Page 106 of Cherish

“Well, you did it three times now, right?” He looks at Hudson. “Coming, going, coming. So why should this time be any different?”

“The first time I came, I brought a time dragon with me—and an unfortunate encounter with a time dragon is how I made it home,” Hudson explains. “But considering what happened the last time I brought a time dragon to Noromar, I wanted to go a little more low-key this go-around. So I found an easier way in, but it was a one-way trip. Which means my friends and I are stuck here forever. Unless…”

“Why’d you come to me?” Polo asks after several seconds pass in total silence. “What makes you think I know anything about how the barrier works?”

“Well, you’re not a wraith, so you weren’t born here—which means you crossed the barrier, the same as I did.”

“Yeah.” He inclines his head in acknowledgment of Hudson’s logic. “But that doesn’t mean I know how to cross back—or that I know anyone who does.”

“Maybeyoudon’t,” Hudson agrees. “But I feel like you definitely know someone who does. Am I wrong?”

Now Polo just looks annoyed. “Even if I know something, and I’m not saying I do, you don’t want to leave that way, dude. Trust me.”

“Why not?” Eden asks, and Polo turns to her.

“Because most people who leave that way never come back,” he says like that explains everything. When it’s clear none of us understand why that’s such a terrible thing, he adds, “Like,never.”

“Ohhh,” Eden murmurs, and a shiver races along my spine.

My gaze narrows on Polo’s, and I follow my instincts and ask, “Butyougo through it all the time, don’t you?”

Polo raises one bushy brow. “What if I do?” he answers, which is no answer at all.

“Then you know how to get out safely,” I reply.

But Polo just shakes his head, a wide grin stretching his lips. “Polo here is special.” He spreads his arms wide to encompass his tables of merchandise. “It’s why I have such a thriving business. Sadly, though, what I know won’t be of any use to you, other than where the tunnel out starts. That’s the best I can do.”

“Works for me,” Hudson says with a nod. “If you can just show us the way in a few days, we’ll take it from there, Polo.”

The chupacabra studies both of us for a second, like he’s trying to figure out just how serious we are about going. I don’t tell him that right now, the answer is as far as it takes. We’ve already done all this—there isn’t much we wouldn’t do to save Mekhi.

“First, I’m going to need you to sign all the Hudson merch I have in the back before you leave,” he says, nodding to a storage area off to the side. “As payment for guiding you. I have a smuggling reputation to uphold.”

“Done,” Hudson answers. “I’d have signed the merch either way, though, for having my back in that last fight.”

“Nah, I always do all right with Vega memorabilia,” he says, a twinkle in his eyes. “But now? It’s gonna be worth quadruple.”

“Why’s that?” Macy asks, speaking up for the first time, but Polo is already moving to help a new customer at the other end of his booth.

Without breaking stride, he tosses over his shoulder, “Shit, man, everyone knows autographed stuff like this sells for afortuneposthumously.”

57

Getting Inn

the Weeds

“That doesn’t sound good,” I say, trying to calm my racing heart.

But Polo’s already gone, helping a customer who’s interested in one of the brightly colored coats he has on display.

I turn to Hudson as our friends crowd around. “That doesn’t sound good,” I repeat.

“It’ll be fine,” he assures me. But there’s an extra-cautious look in his eyes that wasn’t there before.

“It has to be,” Flint says as we start to make our way out of the market. “So it will be—one way or the other.”

“That’s a good way of looking at it,” Heather tells him. “It has to be okay, so it will be. I’m going to steal that for when I’m freaked out about something.”

---