“No,” Kiora says in a small voice.

Whoever's doing this is going to kill me next. I'm next. Jesus. I thought Renald was the killer. If it's not him, then who is it? Renald's boss? The blood wizard? Someone else?

“They killed them.” Kiora sinks to the floor. “I can't believe they killed them.” She looks over at me, shaking her head. “I don't know what to do. I don't know where to go next.”

I chew on my lip. Kinda in the same boat here...

“We have to find Dom,” I say in a quiet voice. I don't know if that's the right decision.

“How?” she asks. “How do we find Dom?”

“He's in the Forbidden Library,” I say as if that means anything to either one of us.

Kiora shakes her head. “We don't know where that is. Neither of us.”

I nod. “Yeah, but we can find out.”

“How?” she asks. “No one's going to help us. Any caster we meet will be able to see our horns. They'll know we're witches. I can't enter Anara. Neither can you. So how are we supposed to find out where this Forbidden Library is?”

I have a vague inkling of an idea, but I'm not entirely sure what its fleshed out form is.

There’s Ted, but I haven't spoken to him in two years. He's just a normal stick, someone who I worked with when I didn't know Anara even existed.

There were feelings.

Obviously.

But then all the curse stuff happened, and I distanced myself, not wanting to drag him into it.

I can't go to Ted. So far all I’ve brought to every place I’ve gone is death and destruction.

I chew on my lip and make up my mind. Worth a shot.

I look at the two floating witches one last time and put a hand on Kiora's shoulder. “Say goodbye to them. We’re leaving.”

She looks at me with wide eyes. “Where?”

I grimace. “The Red Market.”

* * *

As we walk through the Red Market, I scan the crowds, looking for a vendor who might be able to sell me the info I'm looking for.

Kiora walks beside me, keeping her eyes down like I told her to, keeping the hood of her cloak loose around her head so no one can tell she has horns.

I check the hood of my parka, making sure it's in place so no one can see my own horns. As we make our way down the main road, Kiora speaks up.

“There.” She gestures with her head to the left.

I glance in that direction and see a wooden storefront with frosted windows. The wood is painted black and the windowpanes have gold etched into them. The gold spells out several words.

Marrow Brothers

Information Brokers of the Lumaverse

Top dollar paid for info on plaines and shards unknown

It's not often that a shop in the Red Market is so brazen in telling you exactly what they sell. Everyone in the Red Market likes to keep their cards close to the chest.

“Well?” Kiora asks.

I chew on my lip, tempted to write Marrow Brothers off as a trap.

Why would there be an entire shop built as a trap just for me though? I'm not the center of the universe.

“Let's go,” I mumble.

As we make our way towards the shop, I do my best to keep my eyes on the ground. The dim red light makes everyone look like they've been possessed by the blood wizard.

It's disconcerting.

At any moment I expect one of the vendors to lift a hand, to lift their pointer finger and wave at me with it.

“You're being awful cagey,” Silvy purrs from my shoulder.

“Yeah, well, this seems wrong.”

Silvy looks around. “Your entire life seems wrong, darling. I wouldn't let this single event stand out.”

I ignore her and turn the knob to Marrow Brothers. I just want to get away from all the red-tinted eyes of the vendors.

After I pull the door open, I hesitate.

Shadows stretch across the inside of the shop. Cobwebs hang from rotting wooden rafters. To my left, water drips into a bucket filled with brackish water that sits on top of a table. Standing behind the counter I see an old, hunched over woman. Both of her eyes are misted over. Grey. No pupils, no irises.

She stands there, completely still, staring right at me, through me, even though I'm sure she must be blind.

“I think this was a mistake,” Kiora says from beside me. “I don't like the look of him.”

I glance at her. “Him?”

“The guy behind the counter. How tall he is. Something's wrong.”

Something is indeed wrong, but it isn't what Kiora thinks is wrong. She's seeing a completely different person behind the counter than I am.

When I step across the threshold of the shop, it's like stepping across a rubber membrane. I sort of snap into the room.

A different room than the one I saw on the other side.

I'm standing in a room drenched in warm light. No bucket with dripping water. Behind the counter is a plump woman with a smile, not a crone at all.

I glance back at Kiora who steps in and hiccups in surprise, her head scanning the room, her mouth open and eyes wide.

“Close the door, please,” the woman behind the counter says, her voice high and quiet.

Kiora pulls the door shut and we both approach the counter together.

