Chapter 3

T hunder crashed and rain slammed against the alley door. Behind her, a familiar rock tune thumped in the bar and the chatter of voices were loud and drunk. By this time, Janie and Corina had both exits covered, but the thought gave her no peace. The words he had spoken raged in her mind and she badly wanted to flee, not only from this stranger who stood before her but life itself.

Every night she escaped home to where her small bed and crooked night lamp perched over a stack of books, stuffed with half-worked rune equations. She studied for hours to forget, drinking from a bottle until her eyelids shut, hoping to stave off the nightmares that visited her sleeping mind. The burning pain that had screeched through her nervous system when she had performed the opening moves with nimble fingers, eager to step into the dark, vast world of the Dynn. The explosion that roared forth. Their faces as they died. On that day she had become both an orphan and murderer. After the fire had broken out, several trucks of soldiers had arrived for her. She thought they came to help but they had torn her away from the corpses, ignoring her screams and struggles. There had been no sentencing, only a series of cells that ended in Lielroth Island Prison. She remembered the convict's tattoo that burned her skin, the hair that fell, shorn from her head to guard against lice outbreaks, and how she always, always felt so cold in that cell, even on the days that promised a full sun.

Dimly, she remembered that she could design runes. Clearer thoughts returned. Perhaps the masked stranger wanted her to create an equation. Yes, she thought, it made sense to care about her runes . Some traders had asked her if prison affected the way she could design equations, as if her plants being altered had impacted her mind. Her work made them return for more, no longer asking probing questions, but the idea lingered, offensive and ridiculous. Her future was pruned, her actions now unremarkable, and yet her mind was her own. She had been permitted to leave prison after the government had ascertained that her runes had been cut back to ensure there would be no volatility…no unpredictable acts of any kind from her…ever again. She was to live a life of drudgery, her future, a flatline of solitude. In the old days of the Empire, criminals were killed or maimed as punishment. Modern times brought rune pruning, removing any hopes of a future for the criminal. Better a life of predictable behaviors by former criminals, the government would say, than potential rune volatility leading to further crimes.

Sometimes, she thought the punishment was worse than death.

"Are you still with me?" His voice, soft and sharp, cut through her thoughts.

She straightened and wondered how much time had elapsed while he stood watching her under those lowered lids.

"Are you a rogue trader from Healm?" Even her voice sounded unfamiliar, her tongue moving thickly between her teeth.

"No," he said. "Why do you not care that your runes have been altered?"

She gasped with laughter and then realized he was serious. She knew exactly what had been done to her runes. But his relating could give her information. "Okay, what did you see in my runes?"

His voice continued, tight with pain. "They've been cut to…almost nothing. I've never seen such extreme pruning…such cruelty. I did not know they went so far as to remove your memories."

She processed this information. Great. All those years in prison had not been enough. The core evil within her still remained, despite the empire pruning the fuck out of her rune plants.

"What memories?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"If I tell you, they would only be something you hear. You must recall them deep from within your mind. I cannot help."

Terror clutched her chest, enough to banish her remembrance of other fears. What she did remember was terrible. If there were other things lost to time, perhaps she did not wish for those memories to resurface.

She needed to get more information. "Tell me, how did you find my runes?"

Something like horror entered his eyes and she wondered if he could see into her soul.

A pause, then, "I saw your runes in a trance."

She blinked, surprised. That was not at all the answer she had expected. Some people tracked down misplaced rune plants in the Dynn by searching for them across the wastelands and rune forests of that black world for months…sometimes years. How some dazed stupor helped a person in the discovery, she had no idea. "A trance ? Do you often have them?"

"No. Thank the Dynn," he fervently muttered as darkness passed through his eyes.

She took a deep breath and rubbed her face, trying to regain control of her reeling thoughts. "Look, this is all a misunderstanding. I'm just a mud slummer. There's nothing special about me."

"You call yourself such a name. Tell me, would you say the same of your friends?" His anger surprised her.

"Of course not!"

"And yet, you are one of them?"

She remained silent. No, they may be street kids and petty crooks but she was a murderer. At least she could be honest with herself.

