Page 130 of Mud

And I didn’t like it one bit.

“Yes,” I said, squeezing my fists tightly until my nails sank into my skin, leaving half-moons imprinted on my palms—a reminder that I had to push through. I had to do this, there was no other choice.

“I’ve got a free room on the third floor and some leftovers from dinner I’m sure you’ll enjoy. Pork and pizza and a little bit of cake, too.” He winked, then laughed a little—giggled,as if he didn’t know the size of his body. “Come, come. This way. I’ll show you.”

He stepped aside to let me through. Even though every instinct in my body insisted that I should run away, I took in a deep breath and forced myself to move inside instead.

Before Vuvu closed the door, though, I could have sworn the engraving on that plaque had changed toThe Inn That Sometimes Lets Someone In.

Definitely one of the stranger things I’d ever seen, even in this game.

The corridor was narrow and Vuvu barely fit, both his shoulders touching the walls to the sides. The doors were big, almost all the way up to the high ceiling, probably to fit his size. Vuvu took me through the first one—a rectangular room, possibly the size of my bedroom at Madeline’s mansion, with a big, black fire burning in the old fireplace,recliners and chairs spread everywhere, and a small reception desk across from them, with two doors on either side.

There were two men and a woman sitting to the right of the fireplace and they were all wearing hats, but I could tell that the man with light hair and a petite frame was an elf, while the other two weren’t. The woman wore a brown Victorian era type dress with a lot of lace and a corset and a big ribbon over the small of her back, and her friend was telling her, “Intent does not justify action, Inez.”

The woman grunted. “Nonsense—if Idon’t meanto offend you, youshould nottake offense.” She grabbed the small glass filled with black liquid from the table and took a sip.

The man raised his brows. “Why, by that logic, if you kill a man and you say you didn’t mean it, he should not feel that he has been killed then!”

The elf sitting across from him laughed, while the woman sneered. “You know what I mean!” she complained.

Then Vuvu put his hand on my shoulder, and I jumped. “Don’t mind Mr. Hadis. He likes the sound of his voice too much. Fancies himself a philosopher.”

But Mr. Hadis and his friend laughed while the woman pretended to be irritated, and neither even turned to look my way.

“Sit—right over there,” Vuvu said, pointing at the lone recliner with a round table in front on the left side of the fireplace. “I’ll be back with whatever I can find in the kitchen—don’t go nowhere, okay, fresh thing?”

Fresh thing?Was he serious?

I forced my lips to stretch into a smile. “I won’t.”

He disappeared through one of the doors behind the half-ruined reception desk, and I went to sit to the side of the fireplace, just like he said.

Warmth.

Eventhough the flames in the fireplace were black, they radiated warmth, and I had no clue when I’d gotten so cold, but it felt mighty fine, that heat. It melted this ice I seemed to have all through my bones.

I sank into the recliner, which was surprisingly very comfortable, and at first, I meant to distract myself with Mr. Hadis and his friends and whatever they were saying, but the more I looked at those black flames dancing on the log, the more my thoughts ran away from me—to the outside, to Night City, to the other players. Especially the guy who’d fallen off the top of that building, burning.

And if I tried just a little harder, I could say that I almost—almosthad a plan.

For the first part of the challenge, that is.

“There you go!”

I jumped again, so lost in my head I hadn’t heard Vuvu approaching, but he put a tray on the small table in front of me with three different plates in it—one with a single slice of pepperoni pizza that looked at least two days old, one with some sort of stew I would rather not even smell, and the last was meat and rice and mashed potatoes that didn’t look appealing to the eye at all.

They were plenty appealing to my growling stomach, though.

“Thank you, this looks—” I’d reached my hand for the pizza slice without really realizing it when Vuvu slapped it away.

“Payment first, fresh thing. Payment first, as is custom in Night City.Alwayspayment first.” And he showed me the palm of his huge hand.

“Of course,” I said, reaching for the coins in my pocket again, and I only grabbed one.

Only one at a time,Erfes said, and though I didn’t trust the elf at all, she’d gotten me in here by the fire, and I had food in front of me.

I put a single coin in the middle of Vuvu’s palm.

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