Shadow Thief - Eva Chase Page 0,29

out. “I shouldn’t have leapt to such a conclusion. You’ve been very generous with us—and it seems you are with your little green companion as well.”

Sorsha eyed me for a moment longer as if confirming that I was being genuine. Then she relaxed in her chair. Now that I recognized the bond as one of protection rather than incarceration, it was impossible not to see the affection with which she tipped her cheek toward the creature to meet his nuzzle.

No, I hadn’t been fair at all. I grappled with the twist of discomfort that acknowledgment brought and then leaned forward. If she could surprise me that much, I’d like to discover what else I might have missed.

“Tell me more about this ‘flea market,’ would you, m’lady?”

10

Sorsha

As we stepped off the bus by the flea market’s gate, Thorn tugged at his fingerless gloves as if he’d like them better if he adjusted the fit for the one hundredth time. I checked Ruse’s cap to make sure it was hiding all sign of his horns. Catching my examination, he tipped the brim to me in a jaunty salute.

“All monstrous features well hidden away,” he said with a grin.

The four of us had gotten into a bit of an argument about them accompanying me at all. The trio had promised to keep their nature under wraps, but given Ruse’s casual attitude and the others’ inexperience with modern life, I wasn’t convinced they’d keep it. I’d done my best to stress how ill-prepared most of my fellow twenty-first century mortals were to cope with the idea of supernatural beings in their midst.

I pointed a finger at him, just shy of waggling it. “I’ll be watching you.”

In some ways, Snap had both the easiest and the hardest time of it. Concealing his tongue didn’t require any awkward fashion statements, but on the other hand, it also meant he had to rein in his enthusiasm at least a little—and refrain from using his power. From the way he gazed around us as we stepped under the awning that shaded the outer half of the market, he’d have liked to test a whole lot of the objects around us.

“Remember,” I said quietly to the trio. “We’re looking for any sign of shadowkind or that sword-star symbol. Try to stay focused.”

Ruse gave me a thumbs-up. Thorn frowned as if he resented the reminder and strode on slightly ahead of the rest of us.

I had to give Snap a little nudge to get him moving again. He tilted his head at a curious angle, taking in a used electronics booth and a table stacked with scented candles. Farther along, pendulums swung on intricately carved wooden clocks. He couldn’t seem to help stopping to follow the rhythm of one for a few seconds.

As I tugged him along the crowded aisle, he leaned close to me. His warm breath tickled my ear. “There are so many things here—and each array is so different from the others! Are they really all being sold? What were those objects with the numbers and the ticking?”

“Clocks,” I said, scanning the shoppers and stalls around us. “They’re for telling time. And yep, pretty much everything here is on offer—they’d probably even sell the tables if someone put up the cash.”

“Telling time,” Snap repeated in a puzzled tone.

“Like, how long it’s been during the day. It took us an hour to get here on the bus.”

“Ah! That would be good to keep track of.” He peered back over his shoulder at the booth, so avidly I half expected him to bound back over there and grab one for himself. I guessed shadowkind didn’t worry much about the passage of hours—or days or sometimes even years—while they went about their business in their own realm. From the way Auntie Luna had described it when I’d badgered her for information, things there didn’t work in ways mortal senses understood.

The best I can describe it is that it’s like a vast dark cave, one you’d never reach the walls or back of, she’d said. You’re aware of who and what’s around you, but everything feels somewhat… flat. You could almost say it’s like a dream, one interaction and another bleeding into each other without much logic to it.

Do you miss it? I’d asked her, and she’d laughed and said, Not while I can be here with you. But after what Snap had gleaned from her glittery shoes, I wasn’t sure how true that was. No matter how flat and random