“I don't understand,” I say in a quiet voice. “What was that?”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The woman laughs. “A screening precaution. You see, we sell information, but we only want to sell information to people who genuinely want it. I can't tell you how many people open that door, see something that disturbs or disquiets them, and then close the door and walk away. Those aren't people we want to do business with.”

“So it's a gateway?” Kiora asks.

The woman lets out a pleasant laugh. “No, it's a regular door. But if you look at the corners—” Kiora and I both turn and see the witchstones embedded at the four corners of the doorframe. “—you can see that it's warded. It's warded to show you something that will truly disturb you.”

Kiora shakes her head. “He was so tall. His arms were so long. They were hanging down to the ground.”

“Alright,” the woman says. “Enough of that. Let's get to business. You obviously seek information badly enough to step in. Do tell me what it is that you seek.”

I raise an eyebrow. Nothing about this shop’s existence in the Red Market makes sense. Putting the warded door aside, this is a shop that would be at home in the night market.

I chew on my lip. “I don't get it. Why are you here and not the night market?”

“We deal in information on all plaines and shards that we can. We find that the best information can be gleaned and sold on the underbelly of Anara.”

“I don't follow.”

“It's simple. The people who buy magick in Anara don't have information that's worth anything. Sure, they're all too willing to buy from us, but there's no exchange, and a good information market is built on that exchange.”

It makes sense. The Red Market traffics in underground items and witchstones, so why not underground information?

“So what are you saying?” Kiora asks. “Part of the process of buying info is giving you info?”

The woman smiles. “In order to even qualify to purchase information, you have to part with information.”

“A tax.”

“It's more of a markup than a tax, but I understand your point.” The woman shrugs. “It's just the cost of doing business.”

“Okay,” I say. “Here's my concern: if I give you info on something you don't already have info on, how can I be assured you have info on the thing I want?”

The woman smiles. “We have info on everything.”

“Then how am I supposed to offer you anything valuable? You would already know it, if you know everything, correct?”

She smiles at that. “Sometimes confirmation of previously obtained info is just as valuable as the info itself.”

“I could just make something up?”

The woman smiles good-naturedly. “You could, but I would know.”

“How?”

“When you walked through that door, you were analyzed. Look above each other's heads.”

I glance at Kiora and she looks over at me. Floating above our heads is a ball of white light. Kiora reaches her hand up to touch it, but the woman snaps her fingers. “I wouldn't do that if you value your hand.”

Kiora shrinks away, bringing her hand back down to her side.

That's why they're so bold about broadcasting what they do. They've thought through everything.

The woman behind the counter smiles, but the smile never touches her eyes.

“If we lie to you, our respective ball drops, doesn't it?” I ask.

The woman smiles wider and this time it does touch her eyes, which is somehow worse. “Yes.”

“What happens?” Kiora asks.

“Well, imagine your head is a block of ice. Imagine that ball is a ball of superheated iron. Imagine placing that ball of superheated iron on top of that block of ice.” The woman whistles as she traces a finger from my head to the ground.

I smile. “How long?”

She raises an eyebrow.

“How long does it take for the ball hit the ground.”

She laughs at that. “I like you. It usually takes two seconds.”

“Two seconds?” I raise my eyebrows and leaned in, lowering my voice. “You can't do better?”

The woman laughs again. “Oh, I really like you. I hope you don't lie to me.”

“Wouldn't dream of it,” I say.

Kiora snorts. “I'm glad you two are getting along, but you do realize that she threatened us? Threatened our lives?”

I looked at her. “Only if we lie. Just tell the truth.”

Kiora looks as though she's seeing something for the very first time. Something she doesn't like. She shakes her head and crosses her arms. “You deal with this. I want nothing to do with it. I want no part of it.”

The woman nods as though this happens all the time and gestures to her left. “There's a waiting lounge over there.”

The section of the shop she indicates holds several plush armchairs. There's a table close to the chairs filled with snacks and coffee. There's even a humidor filled with cigars.

Kiora grumbles but makes her way over.

“So here we are,” I say. “Do you ask me for info on something specific? Or do I just give you info on something I think you’ll find interesting?”

She smiles. “That all depends. Tell me what you seek first. What do you want info on?”

Two things, actually. Dom and the forbidden library. If I tell her Dom, he could move by the time we get there. If I get info on the Forbidden Library though, I can just wait there for him to show up.

“I want to know where the Forbidden Library is,” I say.

The woman looks her tongue. “Tricky.”

She swipes her hand across the counter and I smile at what I'm looking at.

