Page 115 of Veil of Death and Shadow

My racing pulse leftover from the dream now had a new source of fear to fuel it.

When I turned around, ready to call up to him, I collided with his chest instead.

“She didn’t come home last night,” I said, fighting back the waver in my voice.

Kieran eyed me for a moment, his stare roving over the diner as if I just hadn’t looked hard enough. Something hardened in his features, and he nodded, his gaze returning to me. “Go get ready, we’ll look for her.”

Half an hour later, we stood outside the entrance to the market. The single optimistic bone that I had in my body suggested that maybe she was here. I usually opened the diner on Thursdays, and Sora usually spent the morning wading through the market stalls, finding new ingredients we could work into the weekend’s menu.

Maybe she was here. Maybe she decided it was best to close until the electricity was back up and take care of this in the meantime.

Generally, I avoided coming down here. The place was always packed and full of people, demon and human—all of them bartering for resources in a more tension-filled echo of what Seattle’s market culture used to look like.

When phones and the internet became unreliable and unreasonably expensive, I found myself almost glad to be rid of the distraction—the permission to unplug and engage more on a local level had been unexpectedly welcome. Right now, I would give anything for my old phone, and the option to reach Sora in two seconds flat.

“Well,” Kieran said, surveying the bustling crowd, “at least she has blue hair. That’ll make her easier to pick out.”

“Why didn’t I bring a fucking picture of her?” I sighed. “Could’ve shown people, asked if they’d seen her recently.”

For fifteen minutes, I went stall-to-stall, asking the artisans and customers if they’d seen Sora—if they knew who she was—while Kieran acted as an invisible sentinel, his eyes hunting for that recognizable ball of blue hair and energy. But the people here didn’t know me, didn’t trust me, and if they had seen Sora, they weren’t interested in telling me as much.

My chest was tight, my fists clenched, as I fought back the impending wave of panic that I’d been trying to suffocate all morning. This was useless.

Where else could she be? Where would she have gone?

Did she go see the new girl she’d been dating, the one she met at the club? But I didn’t even know her name, or where she lived. I didn’t know where to even start.

“You owe me four weeks’ worth,” a tall, muscular man barked at a stall next to us. “I’ve been unreasonably patient.”

A much smaller man, with deep red hair and emerald green eyes winced, nodding so intensely that he looked like one of those old bobblehead dolls. “I know, I know, I’m sorry.”

The angry man grabbed the bobblehead by the front of his shirt, tugging him forward until they were nose-to-nose. “Patience isn’t one of my virtues, Rex. Where’s the pendant? I’ll take that as payment.”

“Rex,” I whispered, the name sparking some faded memory.

Wasn’t that Sora’s new market friend?

The one who’d gotten us on the list for Incendiary?

“Hey,” I said, louder this time.

“What the hell are you doing?” Kieran asked, his eyes wide with shock.

“What?” The burly guy turned towards me, dragging Rex along by his neck.

“Let him go,” I said.

Kieran sighed, his mouth tight. “Never mind. Why did I ask? Of course you’re picking a fight with the biggest, scariest looking guy in a two-mile radius. Why would you be doing anything else?”

“Be quiet.” I glared at him.

The bully wrinkled his nose in confusion. “Didn’t say anything.”

“Not you,” I shot back, quickly losing my temper.

“Not even a single ounce of self-preservation does she have.” Kieran sighed. “Of course, this is the girl I’d get saddled with looking out for.”

“No one asked you to follow me,” I said, then turning to Rex and ignoring the bully altogether, I asked, “Have you seen my roommate, Sora?”

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