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seventeen

Rune made me change into a dress. He insisted I’d be a beacon if people saw my jeans and my leather jacket, which was so obviously not made here . So, as soon as we left whatever place that was where I ate, he took me to an actual clothes shop where a woman who wore a big ass lizard around her neck like a necklace told us she’d be happy to find me a dress my size.

The changing room smelled like dead fish and the fabric of the dress was rough against my skin, but it was black and it covered me from my neck down to my toes, so it would do. I kept my jeans on underneath it, but I put my jacket in the backpack, and then Rune fixed the red scarf over my hair to hide it.

I never actually saw him paying, but I did notice how the woman—who was apparently a lizard-tongue, a person who could speak to lizards—looked wary of him. Tried not to meet his eyes. Looked at the tattoo on the left side of his neck every time Rune moved.

We walked back outside and went right through those trident gates in between the legs of that giant statue. It was so perfectly done that I could almost see the leather of the boots wrapped around the feet, and the way the trousers hung a bit loose on the legs, and the armor that was half ruined, covering the front of the man’s body.

“Who was this?” I asked Rune.

“The fae who made the maze,” he said with a shrug.

“The maze?”

Rune didn’t answer, but I saw it for myself very soon.

It was an actual maze made of these small wooden structures, all identical, that the people used as shops. Must have been some sort of a market where they sold everything—from fish, to poisonous flowers with bright neon petals, to dragon teeth and claws, to potions strong enough to make you forget everything, including your own name.

At first, as we went through, I was terrified.

All those creatures around us, so many, in all colors and sizes. I also recognized a few of them, and Rune was kind enough to point them out as we went.

“Sorcerer,” he said as we passed by the first shop, where a woman with claws and a big nose and fangs on her lower jaw promised to make anyone who came close to your belongings die a painful death if you sprinkled her red potion over them.

“Pretty sure we call those witches where I’m from,” I said. And this one only needed a tipped hat to look like something you’d see in movies.

“It’s the same thing,” Rune said. “They’re very dangerous. Very malevolent. They can cast curses with as little as a strand of your hair and control you through your senses before you understand what traps they’ve set for you.”

Well, damn. “ Why ?”

“Because they do magic. And because their magic requires an energy source, something that is alive. The bigger and the more powerful the offering, the more powerful the sorcerer, the spell or curse or potion.”

“Oh, my God, Rune,” I whispered. “They use people as energy sources to do spells?!”

“Animals, mostly. But when they can get their hands on any kind of creature, they do it. They offer deals, make unbreakable oaths, and then they own you. They need so little, and they’re very good manipulators. Masters of disguise. Which is why they are the most dangerous species here. And there—that’s a golem.”

As we walked, he showed me more of them, men who couldn’t be taller than three feet with hands and feet too big for their bodies, who apparently dealt in flowers. Bloomsridge, their land, was home to the most unusual and most powerful plants Verenthia had and taking care of them came naturally to the golems. It was their power. They communicated with plants the same way lizard-tongues communicated with lizards.

The deeper into this market we went, the more shops there were. It looked like the wooden structures were actually coming out of the ground, like they’d sprouted there like plants, and I pointed that out to Rune.

“They do. They climb out when the sun rises and go down when it sets. It serves as the perfect neutral trading territory because the wood these shops were made of can feel when someone is about to steal. If it’s a renter, they slip into the ground and take everything with them. If whatever creature is stuck there survives the night, they come out in the morning. Most can’t do that, though. Except golems and ghouls and vampires—but nobody tries to steal in the maze. That’s why everyone brings their best offerings to sell here.”

I appreciated that he was chatty as we went, and five minutes in, I was no longer afraid. I was actually excited. I even asked him to slow down a bit so I could see what more they sold in the maze.

One was filled with artifacts like trinkets and stones and shapes made out of wood and glass that the owner, a woman with a set of glowing eyes who was apparently fomorian, promised she’d handpicked across Verenthia. A golem couple—though I really couldn’t tell which one was male and which female for the life of me—they looked identical!—sold planters full of herbs that they promised would make the finest potions the fae had ever seen. An actual bookstore run by a man who looked ordinary enough, save for his teeth made out of gold, who sold ancient tomes and spell books and enchanted tales.

God, I wished I had my phone with me right now just to snap a quick picture of this place so I would never forget the details.