Gentle fingers clasped her chin and pulled her face upwards, forcing her eyes to meet those blue irises concealed by that annoying mask. "Listen to me. I came here tonight to rescue you. I can no longer do so."

Her eyes narrowed. "Why not?"

His lips quirked. "It is human nature to want something denied. Now that I have met you, I can no longer rescue you. There is something happening within your runes that I cannot predict."

She wondered if he was entirely present in the head. After those whiskeys, she certainly was not and that likely made two of them. "Can you at least tell me something about my runes?"

"I cannot. You know why. If I tell you, your runes will alter on the information, and so will your future. I cannot predict THAT outcome nor do I wish to, not when there are other variables hanging in the balance. No, you must watch and perceive like you never have before. You have a great puzzle to figure out, one that may end your life and destroy all you love."

"Man of mysteries and riddles, aren't you," she muttered. "Anything else to add to the world's vaguest scary warning?"

He nodded. "Trust no one, not even those you hold most dear."

She blinked. How in the world did someone answer that? "Are you trying to isolate me from my friends? Make me afraid of unknown terrors? Look, whatever game you're playing, I don't want a part of it."

She stepped backward, angling for the bar door. To her surprise, he did not attempt to stop her.

"Think. Use your brain and figure out what you must find. The answers will be everywhere. You have only to SEE them."

Pulling his hood low across his hidden face, he swept her an elegant bow. Misery and control emanated from his mighty frame.

"I will await your decision. When you are ready to come away with me, just say the word and I will help you. Meanwhile, know that I am on your side, keeping watch on you in whatever way that I can. Farewell for now, Bright Eyes."

She opened her mouth in protest but what happened next made the thought evaporate from her mind. His fingers twisted in a movement she immediately recognized and a great pool of darkness flung out behind him like a dreadful set of wings. The hallway warped around its edges, light streaming into the blackness like a wormhole, and his cloak billowed outward in a sharp, cold wind that gushed from the opening—from the Dynn world beyond that great, black, undulating circle of emptiness.

The masked stranger looked at her one last time as he stepped into the opening and vanished. The blackness winked out of existence like a popped bubble.

She stood in the dirty hallway of Sandy's with her unfinished words, a solitary mop, and a spider crawling across the tiled floor. She felt both chilly and nauseous, a common reaction to experiencing a Dynn opening. Healmic warrior, indeed. Her intuition was badly off. He was so obviously a Dynn Knight with that heavy, black cloak and weapons that worked in both the Dynn and this world, though she had never known that Knights wore masks. Something about him now felt vaguely familiar but she was likely imagining it, especially after he provoked her with thoughts of lost memories.

Perhaps he had other reasons for concealment. Maybe he was a criminal like her. From what she had read on Knights, they were warriors sworn to the service of the Dark God of the Dynn and then, millenniums later, the emperors. But the Imperial Order of Dynn Knights had been shuttered over two hundred years ago by Emperor Luiximor and replaced with the modern, suit-wearing Dynn traders of the Exchange. These days were all about trading the runes through paper equations and electrical currents, not guarding and manipulating their direct growth in the Dynn. Dragons did that work now.

A tug of jealousy arose at his swift, immediate exit into that dark world. The one and only time she had attempted to enter the Dynn, she had committed murder. An idea popped into her mind. Either the masked stranger was delusional, or her runes contained something so terrible, he wanted to stop her from causing that future. Something told her that delusion was not a factor. Maybe on the sunship, he could kill her and lose her body in the ocean's fathomless waves , she grimly thought.

But he seemed to care for her safety. Besides, he had called her Bright Eyes. Whatever for? They were hardly on familiar terms, never mind nickname basis. Also, her eyes were anything but lustrous. She concluded he had merely been charming in complimenting her weakest feature, and she decided to resent him for it.

She opened the door, flooding the dirty hallway with yellow light. Corina tumbled past her, catching herself just in time from a fall.

"Vala, you're alive!" She beamed and, staggering upright, opened the far door. Janie stood outside, hands on hips, her face a thundercloud.

"I know you like your secrets but I was seconds away from barging in." She stomped into the hall, looking about. "Where did he go?"

