We passed a large opening, and I hung back as I caught my first glimpse of underground citizens. They sat on crumbling stone benches, hunched over a crumbling stone table. Candles of all shapes and colors burned on the table, the light glinting off silver flagons, chipped ceramic mugs, and tin cups.
Strings of colored lights hung haphazardly overhead. The tiny space buzzed with conversation and laughter as a man in an apron bustled about pouring drinks out of several bottles that magically hovered around his head.
I frowned. A bar? They had bars down here? Viktor had said there was a whole city underground—I guess that would include businesses.
“Come on.”
I jumped as Neo appeared at my shoulder.
“Ludolf’s waiting.”
My stomach sunk. Oh, right. I’d nearly forgotten.
He raised a thick brow. “You don’t want to keep him waiting.”
“Maybe I do.” I flashed my eyes at him.
His throat bobbed and he leveled me a grim look. “Trust me, Jolene—you don’t.”
Yeesh. I heaved out a sigh and followed on behind him and the other two. This was not my night.
The underground citizens became more dense, the tunnel broadening and flowing with people headed in both directions—a main thoroughfare I guessed. The people for the most part looked like anyone I’d see above ground. Men and women, children and elderly folks, dressed in current fashions as well as some odder, handmade-looking outfits. But animals, shifters in their other form I guessed, moved among them, too. A zebra trotted by, while a parrot winged overhead. You didn’t see that everyday above ground.
“Nearly there!” Viktor giggled and skipped ahead, people edging out of his way.
Neo jerked his head to the right, and I followed him down a dark corridor lit by red glowing orbs spaced in even intervals. Men and women in armor stood guard along the walls and watched us pass.
Some held their wands, others held swords or jagged knives. Some wore metal breastplates like medieval knights, while some men were shirtless and covered in scars or outfitted in leather braces. A real DIY vibe.
They scowled at us as we moved past. The hubbub of the busy tunnel faded away, the only sound our footsteps and an echoing drip.
A woman bared her teeth at me, and I pressed my lips tight together in response. Friendly bunch. Something told me we were getting closer to the head shifter himself.
My heart thundered but I stood straighter and threw my shoulders back. I’d made it this long without owing the mob boss a favor or being summoned to the underground, and I’d managed it by not showing fear—by not letting what I was define what my life would be. I wasn’t about to start caving on that now.
We stopped in front of a set of arched double doors. Four guards blocked the way, three men and a woman. The young lady cracked her neck and stepped forward. “Your business?”
Neo thumbed over his shoulder toward me. “We’re escorting a summons.”
She glanced my way, her expression flat. “Name?”
I opened my mouth to speak, but to my annoyance Neo answered for me. “Jolene Hartgrave.”
I rolled my eyes. “I can speak for myself.”
He glanced over at me. “You can, but maybe you shouldn’t.”
The woman nodded and stepped aside. “You’re expected.”
The guards pulled the massive doors open for us (I thought opening both was a little dramatic), and I followed Neo, Sacha, and Viktor inside. With all the buildup, I’d been expecting a cavernous hall with a gilded throne. The actual space was almost a letdown.
We stepped into a moderately sized room with a dark wooden desk in the center. A bookshelf took up most of the left wall, while a huge bank vault door spanned the right. Candelabras lit the dim space, lending it an intimate, cavelike feel. I jumped when the doors shut behind us with a thunk.
“Come in.”
16
OWE YOU ONE
The hairs rose on the back of my neck at Ludolf Caterwaul’s raspy voice. I lifted my eyes to the tall, skeletal man behind the desk. He held impossibly still, his thin shoulders hunched and rounded under his crisply tailored suit.
Neo jerked his head toward the mob boss, and I narrowed my eyes, but stepped forward a few paces to the center of the room. Candlelight glinted off Ludolf’s pale eyes ringed with yellow. He watched me, unblinking.
“Jolene Hartgrave. It’s been a time.”
I widened my stance and raised my brows. “Yep.”
Behind me, Neo grunted, a little noise of disbelief. I didn’t bother turning around. These derps may have gotten themselves indebted to Ludolf, but I wasn’t… yet.
My heart fluttered in my chest as Ludolf continued to stare at me, large bodyguards looming in the shadows at the edges of the dark room. I wanted to squirm under that gaze, but I made myself hold my ground and hid my trembling hands behind my crossed arms.
Ludolf cocked his head slightly. His thinning, long hair, which he combed back over the top of his head, bobbed. He eyed me down the length of his pointed nose. “I hear you have a special talent the police are using you for?”
My blood froze. Cutting right through the waves, then?
He lifted a long-fingered hand from below the desk and tapped a sharp, talon-like nail against his temple. “I hear you can read animal minds?”
Tap. Tap. Tap.
I struggled to breathe, my chest suddenly tight. Play it cool, Jolene.
I sniffed out a little laugh and tried for a disbelieving tone. “Where’d you hear that?”
A smile played at the corner of Ludolf’s thin mouth. “On the front cover of The Conch.”
My stomach sank. Duh. Stupid Will was right—of course! I bit the inside of my lip, hard, until I tasted blood. I should’ve never agreed to help Peter in the first place. I shouldn’t have put myself out there. I could still be living my perfectly normal existence—miserable, but safe.
I let out
