I said. “I’ll come back for you. I’ll figure out a way, okay? I’ll make him buy out your contract too, so you need to hang in there.”
“It’s all right if you can’t.” She nodded, but her eyes kept dropping to the floor and the smile trembled. I was one of many pop-ups that had passed through here. How many people had she lost?
“I will. Just give me a little time. I’ll figure something out.” I took her in a hug, wishing I could drag her out of there with me right now.
“You better get going. I don’t want you to lose this chance.”
She didn’t believe me. There was absolutely no reason for her to think I’d be able to help her. I didn’t know how I was going to pull this off either. I did know I would, though.
“I’m coming back for you. I’m making you that promise.” I put as much force as possible behind my words, without raising my voice, in an effort to convince her.
“I know.”
She kept nodding but clearly didn’t believe me. With a last smile, she turned back to her dandelions. It wasn’t to be hurtful. She was trying to keep it together. I’d been there.
I left, wishing I could’ve brought her with me right then and there. And why couldn’t I? How hard would it be to buy her contract as well?
Hawk was standing in front of the factory, his back to me as I walked over and stopped beside him.
“I need you to get someone else out before—”
“Not here.” He began walking.
“But—”
“Not. Here.”
Okay, fine. Not. Here, I repeated in a mocking voice as we walked away from the factory. Of course, he couldn’t hear it because I said it in my head. I couldn’t afford to piss him off too much, not yet. I needed him to get me back to Salem and Rabbit out of that factory.
Once we were a good block or so away, Hawk said, “Now you can talk.”
“There’s another person I was working with who I need to get out.” I’d planned on working up to this slowly, after I had more details of what he needed. That plan had crashed and burned with Rabbit’s expression when I said goodbye. She didn’t have time. She needed out, and the sooner the better. That place was killing her on every level.
“I suggest you worry about fulfilling your obligations to me before you ask for anything else.” He didn’t slow his step.
It was a fair request, and if it was for anything else, I’d hold my tongue. I’d wait until I got some leverage. But I couldn’t.
“We have to work out something in the meantime. That’s a bad place, and I need to—”
He stopped walking. “It’s not possible. Not right now. It would draw too much suspicion. After you’re done, I can try to do something about this friend, but there are too many obstacles right now.” Without waiting for a reply, he started walking again.
I knew a hard no when I heard one. This was going to take a little work, but I’d never shied away from digging in. I’d figure it out. In the meantime, I needed to get my bearings. If I was going to help her, I had to help myself first.
As we made our way to his place, I took Xest in for the first time in the daylight, up close. We walked past lines of shops and stores, and nothing looked how I’d imagine. Even the butcher, or what I guessed was the butcher, had strange purple meats hanging from hooks in silhouettes I’d never seen before. It could’ve been a carved-up dragon for all I knew.
There were shops with nothing but bottles lining the walls. Other shops had nothing but plants, the likes of which I’d never seen. And the people—what I could see of them, as they tended to cross the way when we approached—were even stranger. The hair colors ranged from natural to rainbow. The colors they wore were either brighter than bright or all black.
We didn’t stop walking until we got to a building with a shingle over the door with “Broker of All” carved into the wood. There were large picture windows comprised of many tiny, wavy glass panes on either side.
The place was packed with people who appeared to be waiting to speak to one of three workers who sat behind desks.
The wall above them was at least two stories high and was covered with strange levers and