And a pic of Rune, too.

You know, just to have it. Forever.

“How much is one? And do you guys take American dollars?” I asked.

Rune looked at me when I asked him this, surprised. “For a book?”

“Yes, a book. I’d love to read a Verenthian tale—is that even a word? Verenthian? ”

Again, he looked at me like he couldn’t quite decide what to think, whether to be disgusted by me or maybe even be in awe.

Which was probably just wishful thinking on my part, but still.

In the end he said, “We can’t stop anywhere right now. The maze is the safest passage because of the volume of Verenthians that pass through all day, but soon we have to get to the other side.”

Which I understood. “Fine,” I muttered. But I promised myself that when the prince brought me back home this way, I was going to ask him to gift me all the books I could carry.

A jeweler specializing in enchanted jewelry, including amulets, rings, and necklaces that he said would offer protection and luck, and special abilities to the wearer. A stationary shop offering enchanted paper, ink, and quills to make your writing truly magical, the seller said, and a much fancier clothing shop with outfits made of fine velvets and leathers. Potions, rugs and carpets, traveling bags and accessories—they had everything here.

And the maze went on forever.

I was getting a little tired after what could have been over two hours of walking with the crowd while Rune explained to me how Verenthians came from all over the continent to buy at the maze to ensure they weren’t being fooled. But even tired, I couldn’t stop moving from one shop to the next, looking at what they sold, and I was sweating underneath that red scarf so much, but I never once took it off.

I was smiling to myself, not even looking at where Rune was—he was always beside me anyway, and he was right when he said this place was the safest way because there were so many creatures coming and going that none looked at me or anybody else twice. I knew he’d be close and watching me, so I allowed myself to move freely, and I wasn’t scared in the least. I just made a mental list of everything I was seeing so I could tell Fi and Betty when I got back home, explain everything in the best way I knew how.

Until I passed another shop, the last one of this row on the right—and realized a whimper was coming from it. Like someone was crying but couldn’t really be loud. Like someone needed help.

My smile vanished. My legs took me forward on their own, eyes wide open until I saw the inside of the shop that had no name or boxes or books or potions on display at the front.

In there was a man, and in his arms was another, merely a boy with two heads—a fomorian called Twinborn, Rune said, who was considered one person, even though he had two brains.

This man holding him in his arms was biting him.

I saw red.

My body moved me back now, and the fear that grabbed me by the throat nearly made me pass out. The scream was stuck in my throat and my mind went back to every single horror movie and every book about blood-sucking monsters I’d ever read.

It was a vampire. I was looking at an actual vampire.

The boy stopped whimpering from his right head—his left had his eyes closed—when the vampire let him go and stepped back. Wiped the blood from the corner of his lip with the back of his hand.

Then turned and his eyes locked right on mine.

They were as black as the night, even deeper. He had fangs, but not like those of sorcerers. These were original vampire fangs, extending from his upper jaw, coming out just below his lower lip—and now they were retreating as he watched me and smiled.

The boy with the two heads fell back, and there must have been a chair there because he didn’t hit the ground. Instead, he sat, and his heads, almost identical to one another, fell on either side until they hit his shoulders.

The vampire calmly put his hands on the empty display of the shop and took in a deep breath through his nose, like he was sniffing the air, and his eyes closed.

I about fucking died, but since I didn’t, I took in a deep breath, too, and prepared to scream instead.

“You smell…different.”

He spoke. He fucking spoke and the scream got caught in my throat—and when someone took my hand in theirs all of a sudden, my legs gave up.

Before I hit the ground, though, an arm wrapped around my waist and held me in place—Rune.

Rune was here, and he was looking at the vampire, and he was furious.

However, he said nothing, only pulled me back slowly. My legs somehow worked—he was here and part of me believed I was already saved, and that gave me a bit of energy. It gave me my voice back.

“Don’t leave so soon. Maybe you are in need of my services since Reme brought you in front of me.”

The vampire moved.

He moved and when he did, he turned to a shadow. The way he walked out of the shop, through the door that must have been at the back, then went to stand under the shade on the other side—it was impossible. He was too fast— impossible.

“We’re in no need of your services,” Rune said, and his voice had completely transformed. He sounded like a different person altogether.

The vampire raised his brows. “Where’d you buy her? How much did you pay?” he asked. “I’ll pay you double.”