Vala blinked, returning to reality, her eyes refocused on the swarming bustle of the bar. The crowd had thinned, indicating Sandy's would close soon.

She put on a shaky grin for her friends. "We were just chatting about stuff. He's a bit of a lunatic, I think, but mostly harmless."

Janie scowled. "He struck me as a dangerous person we don't want to know."

"Hey, girls, we're closing." The bartender called.

Vala was glad for the distraction. Questions were incoming but she was exhausted. "Let's go home," she said. "I promise I'll answer all your questions as we walk."

They donned their coats—Janie had sensibly brought Vala's—and sallied forth into the night. Behind them, the windows of Sandy's glowed red, enclosing the day's last remnant of music, heat, and bustling humanity from the dark. Heavy clouds muttered overhead as the storm faded.

Corina turned to her. "So, what did he say, exactly?"

"A lot of warnings. But nothing in particular." She hunched further into her jacket and kept walking.

"Warnings about what?" Janie belted Vala's coat. "Your hands are freezing. You really need to pay more attention to yourself."

Vala smiled her thanks, dimly aware that she was indeed cold. When her thoughts swept her away, it was sometimes hard to remember she had a body that needed food, rest, and warmth.

"It was mostly nonsense," she said. "You would find it funny."

Corina flung arms around her and squeezed with aggressive affection. "Tell us. We need a good laugh. Come on, we all survived tonight."

Vala cracked a smile. "Stop! Stop. I think you're crushing my ribs."

Corina giggled but lessened her grip. "I can feel Joe's wad of equis in your left jacket upper pocket. Nice and thick. Gods, I wish I was smart like you."

"It just pays money," Vala muttered. What she had done could never be reversed. She would give everything to get them back…to not wake up every day with the sounds of their screams in her mind.

Corina's answering eye roll was absurdly florid. "Why can't you just leave that stupid janitor job? You can make way more equi working with the other traders like this."

Because the government had ensured that her runes would never deviate. If she left her job, she would find her future constricted in other ways. Working as a janitor kept the government off her back and gave her a hint of freedom. Besides, a part of her was glad to have found the job at the Academy. Where else could she secretly access so many precious books? Not that Jamie or Corina would understand.

"Lost in your thoughts again."

She blinked as Corina poked her. "Sorry."

"Come on. Let's not miss the bus." Janie strode off, her white skin banishing the shadows, hair bright as a candle in the night. Corina grabbed Vala's arm and practically dragged her after. After the masked stranger, all questions of clubbing had vanished.

The paved streets of the Mid Levels business district were empty save for some odd passerby. The bus stop shone ahead; a single bench with a metal overhang protecting the occupants from the city's rainy days.

A cat yowled somewhere in the darkness and a newspaper flipped and curled along the sidewalk, trapped in a waltz to the salt breeze. Vala read its bold headlines with a swift glance— "Only Six Days Left. Imperial Princess Helen to wed Prince Rafeal of Theves." Smaller print declared that, "Rune markets surge on the happy news."

She found it ironic that the Noventury celebrations would be used to celebrate the marriage of Emperor Luiximor's sister. With all of his untold wealth and power, condensing the need for two ceremonies into one event seemed like a hasty thing to do. His Noventury was at hand and Princess Helen was to be married and sent to Theves to mend some of the animosity between the countries. Placing the two events into one celebration felt like a decision based upon fear and haste, odd, considering he was the emperor and a god. She thought of Joe's remark about Theves becoming powerful. Perhaps the emperor was concerned about the island country after all.

A bus roared to a stop in a squeal of brakes and a horn blast entirely unnecessary for the desolate street. Wincing against the glaring overhead exterior lights that helped guard against bus hijackings, they clambered aboard. After handing over three paper equi apiece to the driver, they made their way to the back of the bus. The vehicle was empty apart from a couple of homeless men sleeping and a woman in electrician's overalls reading a book.

They collapsed in the seats, Corina sticking her legs up on the rest bar. Vala curled into a ball by the window and shut her eyes.

