Page 17 of The Fifth Soul

“Just say whatever you are thinking,” I say. The sooner we talk about this, the sooner I can see Matias.

Brandon holds my stare for a minute before clearing his throat. “Your ability to go undetected.” He stands. “It’s an ability I can use.”

I knew it.

“Therefore, I will make a deal. Your services for the cure for your friend’s condition.”

“In what way will you be using my services?” I ask with suspicion.

“A discrete mission. I can’t give all the details, but enough to complete the jobs. The jobs will be like the ones that got you here in the first place.”

“Would Matias and I go to trial for breaking in and attempting to steal?”

“No.”

I dislike the sound of this. The exchange doesn’t match. It’s too good to be true, and I learned it’s not usually the whole truth when something is too good to be true.

“You want to hire me to steal things?” The question comes out before I can help it. I need an explanation. The risk must be high if he is willing to give and forgive so much.

“I require your help to take trusted team members into similar vaults. We won't be taking any items ourselves, but we need to check if anything else is gone.”

I sit a little straighter. “Where are these similar vaults located?”

The way his eyes glint tells me I’ve asked the right question. After all, if the crown prince of Puerto Quinn can’t go into these vaults, can anyone else?

“The royal families.”

And there it is. Hell no. Absolutely not. Doing it once was bad enough. I never would have agreed to do it repeatedly.

“You rule over them, why not ask them to let you look?” The question comes out as a laugh.

“It’s not that easy.”

As far as I know, the royal families in Puerto Quinn are decorated titles with no real power on the reign. I cross my arms and wait for Brandon to continue.

After a beat, he looks at the ceiling. “You might know the basics. They have no government authority, but they do represent their respective cities. Their social power cannot be dismissed, and besides, there’s a reason I don’t want them to know I’m looking.”

This entire thing is so absurd it is laughable. Brandon leans back and gives me time to process what I am signing up for. Because who am I fooling? Do I truly have a choice after Matias’s life is at stake?

“The book you were supposed to steal requires five souls to break its seal. If you had touched it, it would have gotten its last and final soul.”

The words don’t process right away, but when they do, I pause because it means it was a setup. I try to recall the man who approached Matias and me for the job. The day we met him, we were having a late dinner at a corner stand when a scrubby man approached us. Nothing out of the ordinary for Fierno. Several of them had previously offered us jobs. The weird part is that when I try to recall his face, I can’t. It’s a fuzzy image that doesn’t have any distinguishable marks. He was so ordinary and unremarkable that it’s suspicious.

“What do you know about the people who hired you?”

“Nothing.” I try hard to recall any details, but I can’t. “A fuzzy image is all I remember of them.”

I go over the details I remember. The amount of money promised and the advance payment we got. They gave us instructions to meet at a building in the heart of Fierno afterward, but looking back, I know nothing could wait there. The man never expected us to return. Brandon and I go over the entire interaction repeatedly. I briefly tell him about making our way to Puerto Quinn, but that’s all I have for him.

“What’s inside that book?” I gulp, already dreading the answer. I'm certain it's something bad. There's nothing good behind dark magic that steals souls.

“You're not privy to that information,” he says. “You’re currently on a need-to-know basis.”

I take a deep breath and let it out. He’s right, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t bother me.

“Have I piqued your interest, Ms. Blanco?”

I tilt my head to the side. I want to ask him how he knows my name and if he knows anything else about me, but what a useless question to bring up.

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