My heart fell all the way to my heels.

“She’s not for sale.” Again, Rune sounded like a person who wouldn’t mind ripping you apart piece by piece, and he would actually enjoy it as much as he said he’d enjoy ordering me around.

Right now, I had no trouble with it. As long as this man who had eyes made of pure black ink and who’d had fangs coming out of his lips—and who still had some blood on the corner of his mouth—stayed away from me, I had no trouble with Rune ordering me around all day every day.

“Three times, then. I’ll pay three times what you paid,” he said, his eyes scrolling up and down my body, and he was big. He was possibly six five, with shoulders twice as wide as Rune’s, and the way he moved…

God, I was so scared my whole body was shaking, but I also had plenty of energy now to move around Rune, practically hide behind his back. Both my hands were around his arm as I looked at the vampire, and at the two-headed guy who seemed to be asleep now in that chair inside the shop, clueless as to what was happening around him.

“Walk away,” Rune simply said, and I heard the threat in his voice.

I thought the vampire wasn’t going to care—the size of him alone was terrifying—but instead he raised both hands in surrender.

“I don’t want no trouble,” he said, and I could hardly believe my ears. “I just want to do business. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a marked one before.” He waved a hand to the side of his neck—to indicate Rune’s tattoo. “What was your crime?”

The way Rune’s arms tensed, I knew he had pulled his hands into fists before I saw them.

“Rune, let’s just go,” I whispered and tried to pull him back, but he could have weighed a ton. I couldn’t even budge him.

“I’m here every half-moon for three nights. Whenever you’re ready to sell, I’ll be interested,” the vampire continued. His eyes fell on me again, and he was grinning.

Every inch of my skin rose in goose bumps. There wasn’t a single instinct in my body that wasn’t screaming at me to run, but I wasn’t going anywhere without Rune.

“Please, let’s just get going,” I said and pulled him back again.

By some miracle, Rune moved.

His fists had loosened, and when he looked at me now, he seemed calmer.

Then he told the vampire, “I’ll keep that in mind, bloodsucker.”

He took my hand in his and didn’t stop walking until we were two rows of shops away, and deep into the crowd.

* * *

“He was biting him.” The memory replied itself in my mind. “He was…he was whimpering, and I thought…I thought he was in pain.”

“He was paying.”

I looked up at Rune, who couldn’t stop looking around us instead, searching—maybe for that vampire?

“For what?”

“Whatever service the vampire offered.” He made almost a full circle, searching the faces of every creature around us.

“He was afraid of you, Rune. He’s not going to follow.” Not that I knew for certain, of course.

“I know. I’m just making sure he hasn’t sent a tracker after us.”

“A tracker?”

“Someone to follow us around since he can’t.”

“Can’t or doesn’t dare?”

“ Can’t. Vampires get weak in the sun. They stay in the shade at all times when they can help it.” Again, he grabbed my hand in his and moved forward.

I looked down at our hands, linked together, a little afraid to admit how perfectly well they fit. Like mine was made for his—the exact right size so he could wrap his long fingers all around my fist and hold it there comfortably.

“Why, though?” I found myself asking.

“Why what?”

“Why was he afraid of you?” Not that I was complaining, of course, but he was twice Rune’s size and also he had fangs. And moved like his body didn’t care for gravity.

“Because I’m fae,” was Rune’s answer.

The crowd of people was getting bigger around us, and I didn’t get a chance to ask why again. They pushed and pulled me in all directions, but Rune never let go of my hand. I was no longer as excited as I went through and saw the shops and what they sold, and all the different creatures of Verenthia that I could have never even imagined were possible anywhere in any realm or universe. Instead, I saw everything with a different eye, with a dose of fear, continuously wondering what more these people considered normal. Because drinking blood straight from someone’s neck and calling it business was not right.

And the way I felt safe while my hand was in Rune’s was not right, either.

It occurred to me while we walked that I had no clue who this man was. It occurred to me, and the thought tormented me until there were no more people around us, that just because he said he was going to help me, and that he was the prince’s friend, and that the prince had saved his life, too, didn’t mean that he’d told me the truth.

If a creature like that vampire was afraid of him, what could I expect? Was I a fool to think he’d protect me for real if it came to it?

