Jenny watched the money swapping hands, the silver glint of coins disappearing inside the man’s pocket. She looked at the cages behind the seller: chickens, ducks, and piglets, but no rabbits. She saw the mother’s earnest expression.

The man placed the gray rabbit on the wooden countertop. Jenny saw the white spot on the ear. The rabbit was about four times bigger than Biscuit, even if it was still small for a horned rabbit. “These can be quite dangerous,” the man said. “Should I do it for you?” His hand rested behind the rabbit’s head, on the neck.

Even if she had an inkling of it, Jenny still wasn’t clear why Biscuit wanted to save this one. Maybe she was getting used to recognizing rabbits’ emotions, but Biscuit looked desperate and ready to cause a commotion if necessary. “Excuse me, ma’am,” she interrupted before the woman could answer. "I need that rabbit,” she stated. The woman turned to her, and the seller opened his mouth. “Alive,” Jenny added.

“What?” The mother started, looking Jenny over, then at the seller.

The man had his brows furrowed, “Look here, Missy, you can’t just—”

“Shade Stalkers,” Jenny declared, cutting off the man’s response, “not a day’s away. And that,” she pointed to the rabbit, “is how me and my team can lure and kill those monsters.”

“No!” the woman said, taking a step back, her hand going to her mouth. “You can’t! That’s for my Anya.”

“I’m not saying you should give it to me for free,” Jenny continued, “I’ll pay you and add a few more for your trouble.”

The seller interrupted, his eyes gleaming. “If bait is what you’re after, I can arrange it; why don’t you let me finish this sale, and we can talk the details after?”

The mother talked at the same time, her voice louder. “No, I can’t! I promised my daughter she’d have a rabbit stew tonight for her birthday.”

“I am sorry, ma’am, but I’m already late to meet my team. We’ve been tracking these stalkers for days. They’re getting bolder, closer to town. I tried to get bait from the Lord’s manor, but the new Lord... let’s just say he’s not concerned with the safety of common folk.” Jenny’s voice rose slightly. Doubling down on the lie and including Gregory was a spur-of-the-moment thing.

The mother recoiled, eyes wide. “But... my Anya...” The woman looked left and right like she wanted to flee. Jenny raised one hand to appease the mother.

“I understand, Ma’am,” Jenny softened her tone. “But those creatures, they’re drawn to children. We’ve seen it before. If we don’t stop them, your Anya... every child in this town is at risk.”

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The mother gasped, and the already gathered crowd around gasped with her.

“How about this, you let me take this one, and I’ll pay you enough to buy two others,” she patted her bag, “that way, you can get another rabbit from the nice merchant and maybe a new dress for Anya?”

The mother clutched at her chest. Some in the crowd murmured, shifting uneasily. The seller, however, scoffed. “Nonsense! Scare tactics to get what you want. This is the last rabbit,” the merchant said. “But if you want to talk about bait, I know another way to lure the lurkers.”

There were more people closer eying Jenny cautiously. Was it because of her size? The mother looked scared, and Jenny was carrying a huge metal spear, but she hadn’t threatened anyone. She turned to the seller again. Something was fishy here. If she remembered correctly, wild-caught rabbits weren’t that rare to see on sale, but this one, by Biscuit behavior, was one of the animals bred on the Lord’s farm.

“Where did you catch this one?” she asked the man. He still hadn’t released the rabbit, the animal’s head pinned against the wood. The merchant squinted his eyes. She saw the moment they changed. Early, he looked eager to fleece her off coin, now he looked suspicious.

Before the merchant could answer, a gruff voice cut through the commotion. “What’s going on here? Disrupting business in the town square?” A guard pushed through the crowd, his hand resting on his sword hilt.

The seller beamed. “Officer! This woman is trying to disrupt an honest merchant business and scare a good mother!” He thrust the rabbit toward the guard. “See, this fine beast was destined for a birthday feast, but she’s demanding we hand it over.”

The guard glared at Jenny. “Is this true? Causing trouble?”

Jenny shook her head; she looked between the guard and the merchant. She’d seen the brief exchange of glances between them and how close the man had stopped to the stall. “Of course not,” she said, voice calm and deliberate. “You must know this as well, there’s stalkers not a day away—”

There was a thug at Jenny’s bag, and a yelp. Jenny turned around.

Behind her, a lanky, thin man held his hand, fingers trailing blood. She hadn’t seen the man get closer. A quick glance at her bag showed a small splattering of blood near the opening she left for Biscuit.

The man moved fast. He ducked in, ramming this shoulder into Jenny and throwing her at the merchant’s stand. Surprised, she didn’t have time to evade. She fell over the stall, odds and ends on display jostled out of position and clattering to the ground.

The mother yelled, the guard roared, and the merchant cursed.

From the corner of her eye, Jenny saw the gray rabbit turn its head and bite the hand holding it. The merchant let go, and the rabbit dashed out of the countertop, jumping between the many onlookers’ legs. Soon after, a white blur moved in fast pursuit. Was that Biscuit?

The moment of heightened perception ended, and Jenny fell, the heavy spear clanking onto the floor by her side.

The merchant was the first to react. “Catch that rabbit! Catch that thief!”

The crowd yelped, a few jumping and trying to move away while others tried to catch the fleeing critters. In the confusion, people jostled each other, getting in each other’s way. The would-be thief slipped into the crowd and vanished. The mother looked surprised at all that had happened, and the guard glared.

“Look what you’ve done!” The merchant yelled, face red. “You broke my stall, and the rabbit fled!”

Jenny groaned and stood up. Things had just gotten complicated. The rabbit fled; the guard and merchant seemed intent on making things worse, and she couldn’t take too long here. The transformation wouldn’t last that long. She needed to diffuse this situation, appease the guard, and find Biscuit before the magic ended.