Page 28 of Shades of Silver City

Hesitating for a moment, he runs a hand over his jaw. “I juggle a few…operations. I don’t have time to stalk people all day on a whim.”

I scoff. “And you think I do?”

“That’s what you were doing when I found you. Was it not?”

“I was trying to work,” I say through gritted teeth.

“And how much does this job of yours pay? A thousand silvers a week?”

Less.

Way less.

I think of Fredrik’s lack of a tip, of how I’m lucky if I’ve walked away with five hundred silvers by the end of each week.

“Something like that,” I grumble.

“I’ll double it.”

My heart trips over itself. “Two thousand silvers? Per week?” I’m surprised my tone comes out steady when my insides are wobbling.

He frowns. “Is that not enough? Three thousand?”

“Th-three thousand?” This time I fail at keeping composed. My eyes widen, and I stutter. “That’s…that’s a big chunk of change.”

He smirks. “So you’ll do it?”

“I didn’t say that.” I pause, chewing on the inside of my cheek.

Three thousand silvers is a life-changing sum of money. Might not afford me Sweetcreek real estate, but it’s more than enough to get my own apartment in the Packing District.

But what would I do when the job ended and the money ran out? It sounds like I won’t be able to keep my bartending job while searching for grey soul-shades. And I know Jeremiah well; I doubt he would take me back if I up and quit on him.

After the Phantom is finished with me, I’ll be forced back into poverty, without my job at The Rising Star to fall back on.

There’s no way I can risk that.

But then I think of my parents…

My lungs constrict.

As much as I loathe the gift my father gave me, I did love him fiercely. The loss of my parents left a gaping hole in my life—one I’ve never been able to come to terms with.

Mostly, it’s the lack of answers surrounding their deaths that plagues me. And I also don’t get why my father injected me with artificial magic at all.

For a long time, I figured his execution was related to that. But if that was the case, I’d be dead, too.

Right?

I don’t like the way the Phantom knocked me out and dragged me down here—even if it was to protect me from the Reaper—nor do I love how his crony tied me up. I’m not ready to team up with this gangster and get involved with the city’s criminal underworld. Most of all, the prospect of purposely acknowledging my ability terrifies me.

“No,” I finally say. “I just—I can’t do it.”

I’d rather go back to my job at the bar, pretend like today never happened, and move on with my life.

“All right.”

My body goes still. I’m surprised he agreed so easily. “That’s it?”

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