The thieves opened wide the bag and scooped it over Salome's head. There was a yowl and an explosion of darkness and a terrible bang that threw two of the men on their backs. The third man kept his grip and managed to tie the writhing bag closed, throwing it onto his shoulder and running off into the crowd.

Emma stood up with a shout and stumbled. She suddenly felt very dizzy. She began to totter after them but kept bumping into people. She tripped on a step and fell to her knees. Already the men were out of sight, lost in the mass of people.

Jeremiah took this moment to return from his shopping trip, almost falling over her where she was crouched on the ground. He looked down at her. "Oh good, have you seen Trix, I need her help for some bargaining -- why are you on the floor?"

Emma grabbed his leg "I lost 'em 'n the crowd." She was surprised to hear herself slurring. "Something we ate must 've been pois'nd"

"What? Who? Are you drunk? What have you been doing?"

"Salome!" Emma cried, unsure how to get him to understand.

"What has she done? She ran off?"

Emma shook her head frustrated, she felt too tired to try and explain. She just wanted to lie down on the cool hard ground and rest for a while. She stood up unsteadily and gestured for Jeremiah to follow her back to the others.

The picnic was in chaos as Trix, who had seen what happened, tried to convince Dean and Wilbur, who had not. "Then where is she?!" said Trix in a strident voice, "she's gone!"

Jeremiah sighed and sat down on the steps and waited for everyone to calm down, then launched into a description of what he had found in the shop.

"...which of course would be perfect for the ritual, and the owner also described an incredible sounding bookshop -- at least I think he did, he was talking a rather old form of Greek that I'm not so familiar with, although it was similar enough to modern Greek, incredible how stable the language has been, really. Anyway, Trix, I was hoping you would help me with some negotiations, just let me know what his actual lowest price might be, what I might offer him in exchange, that sort of thing."

Trix was pacing back and forth along the steps. She stopped and glared at Jeremiah. "Are you not going to even try to find her, then?"

"Of course not. Good riddance, I say. Probably good that it happened now, in fact. We can carry out the plan without her. With some more practice, we can work together on the ritual, use scrying to locate any old demon to banish to us, a few more weeks of preparation--"

"That's not the point! We have to help her, she has been helping us since we got here."

"She has been acting in her own self interest, which merely happened to coincide with our plans--"

"She rescued you!"

"Because she knew that I was her best chance of returning to Earth! Because she wanted the protection of our group."

Trix laughed, "Oh! As if everyone were not the same. That is not evil, that's human! She is caught in that weakened cat form because of you, remember, do you not feel responsible?"

"As I've told you before, she has done terrible, unforgivable things. I feel nothing. Not a shred of remorse. Not a speck of guilt. Do you not listen to her stories? How many innocent people has she manipulated, hurt, killed for her own amusement? She is a cat, we are mice. Do not be fooled by what she says, or what she does, she is evil through and through. She would betray us in a second if she thought it would benefit her in the slightest."

Trix laughed again, a nervous, hysteric, bark. "So, on the one hand, I've got you lot telling me she's good for nothing, unsalvageable, worthless. On the other hand, I have her words, her actions, her friendship toward me. More friend than any of you. Yeah, no! I'm going to help her. I've heard too many teachers tell my mother I was good for nothing to care about what you think."

She jumped down from the step and disappeared into the crowd without looking back.

Jeremiah called after her, "Wait...how will you even find them! Oh good lord, come meet us at this spot when you're finished, I guess." Trix was already gone. "Oh well, probably best she doesn't find them, hopefully she gets it out of her system and gives up quickly." he muttered.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Emma sighed. Her head was already clearing but a pounding headache replaced the fuzziness. "It might be too late, but also we found that most of the traders here seem to use darkness as currency, the type that Salome can generate."

"Ah, bother." said Jeremiah, "well that would have been a convincing argument, a pity she didn't lead with that."

----------------------------------------

Trix was furious, she felt the anger building in her chest and pushed it outwards, letting in take her power with it, flooding out into the crowd to search for Salome. Her mind was filled with a thousand chattering thoughts and feelings. She had to stop and close her eyes for a second, biting her lips to stop herself from screaming from the pain of it. She pulled back slightly, merely brushing the very tip of the consciousnesses she felt. She could not see Salome, but she identified three hurrying people among the mass...fear, excitement, horror, sweaty nervousness.