Her feet hurt terribly and she felt so tired and even a little scared. Why had she talked for so long with that masked man? Did he pose a threat to her friends? Both thoughts disquieted her. Janie and Corina had been the only stable world she had known after prison. It was distinctly unfair that they were involved in her life with such little knowledge of the darkness that haunted her past. The evil she had committed in the murder of her parents. Life imprisonment was granted to all convicted murderers, no matter their age. No greater crime existed than the extinction of someone else's rune plants…someone else's future. But then came that happy morning just before her sixteenth birthday; a visit from the prison warden and some official letter thrust into her hands.

She was free to leave, to be monitored by a court-appointed guardian to ensure she proved a law-abiding citizen, but…free.

The clang of doors behind her, a cold sea breeze upon her cheeks, the cheap, woolen dress given her because she had grown inches taller since admittance. Her moth-eaten doll that she threw away in the nearest trash bin because it had become a childish thing. How she had once clasped it, entering those solemn gates as the snow fell and the waves beat upon the rocky shore.

She woke up with a cry. Both women faced her from the opposing seat, faces twisted in concern.

"What's wrong?" Corina asked.

"Another nightmare," Janie sagely interjected. "What was it this time?"

Vala did not feel like talking about her stint in prison. "I…I was just dreaming about him. The masked guy."

Corina nodded. "So, about that…we were waiting for you to sleep some more but now you're awake and we have a long ride home. Tell us what he told you."

Janie shrugged. "If she doesn't want to talk about it, then leave her alone. I'm not being nosy like her," Corina sniffed at this, "But you know, if you're in some sort of danger or if he's a creep, then we need to know."

"Yeah," Corina said, "Tell us all about the sexy, masked creep."

"Of course, you think he's sexy." Janie rolled her eyes.

"Why wouldn't he be? Think of those biceps. That jawline. The way he moves…all silent and self-assured. Sex god for sure."

Vala massaged her neck, feeling exhausted. "Maybe there's something wrong with his face. You know, the mask?"

"I doubt it," Corina gave her a sideways look. "He was acting all mysterious and powerful, not like he was hiding something. He liked you. I have a sense for these kinds of things."

Vala gave her a long look. Corina's special senses had landed them in trouble before.

Janie smacked Corina's shoulder. "Whether he's sexy or whatever, it doesn't matter. We need to know what his mission is. What did he want with you? I didn't like it. Any of it."

"Okay, fine, I'll tell you." Vala sighed. "Just promise you won't freak out, okay?"

Both young women eagerly leaned forward.

As the bus curved down the elevated highways that wrapped the mountain city's Mid Levels, shooting past high-rises and factory towers in flashes of neon and silver, Vala related what had happened in the hallway. Her friends listened with wide eyes and parted lips.

"He's a Dynn Knight?" Corina popped her lips reflectively. "He still sounds sexy but first, where's his armor and, second, did you figure out why he wore a mask?"

Vala shrugged. "Not sure. Maybe he was off duty tonight?"

"Can you imagine that? Maybe he went to his man cave in the Dynn, took off his warrior outfit, and hung out on the couch with a drink and a book?"

She grinned in spite of herself. Trust Corina to bring irreverence to everything, including centuries-old imperial Dynn Knights .

Janie's eyebrows were still knotted together. "Why should a Dynn Knight get involved with you? They're dangerous and…and…well, that's all I know about them."

"Same," Corina morosely sighed. "Sometimes, it's no fun being dumb."

Janie sniffed and folded her hands on her lap. "We must know more about him in case he ever tries to bother you again. Have you read anything in those books of yours that can help?"

She blinked, recalling the pages of a book she had stolen during a quiet lunch hour in the Academy. She remembered the text as though each word flowed before her. "Before we locked the dragons into the Dynn to protect the runes, knights used to guard the runes. Prune them, too. It was a highly mathematical process, even back then, understanding how each rune impacted the future and trimming the plant to shape its outcome while being aware of how it impacted the other rune plants in the Dynn. But they were excellent at it. Remember, dear reader, this was before the Exchanges made all the pruning happen through entering equations through machines. They actually LIVED in that dark world, taking oaths of solitude so they could work on the future until they decided to die…waging battles for the emperors or killing certain people in our world to reverse engineer rune plant growth in the Dynn, taking down political rivals or improving the spring crops in the Empire's farmlands?—"

Corina blinked hard. "Wait, stop. STOP. Talk to me in Imperial, not smartass . Gods, I have no idea why the Dynn is all that fascinating. Even if I knew the opening code, I'd never want to go there . Cold, dark, and creepy with monsters and people living so long, their skin becomes transparent. No thanks."

