Page 115 of Anchor

The sphere began to glow blue all of a sudden, and the woman laughed again.

“Correct.” The glowing sphere moved away while she pulled a box from the safe and brought it to me, still smiling.

It was like a large drawer with no lid or cover over it, just a black bag inside. The woman put it on the tabletop extending from the wall and stepped back, waving both hands toward it.

“Here you go. Your safe is ready for ya! Do you need me to leave, or can I?—”

“Yes, please.” The words left my mouth so fast it could have been funny.

Her smile faltered. “All righty, then. I’ll be right outside, waiting for the rest of mymoooneeey,”she sang, rubbing her hands together while she gave me a sweet, innocent smile—or she tried to.

I said nothing, just turned to the safe and waited until she walked out, whispering,Rosabel La Rouge, goddess, what a morning!

Fuck, this woman was going to drive me mad.

“Remember—if you try to get close to the other safes or touch something you’re not supposed to, you’ll die on thespo-ot!” She pushed the door closed all the way, and I successfully held back a scream of frustration.

Instead, I grabbed that bag inside the safe and opened it right away.

Money. Stacks of twenty grand were inside, a lot of them, and at first, I didn’t see the key. It was buried deep at the bottom, and I had to empty the bag onto the table just to reach it.

A single key to a Range Rover attached to a keychain with the nameGraveyard Junkprinted on both sides. The key he’d told me about.

Taland had not been here to pick up money or the car.

Closing my eyes, I held onto the edge of the table and let out a deep breath. It was okay—this didn’t mean anything. Even if he’d have taken his car, I wouldn’t have known where he drove it, so it was perfectly fine. I hadn’t expected to find him here, anyway, but it was still disappointing as hell. It still hurt, cut me wide open, because the more time passed, the heavier the reality of the situation was getting on my shoulders.

Taland is gone and I am all alone.No explanation, no nothing—just alone.

I took my time, cried a few tears there in that room, and when I was ready to leave, I took the keys, took as much money as I could fit in my clothes, and returned the rest to the bag and the safe.

The woman was waiting for me right outside, just like she promised, and I handed her another nine grand to keep her mouth shut for a week.

It wasn’t often that I hated people I’d just met, but for her I made an exception.

She led me upstairs to her antique shop again, and on the way to the exit, I saw this little figure craved out of wood and my heart all but beat right out of my chest.

It was a vulcera. A tiny vulcera with the paint chipped around the edges, and the eyes were white, not green, but the antennas on her back were painted in all the colors of the rainbow.

My heart squeezed and I wished with all my being that she was here with me. To keep me company, to give me strength, to let me pet her.

“How much for this?” I asked the woman, but she waved me off.

“It’s on the house.” she told me. “It doesn’t do anything, if that’s what you’re thinking. None of this stuff has any magic in it. It’s for humans only.”

“I know.” Ididn’tknow, but I didn’t want her to keep going about it, either.

“Can you tell me if there’s a Graveyard Junk around here somewhere?” I asked when she unlocked the door and turned the sign over again, then stepped to the side, smiling genuinely now. Her cheeks were flushed which made them look extra orange. She was radiating happiness with that ten grand in her pockets.

“There sure is. Just walk straight ahead and take two lefts. You can’t miss it,” the woman said. “Won’t you tell me a little something about the Roe? Something nobody else knows? Pretty please?”

I swallowed hard. “Can’t do that. The NDA agreement forbids it,” I lied.

She frowned. “Justa littlesomething.” She leaned closer and whispered, “You weren’treallyMud, were you? I mean, I saw you on TV but a girl’s curious.”

“If you saw me then you have your answer,” I forced myself to say—it was the best I could do because I didn’t want to lie aboutthatagain, at least. Not to anyone.

The woman nodded reluctantly. “And the challenges? What about the one in that city? What about the dragons and?—”

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