wheeling me to the stone steps leading up to his home’s entry. “I actually did most of the carving on my house, and I purchased this lot in exchange for doing carving work on several of the other homes here. That’s what originally brought me to Asylum in the first place. Benedict needed quadrant mages who could potentially work with stone. I can. When I trained to become a quadrant mage, I came to the Alley last, and as my mage powers here are fairly dangerous, I stayed here the longest. The first time I came to the Alley, it was before Asylum went under construction. Benedict has limited abilities as a witch and as a mage, but he lacks the power required to do the kind of work with stone I can.”
I eyed the steps, wondering how I’d make it up without either falling on my ass or putting myself through a ridiculous amount of pain. “Mansfield uses two magic types?”
“He can see a little into the future, although his witchcraft is mostly uncontrolled. He built Asylum because of a reoccurring dream of the storms.”
Interesting. I lurched to my feet, which did a good job of shifting my injured ribs, and I clenched my teeth together so I wouldn’t start cursing over the throbbing in my side. “A piece of advice, Sandro. Don’t get shot.”
Sandro took hold of my elbow. “You can yell at me for making assumptions and being overly gentlemanly after you’ve made it up the stairs without falling.”
“I do not want to fall, so thank you.”
The instant I was safely on the porch, Sandro retrieved the wheelchair, opened his front door, and rolled it inside, revealing a spacious entry. Wood paneling gave the place a cozy feel, and while he had electric lighting installed, several oil lamps waited on a small table beside the door. “Oil lamps? Why do you have oil lamps?”
“The power is turned off during all storms, except for in the ventilation systems. If there is a problem with the electricity during the storm, this makes it safer to be fixed. The ventilation systems are on a different power system with several backups, and the rest of the electricity in Asylum is separate. So, I use oil lamps. Some use flashlights, but I keep a stash of oil around and use lamps. I also imported some propane and a propane grill from the East, as I am spoiled and enjoy grilling. I’ve taken some steps.”
I eyed the wheelchair, and after determining I couldn’t cope with standing for much longer, I sat. “I’m never laughing at someone with broken ribs again.”
“Yeah. Broken ribs hurt like hell, and there’s not a whole lot they can do about it beyond let them heal and make sure they don’t break further and damage something important. Your broken ribs aren’t bad. You got lucky on where the bullet went. It could have been worse.”
“I guess. That doesn’t change the fact I’m short an organ now.”
“Could’ve been your lung,” he pointed out, and he waited for me to be settled in the wheelchair before pushing me out of the way so he could close and lock his front door. “There are some problems.”
“With my Asylum pass?” I guessed.
“Surprisingly not. Your association with me trumps the passes acquired from your employers. It’s about your bounty.”
“Great. Has it gotten worse? You mentioned something about it in the hospital, but not a whole lot. Why did you talk about it in front of the doctor and nurse?”
I found it irritating the nurses had done their best to keep as distanced from me as possible, and I couldn’t shake the feeling they’d gotten rid of me as soon as humanely possible. If they got me killed kicking me out of the hospital early, I’d haunt the entire lot of them. If ghosts didn’t exist, I’d do my damned best to be the first.
“There are a lot of racists in Asylum, and a lot of them don’t like foxes.”
“That’s nothing new. We’re scavengers, and we’re able to cross the boundary without getting scrambled. That’s enough to piss most people off. Add in how beautiful my ears and tail are, and they’re jealous they can’t be me. My hair’s not bad, either.”
“Your hair is a marvel, and I respect the amount of work you go through to keep it tamed. I learned firsthand, as I was the one who washed and brushed it after your operation. There was a great deal of blood from a