“What?” Persh’al thumped his pack on the counter, rattling the small metal pieces, and pulled the black case from the front pocket. “Full head for that? Come on, man. That’s only worth half.”
Cocking his head, the skaxen lifted the metal tube beside his face, and the spinning tray with arms hovered down above it, ready to snatch the thing away on command. “Full head.”
Persh’al spread his arms. “I’ll go two-thirds, huh? Don’t cheat me out of a bad deal.”
“The newer models go for triple. I sell ‘em for double, and you’ll cough up a full head or you can keep walkin’.”
“All right, all right. Cool it.”
Cheyenne folded her arms and watched the transaction. He’s as bad at bartering as he is at lying.
Slipping three of the hair-thin plastic cards from the top of the case, Persh’al stared at the skaxen before laying the payment slowly down on the counter. “You got any of the newer models?”
“Nope.” The skaxen set the metal tube on the table, then returned his attention to the box in his hand. The orange sparks flared to life on his other finger as he pointed toward the door. “None of that trickles down from Uppertech.”
“You know what? Never mind.” Persh’al snatched up the metal tube, tucked his money case back into his pack, and slung the thing over his shoulder. A stand with dangling strings of glowing metal leaned sideways on its own to avoid the giant piece of luggage as the troll headed toward Cheyenne in the center of the shop. “Okay, the skaxen’s a thieving liar, but I got you something.”
“That looks like a metal shotgun shell.”
“Ha. Think again, kid. This is a basic-model activator, like a remote control for your magic. All this crazy gear.” He wiggled his head, gazing around the stuffy shop, then handed over the metal tube. “This feels like buying a teenager her first cell phone.”
Cheyenne stared at him until he shrugged, then she took the metal tube and turned it over in her hands. “My first time in the city, and you brought me to a magical Radio Shack.”
He snorted. “It’s nothing fancy, but you might get a taste of how things hook up around here. If it’ll even work for you with the whole mixed ancestry thing. You don’t read O’gúleesh, do you?”
When she glanced at him in disgust, Persh’al nodded toward the skaxen, who was busy ignoring them. “No.”
“Well, it’s worth a shot. If it doesn’t work, I’ll sell it and make a little profit.”
“No, you won’t,” the skaxen murmured.
Persh’al scowled at him. “Nobody’s talking to you, ratface.” The shop owner didn’t respond, focusing intently on welding that little box with his spell-gun finger.
“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with this.” Cheyenne rolled the tube between her fingers.
“Oh, yeah. Little button on the bottom. You might feel a slight—”
Cheyenne’s pressed on the bottom of the tube, and the thing sprang open in a blur of moving parts that unfolded and raced across her hand, clamping down on her skin in half a second. “Shit.”
“Pinch.” Persh’al cleared his throat. “That’s about it.”
She shook her hand, and her eyes widened when the thin lines of metal netting didn’t budge. “It’s a glove.”
“Not quite. Give it a few seconds.”
“To do what?”
“Huh.” He peered at her hand as she turned it back and forth. “Hey, you sold me a dud activator?”
The skaxen didn’t look up. “You tryin’ to be a pain in my ass?”
“Yeah, ‘cause this thing’s not—”
The metal net on Cheyenne’s hand flashed, and she sucked in a sharp breath at the flood of buzzing energy that coursed up her arm and into her shoulder. Her eyelids fluttered, and she shut them to help focus on the sensation. Not the best-feeling power surge. Not the worst, either.
Persh’al watched her and shrugged. “Okay. Never mind.”
The tingle of tech-magic pulsed one more time up her shoulder and the side of her neck before fizzling out in the back of her brain. Then it died, and Cheyenne took a deep breath. “That was weird.”
The troll chuckled. “Oh, yeah. Maybe it will work for ya. Wait ‘til you open your eyes.”
Her eyelids fluttered open, and she blinked away the blue and green flashes of light in her vision. But instead of disappearing, the fuzzy lights solidified into crisp, clear letters around the perimeter of her vision, blinking and recalibrating when she focused on different pieces of gear around the shop. “Holy shit.”
“Yeah.” Persh’al grinned.
“Viewscreen in my head.” The halfling’s eyes darted around the shop, and when she stopped at the metal box in the skaxen’s hand, her vision filled with scrolling lines of code in a programming language she recognized. “Looks like the basic model comes with language options.”
With a snort, Persh’al shook his head. “All right, quit screwin’ around.”
“I’m not.” When she looked at him, the flashing lights dimmed and faded into the background. So, I’ll be able to tell a magical from a robot, I guess. “I can read this.” She pointed at the rack behind the troll and scanned the description that appeared. “This is a ward-sniffer, right?”
“No shit.” He chuckled. “I know for a fact no activator system runs in any human language, but you can read that?”
“Yep. I guess I can read O’gúleesh now. Makes sense, since the written language is half-magical.” A slow grin spread across her face, and she laughed. The lines of code and the readjusting letters from O’gúleesh runes into words and numbers she understood flashed across the surface with otherworld tech running through it. “This is so cool. Kinda makes me think of The Matrix.”
“Ha. Cool movies. This is real.”
“Uh-huh.” Cheyenne moved slowly through the shop with a crooked, amazed smile. I bet I could figure out how every piece in this place works if I picked it up and
