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“Use it to get her out of here,” Lily told Aarin as glass rained to the floor.
“Lily,” Reina breathed.
Don’t linger. Make it quick. “I’ll get Xavier,” Lily said again, unable to look at her. “Make sure she doesn’t come for me.”
But they were gone before she could finish speaking. Reina and Aarin faded away before her eyes, and she was completely alone.
Chapter Six
The smuggler slammed her butcher’s knife into the board, slicing clean through the hunk of meat, its juices splattering over her apron.
Lily lifted her hand to shield herself from the spray. “Come on, Nat. You’ve got to know something.”
“There ain’t nothing to know!” the old woman spat. “Beat it.”
Lily winced at the pitch of her voice. There wasn’t anyone else in the shop this late, but she still looked over her shoulder for an incoming barrage of Stalkers. Buying new clothing brought some relief, replacing her sweater for a loose white blouse and a black leather jacket above breeches.
Lily had waited for Neir to come. For the entire team of Stalkers to find her in that room after the gunshot. She’d hid behind the door, hoping she could get the upper hand on at least one.
But no one came. When she slunk out into the hallway, the club was still open. The commotion already forgotten. Aarin’s servant had a few questions Lily dismissed, but everything seemed to be back to normal. There was no sign of Neir.
Or Xavier.
The only place she could imagine Neir taking him was lockup, in Midtown near the ports. If the Stalker had hold of Xavier, he’d be there awaiting punishment from Viceroy Perex, or even shipment off to Failen for an offense as steep as harboring the Wraith. If she managed to find him, she could get both of them to safety with only a thought.
Lily hovered, eventually leaving through the broken window, sliding down the rooftops, expecting to find an ambush at the entrance, but it was empty of sentinels, Stalkers, or soul eaters.
Why? Wouldn’t they want to chase her down? They had done it before…
Lily managed to shoo away the panic building in her chest. She’d find him, and when she did, she would be ready to escape. She slunk up to another level of the city unnoticed, to her only connection who would have a graft.
Lily straightened her posture. “What if I tell you I’m here to cash in on a favor for Benny?”
Nat’s laugh contained very little humor. “I owe Benny a thousand favors. He’s welcome to get off his ass and climb up here and get ‘em himself. Now get!”
Nat was an inventor who dabbled in all sorts of ghosted artifacts. She and Benny, the man Reina and Xavier inherited the smithery from, were partners before Lily came into the picture. Her dealings operated behind a butcher’s shop a level above the Flux, an establishment that Lily was sure had been here long before the Hazevale’s took over the city. As far as Lily was aware, she didn’t work for Kael, still operating by herself and keeping her dealings within the limits of the city.
Lily held firm. “If you could just—”
Nat leveled the knife fixed to her aluminum prosthetic at Lily. “I said, get.”
Lily drew back. Another tactic then. She pulled out a handful of gold-plated crescents and tossed them on the counter. The shimmer of the pile mingled with the woman’s own eye. She relaxed, and the gears inside her arm groaned as the sharp knife flipped back into its housing to make way for a mechanical hand.
Nat’s rusted fingers plucked one of the coins. “Where’d you get these?”
“Working. I need a graft, Nat. I’ll pay you whatever price.”
“What kind?”
“Vanishing.”
She spun the money back and forth before leaning over the butcher’s block, face serious. “Benny’s kids ain’t in trouble, are they?”
Lily’s chest tightened, but she shook her head. “Only me.”
Nat’s stare lingered before she picked herself upright and pocketed the crescent. Grabbing the towel off her shoulder and wiping her hands, she ambled to the back of her shop. She disappeared for a few minutes, and when she returned, pinched between her thumb and pointer finger was a small disk similar to the one Aarin taunted Lily with hours earlier—black, purple, and glowing with possibilities.
Lily blindly reached for it, but Nat clasped her hand shut. “Whoa, slow down there. This one comes at a high price.”