Janie gave Vala a searching glance. "Is it common for Dynn Knights to go around warning people?"

Vala sighed. "No. Of course not. There's a reason the Academy shuttered their Dynn Knight program over two centuries ago. Any knights remaining are just…alive in the Dynn, remnants from that time. They're not in active service."

She closed out thoughts of something else. The Dynn world that she could never enter. She had tried once. Never again. But she always felt the longing to go there. It was like wanting to run but lacking the legs to do so. Like dreaming of flight but forever staring at the sky. Sometimes the ache felt like a bottomless hole. She needed another shot of whiskey. Maybe two. She swallowed hard to dull the longing for a release from the memories.

Corina rolled her eyes and yawned. "Honestly, my head hurts. If some guy told me all that, hot or not, I'd have been like, no way, go find someone else." She curled into her jacket, letting her head sink on her chest. "If you ever get bored of the rune trades, we can go traveling with my friend, Ericc. He's a ton of fun. Knows all about such random things like talking parrots, cumulus clouds, and rubies." Within seconds, her breathy snores mingled with the rumble of the engine.

"Maybe you should take his warning seriously," Janie said in a low voice. "I mean, has this ever happened to you before?"

Vala shook her head.

"You do have a… past ," her friend whispered. "Do you think he knows about that and wants something from you?"

She had told them about her stint in prison. The arm tattoo was a dead giveaway. She kept the details as basic as possible and never, ever mentioned the circumstances that led to her conviction. Corina had been immediately fascinated and pried, albeit unsuccessfully, for gruesome stories behind the bars. Janie never broached the subject unless strictly necessary.

She wrung her hands. "I know but even if he's right, what am I to do? Where do I go? For how long? Hiding takes money and I have none."

Janie leaned forward. "We can use our savings. I can always open my grocery store later."

Janie worked in the checkout line at a Mid Level grocer but had been taking on unpaid hours to learn how to run such a store, from produce ordering to aisle layouts. She was smart and ambitious and Vala was proud of her.

Straightening in her seat, she glared at her friend. "Don't you even think about it. You need that money for your loan deposit. That's our dream, Janie." This was not technically true but she had loved contributing money to The Jar. It was good to imagine a future with her friends, even if it could never happen for her. She had given a lot, feeling guilty when she spent on alcohol, but still The Jar was only half-full.

"I know, but if it keeps you safe, I want you to take it. It's not even a lot but it'll be enough?—"

"—Nonsense. I won't touch it. Our store is going to be so awesome. The Lower Levels badly need a good one. I'm still angry they're demanding such a high interest rate. Twenty-five percent is insane . You're a perfect creditor."

"You know why. The bank doesn't care about mud slummers, especially female ones."

Vala slumped and gave a heavy sigh. "It's just unfair."

Janie's answering shrug was matter-of-fact but a twinkle in her eye made them both giggle.

"You should've seen the banker's face when I put down the first payment. He couldn't believe it! Someone like me…"

Vala grinned. Life sucked sometimes, but they still made the best of it. Or, at least, Janie did. "One day, we will be so rich. We can move the fuck out of our apartment and buy a beach house together and spend all weekend partying, baking, tanning on the sand…eating anything we like."

Janie grinned, blushing at the praise. "I'd love that. I always thought Lytherian Sea towns were so beautiful with their white cliffs and green waves."

"Noir has the fanciest beach mansions. All the nobles party there and it's just a couple hours up the coast," Corina mumbled and kicked out at Janie who deftly pulled her legs up just in time. "Now, will you both shut up so I can sleep."

A couple of hours later, they stumbled from the bus, legs stiff and eyes puffy. The Lower Levels broadly encompassed the massive slum sprawl that created the outskirts of the city. A myriad of canals sliced through the stacks of wretched apartment buildings and crumbling retail blocks, redirecting the waters of the mighty Ringold River to the black cliffs encircling the ocean harbor. The built waterways provided cheap means of travel and sewage conduits for the dwellers.