She hurried in what felt like the right direction. A narrow opening between two shops led into a crack the rock itself. She had to turn on her side to slip through before it widened out into a passage. The floor was flat and smooth, a natural opening that had been turned into a passage.

She could still feel the three lines of fear ahead of her, zigzagging down and away, like a smell left in the air. She came to an intersection, one side of the passage leading back up to a surface street, the other turning into a stairway that slipped deeper into the rock, spiralling as it descended. She took the stairway, galloping downwards with one hand one the inside wall, she felt the texture of the wall change as she descended further. The rock was no longer smooth and polished, it became rough under her fingers, the marks from chisels clear on the surface. She felt lines under her fingers and looked closer, every few metres angular runes had been carved into the surface, the same glyphs repeated again and again.

The stairway ended, spitting her out onto a wide tunnel where she was almost hit by a hand cart. The boy pulling it shouted something at her and continued running down the passage, swerving between the larger carts that filled it. She quickly stood with her back to the wall as another cart trundled past, this time being pulled by a creature resembling a two legged cow. The sound was deafening. The hard cart wheels on the stone floor echoed around the passageway, mingling with shouts from the drivers. Sticking her head out for a second she could see a river of carts and people extending in both directions. Every few hundred feet, the passage widened enough for the carts to park at the side and unload their goods. She waited for a gap then hurried along to the nearest loading area. Crates were being placed on a platform that was suspended from the ceiling on a thick rope. The rope hung down from a shaft above, and as she watched, it began retracting, winching the crates up to what must be some surface warehouse or shop or restaurant.

She stuck her head back out into the passageway, looking in the direction she had felt them move. There! In the long, straight passage she was finally able to see them. They were jogging away from her, sticking close to the wall to avoid the traffic. Her heart thumped. Did they know someone was following? she thought. What do I even do if I catch them? Why isn't Salome just getting them to let her go, is that bag special?

She saw them slip into another side passage, heading down again. These tunnels no longer looked man made, they were were rough edged and had an irregular slanted floor. Pale white crystals began too appear on the ceiling and growing out of the walls. Small and few at first, but getting larger and larger as they descended. She lifted her hand to touch one and found it loose. Its sides were sharp and it narrowed to a thin point. She clutched it hard in her hand, the cold weight reassuring. She must be closer, now, she thought. She could feel their thoughts clearly, without trying, as though she was standing right next to them. Her power felt huge in her chest, uncomfortably large like an inflamed tooth. She didn't recognise the language of their thoughts, but the emotions were clear.

The passage turned around on itself and then straightened again. Ahead, she could see a doorway leading to a large empty chamber. One of the men was very close, she could feel his heart beating just on the other side of the door. Have they spotted me? Trix felt out at him, slipping effortlessly into his head why is this so easy, today? She sensed anger, and nervous tension, and intent to kill. He was right behind the entrance way, on the left side.

She was careful not to slow her steps, to continue acting as though she was unaware of his location. She walked naturally toward the opening, readying the sharp crystal in her hand as she went, doing her best not to peek or turn in the second of passing the threshold, then she stabbed out blindly at where she knew him to be.

She felt a satisfying resistance. The tip of the crystal slipping easily into his body, she wheeled towards him, pushed her weight behind the point, forced it deeper. He shouted in pain and grabbed at her hand, trying to twist it free. Trix saw that her weapon had hit a thick cloak that he had been wearing over one shoulder, and was caught in the fabric, unable to sink deeper, deep enough to kill. She tried to pull away and run back up the corridor but he grabbed her wrist. He was much stronger than her. He called out and Trix felt the others running over. She panicked now, dropping the crystal and wrenching at her wrist to try and break free. She reached out wildly with her power, trying to use it to cause pain. She slipped into his mind and imagined herself biting and clawing at him. The man screamed in pain and slapped her hard on the face, making her lose her concentration and fall back out of his mind, the he threw her to the ground and sat on her back, twisting her arm painfully behind her to stop her struggling.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw one of the men approaching with a long curved knife.