“Here.” He stopped us behind an empty shop, and I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was and how much the sun had fallen on my head until he offered me what looked like a thermos, though a very old one full of dents on all sides. Still. The lid was off, and I could see the water in it, so I drank. I didn’t think anymore—I was so damn tired of thinking—and I just drank.

The good news was that I didn’t die, and the taste was that of water—tasteless .

When I was done, Rune took the bottle and drank, too, his eyes assessing everything around us and mine on him. I analyzed every inch of him, and the tattoo on the side of his neck that was apparently not a tattoo at all.

A marked, that vampire called it.

“What?” Rune asked all of a sudden—he must have noticed me looking at him even though his eyes were elsewhere.

“Why was he afraid of you, Rune?” I asked again without really meaning to. But the reality of my situation, I thought, was finally hitting home and starting to actually make sense to me, and I needed to know who I was with. I needed to know that I wasn’t going to end up as food for a vampire or a mermaid or some monstrous version of the animals I knew.

I needed to know who he was.

Rune slowly turned to look at me, the water in his hand still. For a while, we just stared at each other and we didn’t even blink. My body was calm. My instincts were so trusting of him it was kind of scary because all I knew for a fact about him was that he’d known that horse’s name.

Then again, he’d admitted it himself that he’d followed us since Earth, so who was to say that he hadn’t just heard Helid say the horse’s name before the monkey monsters attacked us?

“I’m fae, Wildcat.”

Rune’s voice was hushed—that place between solid voice and a whisper. And he suddenly handed me the water bottle again. The movement made me lean back—not intentionally. Like I said, my instincts behaved like I’d known him a lifetime, and I wasn’t afraid of him in the least.

I was here, talking to him now because I thought I should be.

When he saw that I moved back, Rune stepped away. Lowered the bottle. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“What does that mean, though? Fae —what does that mean? He was a vampire.” And that didn’t sound like a small thing.

“Vampires, sorcerers, even golems and shifters—everyone needs a source from which they draw their magic. Blood magic, soul magic, plant magic, animal magic—it all comes from somewhere for everyone, but not for us.” He put his hand over his chest. “ We are our own sources. We are magic. We don’t need to filter energy from anything or anyone, and that’s why we’re the most powerful species in Verenthia.”

“Oh.” That…actually made perfect sense.

Rune said, “And now we need to keep moving if we want to make it to a safe place to sleep by nightfall.”

He turned around and he started walking ahead between the shops, all of these now empty though people seemed to be coming from wherever he was headed.

“Rune, wait,” I said, feeling defeated all of a sudden.

But if he heard me, Rune didn’t turn.

I took in a deep breath and planned to follow, but as soon as I’d taken the first step, someone came out from between two separate shops, and he was walking like he’d had one too many drinks just now.

He also had two heads.

The boy took a step forward, arms out for balance, but he couldn’t hold himself upright, and so he tipped over. Before I knew it, I was by his side holding him up by the arm.

“Easy, easy,” I said—to a two-headed guy wearing a green shirt.

Because that was what had become of my life.

“I’m-I’m fine,” the boy’s left head said, and his words were slurred together, his eyes—all four on his heads—were half closed. I dragged him back to the empty shop I’d been resting against just a moment ago, and I settled him against the wood for support.

When I let go and stepped back, all my instincts crashing against each other, he didn’t fall. He was just breathing as heavily as me.

Goose bumps on my forearms. He was a good head taller than me, and he really had two heads coming out of his shoulders, but the neckline of his shirt wouldn’t let me see if he had two necks coming from his torso, or if a single neck extended from it, then separated into two. What I could see, though, were the two puncture marks and the blood on the right side of his neck.

“You okay?” I asked as I analyzed the rest of him—normal-looking limbs, two hands, two feet. And everything else seemed to be human-like. I was really curious to see underneath his pants, though—but only for a moment.

“Yes, yes, I just need a minute.” Again, the left head spoke, while the right one still looked a bit out of it. “We’ll be good as new in no time.”

“You want some water or something?” I offered him the bottle Rune had given me. There was still some left.

“Oh, yes. Water, water,” said the right head this time, and it was so fucking strange to see it. Same person, two heads, two mouths, two different voices. Slightly different, but different, nonetheless.

Then the guy snatched the water from my hand and the right head took a sip, the left another.

When they blinked their eyes again, they seemed much more alert.

“There you go. Much better,” the left head said, and he— they ?—offered me the empty bottle back. “Thank you, kind lady.”