The entire counter is covered in witchstones. The witchstones glow with light, sending tracers up into the air. The light mingled creates a sort of hologram there, a floating circle.

The woman speaks two words. “Forbidden Library.”

The floating ball unravels, threads of light trailing down to other witchstones before emerging again and connecting to still more witchstones. It's like watching one of those water fountains at a theme park where it looked like the water was shooting from one place to another, above people’s heads.

Soon the threading of light stops and all the threads converge at the center. The ball there turns green and spins slowly.

“I have the information you seek,” the woman says. “What can you offer us?”

“How much is it going to be before I give you anything?”

The woman shrugs. “That depends. We trade in witchstones, arcana, gold, dollars.”

“Okay, I trade in all those things as well. What sort of witchstone are you looking for?”

She raises an eyebrow. “Are you a witchstone dealer?”

“I am. What power level do you want?”

“Six,” she says. “Assuming you can handle that sort of weight.”

I smile at her and pull back the hood of my parka. She glances up at my horns, understanding sinking in immediately.

“The owner of Blackhart,” she says reverently. “My apologies. I do believe you can handle that weight.”

“I don't have a six on me right now, but will you take collateral? Or can I pay later?”

“You cannot pay later,” she says, “but you can put down collateral.”

“What's the required power level?”

“Eight.”

I mouth the word eight back at her and nod. I slip my hand into my pocket, pluck the witchstone I'm looking for from the holster, and pull it out, placing it on the counter. She reaches for it and places it on a scale. Magick threads erupt from the scale and surrounded the witchstone for several seconds before withdrawing.

“8.5,” she says, nodding. “Okay. Your payment has been accepted. “

“Collateral,” I correct.

She smiles at me. “Of course.”

“Of course,” I repeat. “So, now you need info?”

She nods and I tell her several things about the Shadow Vaile, things that make her eyes widen and her skin go paler than it already is.

“Will that be acceptable?” I ask when I'm finished.

“Absolutely. Considering that the info you've given us is more than was required, you now have in information credit with us.”

I dip my chin in thanks. “Can you tell me where the Forbidden Library is?”

“Yes,” she says. “You may not like where it is though.”

“I've already paid. I might as well get my money's worth.”

She nods and leans forward. “It's in the Austerium. It's on the third floor of the Evermind building.”

The Austerium? How am I supposed to get into the Austerium? They all know what I look like. They know what Kiora looks like.

“I can see that this wasn't how you thought the information you'd be receiving would go. As a client who may have information we would later like to mine, I can go ahead and extend to you a good faith offer.”

I nod.

“Was there anything in relation to this Forbidden Library you wished to know?”

“Yes,” I say. “Can you tell me if a specific person is inside the Forbidden Library right now?”

She brightens. “Absolutely.”

“No cost?”

“No cost, but do consider using us again if you ever have need for information. I feel this relationship will continue to be fruitful if so.”

I nod again. “Okay. Can you tell me if there is a man named Dom in the Forbidden Library?”

She fiddles with her witchstones for several moments before glancing up and nodding. “Dominic Marzone?”

I shrug. “I don't know him by that name. All I have is Dom.”

“Dom is one of Dominic Marzone's nicknames.”

“Okay,” I say. “Well, thank you.”

The woman smiles at me. “Thank you, and tell your friend over there that I'm sorry for upsetting her.”

“I will,” I say. I make my way over to Kiora and before we walk out of Marrow Brothers I pull my hood up again.

We walk in silence for several moments before Kiora asks, “So? Did you find out where the Forbidden Library is?”

“Yeah,” I say with a frown. “It's in the Austerium.”

“No,” she says.

“It gets worse.”

“How does it get worse?”

“It's on the third floor of the Evermind building.”

“That’s worse.”

I nod. We walk in silence for several moments before Kiora stops.

“Arbor once mentioned another safe house in Galveston,” she says. “I think I want to go there.”

I shake my head. “We can't. I can't get you there. I'm locked within the boundaries of Nightsbridge.”

“I know you can't get me there.” Kiora gives me a sad smile. “But I can.”

My head rocks back as if I've been punched.

“Right,” I say. “You can.” We start walking again, but it's a while before I figure out what I want to say. “Okay. I'll help you as much as I can.”

She nods. “Thank—”

Her words are cut off at the exact same time something sharp presses into my lower back. I try to turn around, try to reach for my witchstone holster, but a voice hisses at me before I get a chance.

It's a voice I recognize.

“Did you miss me?” Cerulea asks. “Oh, and by the way, yeah, you're both under arrest.”