Page 12 of Necromancers Don't Raise

I patted his arm and returned to facing the goblin. “What price did you say we owed you?”

He cocked his head as he studied me, then licked his lips and flashed his teeth at me before he turned to Bones with a smile. “Half that is a fine price for our good friend, Mercury.” He flashed a furious glance at me before renewing his smile. “His new friend is going to stay with him long?”

Bones smiled broadly and turned to me, and patted my head. “Miss Nova will stay home forever.”

I’d never had a bald head before, so feeling his cool skin on my scalp was disconcerting. It reminded me of what I was now, how I looked, and what people were probably thinking when they looked at me. I wasn’t going to think about the ‘forever’ thing. I wasn’t going to stay with the necromancer forever in his creepy house. I was going to make my own life on my own terms. As soon as I found my killer.

The Goblin muttered, “Thinks she’s a queen,” while casting a dark glance at me that Bones didn’t notice. Good thing. Bones might take offense, and I didn’t want him to do something rash.

After Bones paid, we went along to a clothing vendor, passing a phone place with a stack of disposable phones.

I grabbed Bones’s arm, tugging him to a stop. “Bones, I need a phone. Can we get one really quick? I think it would be so useful so that I could call Master in case of an emergency. Does he have a phone?”

He stared at me blankly, then turned to frown at the stack of burners I’d been pointing at. “You want a phone to call Master? I want a phone to call master too. Give us two,” he commanded the goblin girl who looked at him shyly and then at me curiously.

“What kind of phones do you want?”

“Untraceable,” I said, nodding at the burners. I’d spent a lot of time with Fin, who had thoroughly educated me on everything related to sneaking around behind her parent’s back.

“You can call the necromancer?” the girl asked with big golden eyes. Her cheeks were pink-hued, like the tips of her ears, and I had to admit that she was quite charming.

“Now I can,” I said, picking up the phone and smiling.

She flushed and her eyes glowed. “Is he coming to the goblin market again? He hasn’t come for so long, just sends Bones. He doesn’t like the way we treat him. He’s the real Vilus.”

Wait, had she just referred to my show? I leaned closer. “I was thinking more like Vilus’s older brother, if he wasn’t an orphan.”

She positively beamed at me, which exposed a lot of very sharp teeth. Unnerving. “Yes, that makes more sense. Have you ever seen him with his shirt off? I heard that they recorded an episode where Vilus…”

“Miss Nova,” Bones said, tugging on my hand. “We need to get back soon, before Master misses you.”

I grinned again at the girl and looked around for the nearest shop with clothing options. The stall had extremely bright underwear dangling from the rafters. That would work for now, because I didn’t have time to shop for something I’d actually like, not with Bones getting antsy, and not with the fact that I needed to check in with the world.

I darted through the crowd away from Bones, and ducked into the small shop where a female of some kind was running the most shocking lingerie shop I’d ever seen. So many things were sheer or had spikes, but the most overpowering thing was the brightness of everything.

“How can I help you?” the gray-skinned female asked, giving me a once-over to check my size before refocusing on my face. “What are you trying to seduce?”

I stared at her blankly. “I…” I’d never even thought about seducing anyone before, much less a what. I mean, I wouldn’t mind seducing Vilus’s incredibly attractive older brother, but Icould barely hug him without feeling weird. I was a million miles away from seducing anyone. That hadn’t changed about me.

She threw her head back, laughing in a way that made the skin on my scalp tighten. “Is he a goblin?”

“No, I don’t want…”

“Miss Nova, you must stay close,” Bones said, putting his large hands on my shoulder as he loomed over me. “Master doesn’t want to lose you.”

The woman got a delighted look on her face as she looked from Bones to me. “Oh. The master doesn’t want to lose you? I have just the thing.” Her eyes twinkled with mischief as she fetched this and that, lacy silks and wild prints.

I grabbed a pile of bras from her hands and ducked away from Bones. “I need to try these on in the changing room.”

It wasn’t really a room, just a curtained area, but it was enough to give me some privacy while I pulled out my new phone.

I’d no sooner got it flipped open when the curtain was swept to the side, and an ominous figure filled the doorway.

I screeched and dropped the phone and the pile of underwear while Mercury stepped into the tiny space, eyes flickering dangerously.

I backed away from that whirling dark energy, but didn’t go far because there wasn’t far to go, but also because he secured my wrist and tugged me so I fell against him.

I stared up at the dark sorcerer, his heart pounding against my palm, while his eyes narrowed and lip curled.

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