumbled, a verbal confirmation of what I already knew.
My head said not to fall for this trap, but my curiosity whispered that I would never be able to walk away from this much magic. Besides, Ehuna had sent me to find it, and I couldn't give up this close to it.
With that in mind, I was obviously going inside, but Ehuna would already be furious with me for taking off without her. She would flay me alive if I just walked into what was so obviously a trap.
So instead, I slammed my elbow into one of the windows, then boosted myself through it into the obvious trap.
Chapter
Two
Glass crunched as I pulled my hips through the narrow gap, carefully placing my hands on the ground to pull myself inside. If there had been anyone inside, there was no doubt they would have heard me break the window.
I forced myself to straighten as quickly as I could, magic curling on my fingertips. My eyes widened. The source of the magic was suddenly all too clear.
A mass of wooden barrels stood stacked in the center of the building in a haphazard pyramid. Glass jars of magic sat on top, glowing a sickly yellow green, and my heart sank when I saw the fuses curling on the floor, dipping into the jars. Now that I was closer, the burning, charred mix of the smoldering fuses and rotting wood tempered the overwhelming smell of magic.
My mind raced as I surged forward, picking through the tangle of fuses to find the one I needed. There had been no one here when I broke the window. I was sure of that much. Even with as slow as the fuse was burning, it would have caused an explosion by now if it had been lit long before I came. This much magic would cause a big enough explosion to level the whole market.
And yet someone had waited for me to come, as if they wanted me to see this mess. Or put a stop to it.
"Or perhaps not," I wheezed as a wire tightened around my throat from behind me, leaving me scrambling for air.
I wedged my fingers under the wire, the cool metal biting into my skin as I struggled to pull it away. Already, black spots danced at the edges of my vision. My lungs cried for air as I gasped, but the wire tightened. Warm blood slickened my palm and throat, making the wire even harder to hold on to.
I yanked harder then gave up on pulling away. Whoever this person was, they were clearly far stronger than I, and I wouldn’t be able to get them off me with brute strength.
In one last-ditch effort, I threw my elbow back into where I thought their stomach would be as hard as I could. Instead of the gust of air I had expected as a result of the blow, all I got was a grunt, and any hope I had was destroyed.