We are all just mud slummers. Maybe, we're even proud of it , she thought to herself and yawned. Corina removed her high heels despite Janie's protest at the street's dirtiness and they stumbled along the broken sidewalk. A thick, early morning fog had crawled in from the ocean, veiling the parked cars, tarp shanties, and cement block apartment buildings. Beyond the apartments to her left sat a dully glinting canal, water black as oil, garbage bobbing in the current. Neighbors said there were bodies deep in the watery bottom, chained down with stones until time had rotted away the victim's identity. The police never cared enough about the Lower Level dwellers to bother dragging the canals for decomposed corpses.

"Do you think the monster is out hunting tonight?" Corina whispered, glancing at the canal snaking beyond the buildings to their left.

Janie gave her a look as if to say she had no time for such nonsense when bed awaited. "Wait, you still believe in that story? It's just a rumor."

Corina looked beseechingly at Vala. "Five people have died this year alone and you know there have been sightings. Huge, scaly creature with a thousand fangs."

Janie looked ghostly pale under the flickering street lights. "People will say just about anything to get away with murder." She turned to Vala. "Oh, I'm sorry. That was so insensitive of me."

Vala shrugged, keeping her voice casual even as her heart bled as it always did at the memory. "It's okay. I know what I did."

They climbed the stairs to their apartment, an awkward silence palpable between them.

Pulling forth a key, Vala unlocked their front door, wanting more than anything for their friendly banter to return. "I agree with Janie on this one. There hasn't been a monster seen near cities for centuries. They're extinct, you know, or locked in the Dynn."

Corina sighed. "Whatever. I'm avoiding the water and so is everyone else. Better safe than sorry."

Vala kicked off her sneakers and collapsed upon her mattress. Thank the gods they were finally home. Opening their closet, she shoved aside a paneling in the wall and pulled down a red jar—The Jar—and plopped the entire wad of equis into its depths. Everyone cheered as she returned the container to its hidden position. She smiled and went to the sink to wash her hands and face. In a way, the Masked Man prevented them from spending tonight's money. So, it was a fortunate meeting in some way, she figured, drying herself.

A metallic clunk interrupted her thoughts. Corina placed a sparkly watch on the table.

Vala's eyes widened. "Please tell me that isn't what I think it is."

"What? He was a jerk. And those are diamonds ."

She felt dizzy as fresh fear washed over her. "I thought we all agreed that Tits is not a guy you mess with."

"Says the person who yelled at him in front of everyone," Corina retorted.

"Hey, I was trying to protect you," Vala said. "You can't steal shit from people like him. He has connections that could put you in prison for years."

Corina sniggered as she downed some juice from their cold box. "I'm way too good to end up in prison."

"That's what they all say," Janie wisely interjected.

Corina stretched and yawned. "I can take care of myself, mommy."

Vala stretched out on her bed, closing her eyes. Everything had returned to normal. The events of the masked stranger and Titus all seemed like a dream. She was glad for her anonymity. She highly doubted Tits would think she worked as a janitor in his former school. She grinned, remembering the look on his face. It had felt good to tell him off, despite the warnings.

"Who needs a mother when we've got you?" Corina threw a pillow at Janie who ducked but not before getting whomped in the face. "Look at her. She's holding down a job, has a bank account with savings, and dreams of running her own business someday like a regular Mid Leveler."

She opened one eye in time to see Janie fling the pillow back, eliciting a shrill squawk from the other.

Janie wriggled into her blankets. "Well, if I'm to be our mom, I'm going to lay down some rules starting with this. Don't steal from Court favorites."

Corina only giggled and killed the light. Janie breathed a heavy sigh and settled back, her mattress rustling in the cold darkness. "Just get rid of the damn thing immediately tomorrow, okay?"

Amid Corina's muttered remonstrances and a squeak—someone must have pinched someone—she fell into a heavy sleep. But her dreams were restless, filled with the thump of heavy wings from an unseen monster as, in the far distance, a hooded man searched for her under a black sky studded with stars.