“You’re welcome,” I said, and he was still leaning against the shop, testing his hands, pulling them into fists as if to make sure they were working as they should. “I’m Nilah. What’s your name?” Because I had to know whom I was talking to here.

“A true pleasure, Nilah. That’s a beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”

That’s when it dawned on me—he could see my face. Fuck.

Suddenly, I remembered where I was. How I came to be here. The red scarf was supposed to cover half my face, but it had fallen off almost all the way when I’d stopped this guy from collapsing.

I remembered Rune.

Heart in my throat, I turned around to where he’d walked away, certain that he wouldn’t be there, that I’d already lost him to the crowd of creatures coming and going.

But Rune was right there near the first tree, arms crossed and shoulder leading against the trunk, his eyes on me, his expression unreadable.

He was there.

The relief that came over me scared me a little bit.

I turned back to the guy with two heads, just for another moment, and asked again, “And you are?”

“I’m Tuck,” said the left head. “And I’m Tucker,” said the right.

“Are you… one person?” I wondered. Because if they had two names…

“Nah—I’m smarter than he’ll ever be,” said the left head and slammed his head against the right.

“Ow—watch it!” said the right and slammed against the left, too.

“Just proving a difference, that’s all,” said the left, and both hands went to where they’d hit each other, and they were rubbing the spots at the same time.

“What are you , beautiful girl?” The right head sniffed. “Can’t really smell anything.”

“I’m, uh… I’m…” I looked back at Rune for a moment. Still there. “Can I ask you something?”

“You just did,” said the left head—Tuck.

“But go ahead, go ahead,” said Tucker. “We love questions.”

“ He loves questions,” muttered Tuck, nudging his head at the right.

“That vampire just bit you—I saw it.” My hand went to the side of my neck and my eyes went to those puncture marks on Tucker’s. “Why?”

“He’s a messenger,” the head said. “Vampires will only be paid in blood, so we paid.”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand. You willingly let him bite you?” Because vampire.

Why wasn’t anybody else alarmed by this?

“Of course, yeah. He’s relatively cheap. Will take only about half a cup,” said Tuck.

“We’ve paid more, haven’t we?” asked Tucker.

“Yes, yes, we have.”

“So you just…let him bite you and then he?—“

“Delivers our message to Blackwater,” said Tuck. “Our mother works there. We were supposed to be on our way to her by tonight, but we’ve been having some logistics issues so…”

“We sent word,” Tucker continued. “She’ll send what we need back.”

“She always does.” Tuck nodded.

It might be the strangest exchange I’d ever seen—same body, two heads speaking as if they were their own persons for real.

“Oh. I see.” I held back the urge to ask if their mother had two heads, too. “Well, it was nice to meet you two. I hope you get to your mother safely.” I waved a hand awkwardly and stepped back.

“Hey, hey, beautiful Nilah—a word of advice since you are so nice?” said Tuck, and his eyes were behind me—to where I supposed Rune was still waiting for me by that tree.

“Watch out for him, will you?” said Tucker.

I smiled a little. “You just agreed to be bitten by a vampire to send a message.” And they were telling me to watch out for Rune?

“Yes, but he’s just a vampire,” Tuck said, waving the left hand. “That one is fae.”

The way he said the word— fae. Like one would say the boogieman back home.

“And he’s marked,” Tucker whispered.

“What does that mean exactly?”

Both heads raised their dark brows and looked at one another—or tried to. The heads were so close together they were cheek to cheek before they could turn all the way.

“What do you mean, what does that mean?” Tucker said.

“It means he’s a traitor, that’s what,” said Tuck.

“No, no, that…that can’t?—”

“Nilah.”

Every inch of my body froze in place when I realized that Rune was right behind me. Right there, not by the tree.

And Tuck and Tucker basically slammed against the wood of the shop, trying to get away. “We were just having a conversation,” Tuck said.

I turned with half a heart, looked up at Rune, at his dark eyes as he stared at them.

“We were. Thanks for the talk, boys. Safe trip.” I stepped back, now afraid that Rune might hurt them .

“Our pleasure, beautiful Nilah. Safe trip to you, too, wherever you’re going,” said Tucker, and they waved at me with both hands.

With my head down, I turned around and walked away toward the trees, praying Rune would follow.

He did.