Shadow Thief - Eva Chase Page 0,31

like a carnal longing in Snap’s demeanor. He probably had no idea that kind of pleasure was even possible.

How ecstatic would he look when he discovered it?

Nope, nope, not chugging along with that train of thought right now. But I did let myself smile as Snap rejoined us, exclaiming over the spoonful of honey. His joyful sense of wonder might be catching.

Maybe places like this weren’t all junk. I shouldn’t let my former teenage cynicism color how I looked at it now. There was a sort of magic to the possible treasures you could stumble on—even more so when it was all brand new to you.

I spent most of my life dealing with paranormal creatures from an otherworldly realm. I had a pet miniature dragon, by all that was holy. I really ought to revel in that magic a little more myself, in between the difficult bits.

Thorn had marched deeper into the crowd. He doubled back just outside the doorway to the inner market.

“Did you spot something?” I asked.

His expression was slightly more grave than usual. I was learning to read the Thorn range of emotions, from vaguely discomforted (his happiest) through to “the apocalypse is nigh” (his most severe, I was assuming in the hopes of never seeing it).

“Not any sign that we were seeking,” he said. “But I have a sense that a man several paces behind you has started following us.”

I restrained myself from glancing back. Giving away that we’d noticed a potential tail was an amateur’s mistake. “How sure are you? Everyone’s kind of moving in the same direction along the stalls.”

Thorn’s frown deepened a tad more. “My instincts are well honed. I will observe more closely.”

He headed off before I could say anything else. I glanced at Ruse. “Do you think we should get out of here?”

The incubus shrugged. “It’s not as though anyone stalking us could have realized what we’re looking for, since we haven’t found any trace of it yet. I haven’t picked up any ill intent toward us from anyone we’ve come near. And our disguises are firmly in place.” He tweaked his cap. “I think we’re fine. Let’s keep going and see what they do next.”

That sounded like a reasonable enough plan. Especially since while we’d been distracted, Snap had already wandered ahead into the sprawling building that contained the other half of the market. I hustled to reach him before he became so overwhelmed by amazement he forgot to tone it down to reasonably acceptable levels.

Somehow he managed to be equally fascinated by old leather jackets and the artwork on retro video game cases. But we kept him moving, studying the stalls as well as the walls and ceiling of the building around them. We’d made it up and down two of the four aisles when Thorn returned.

“Have you sufficiently defended our honor?” Ruse asked him.

Thorn glowered at him, but there wasn’t much conviction to it. “The one I thought was following us went in a different direction and left.”

“Ah. So either he’s very bad at this whole following thing, or he wasn’t interested in us in the first place.”

“I might have misread the situation,” Thorn admitted. “But I think it’s equally likely someone else was monitoring us, and I simply attributed that awareness to the wrong target.”

I scanned the crowd. “Do you feel like we’re being tracked now?”

He paused, his gaze making a similar trajectory across the market. “I’m not sure. Not strongly enough to narrow down the source, in any case.”

Ruse patted him on the arm. “That, my friend, is called ‘paranoia.’”

The remark earned him a whole-hearted glower. Before they could get into a real squabble, I nudged them both. “Come on. We’re going to lose Snap at this rate. Let’s just get through the rest of the market.”

My expectations had already been low. By the time we emerged from the market building’s back door, they’d bottomed out. Even Snap’s high spirits flagged as he took in our expressions.

“This wasn’t the right place?” he said.

He was the one who’d given us the name. I couldn’t bring myself to completely nix any usefulness he’d felt. “It could be that the sword-star bunch only used it the one time to pass Omen on to someone else or to get a different vehicle to transport him. It just doesn’t look as if anyone with shadowkind connections has a regular presence here.”

“I will—” Thorn started, and seemed to catch himself. He frowned, his gaze settling on me and jerking away again. “I’ll