“Always,” I reply, seeing Caspian in a new light.
Maybe he has always been my protector, and I just didn’t know it.
Caspian pulls me through the portal before I can even close my mouth, forcing me to take a deep breath of portal magic, which tastes like pure smoke. Tumbling out onto high stairs on the other side, the atmosphere is eerily silent. A dense, thick forest surrounds us, and a light drizzle of rain wets my cheeks. We walk down the steps into the forest where I can see an empty road nearby lit up by Catseyes.
“Where are we exactly?” I ask.
“Woburn Forest, England,” he tells me. “The market is nearby, I can sense the presence of many demons and wolves.”
“How?” I ask, pushing out my senses and not finding anything.
“I need to have about five or six demons or wolves gathered together for my senses to pick up on it,” he tells me. “It’s a half-breed trick.”
“Do you know many half-breeds? I thought you guys were rare.”
“We are, and that’s why most of us are friends,” he replies.
“Interesting,” I tell him as we head into the forest and I let him lead the way.
“Are you going stir crazy yet?” he questions. “Not being able to shift all the time?”
“A little bit, but I can’t risk shifting. My wolf understands that after we nearly died. We are closer than ever before,” I explain to him.
“I get that. I’m on the same level with my wolf.”
“And your demon?”
He darkly chuckles. “We are not exactly on the same level.”
“I notice you just carefully avoided giving me a real answer,” I say.
“Ask something else,” he suggests, his tone telling me to drop it. For now.
“What exactly do they market here?” I ask.
“Demon creatures from Hell. The kind of things that bounce around between Hell and Earth mostly unseen and unheard.”
“Like the kelpies until they band together for a drunk fest?”
“Yeah, kind of,” he replies. “But kelpies are not worth a fortune like some of the ones we will see in there. Humans believe demon blood from certain creatures can cure them or make them live longer. It’s a load of bullshit, but demon marketers are happy to make them pay to find out it’s a lie.”
“Awesome. Can I shoot them?” I ask, patting my gun strapped to my hip under my coat.
“Sure, just no more jumping off buildings with daggers, please,” he sarcastically suggests.
“Haha. I learnt my lesson last time. No more jumping off buildings for me.”
“I have a sneaky feeling you’d jump off any building to get your hunt,” he says. “You’re crazy like that. Typical redhead.”
“That’s insulting,” I mutter.
“And true,” he replies before suddenly shooting his arm in front of me, stopping me from going anywhere.
I stretch out my senses, and I don’t sense anything other than the usual forest scents. “There is no one here.”
Caspian winks at me. “You just need a little demon help.” He places his hands together before very slowly heaving them apart, creating a red ball of energy in the middle of his hands. Demon Magic.
I watch the mesmerising magic with interest and he swirls it around in his hands, turning it into a sphere shape and firing it right in front of us. It smashes into something almost like a veil.
The veil shimmers when the demon magic makes a massive gap right in the middle and reveals an entire world that just looked like a forest before. My mouth drops open. Caspian grabs my hand in my shock and drags me through just as the veil shuts behind us. I stare around at the town that is incredible. It’s massive, full of tents of all different colours and people trading from stalls by small buildings. Stalls in lines spread in every direction, the multi-colours of the market are beautiful. Hundreds, if not thousands of people fill the spaces between the stalls. Everything from wolves to demons are here, mixing, buying things or just hiding. This might be a good place for me to hide if things go bad in Hell.
“How the hell can you make demon magic like that? It’s meant to be impossible these days,” I whisper to Caspian.
“Now you know a part of my secret,” he tells me. “Stay close.”
Caspian holds my hand tightly as he pulls me through the market that I can’t stop gazing at. We pass stalls that sell strange herbs, one that sells jars of glowing stuff, and a man who has a sign claiming he can conjure any food. We pass one stall that sells just butterflies, dozens of them that are all that clipped to paper. None of those butterflies look like anything like I’ve seen before. The stalls all mix into one, soon becoming overwhelming the farther we head into the market. We pass a stall that has jewellery on it, and an older woman stood behind that Caspian sees and stops.
The woman has large spiky ears, wavy grey hair, and two marks on her cheeks. The marks seem like Caspian’, but they aren’t the same. Hers are more like arrow shapes.
We head towards her, and Caspian pretends to glance at the jewellery, picking up a small ring. “I’m searching for someone. Can you help?”
“Yes, but my help comes at a price,” she answers, her eyes widening.
“What’s your price?”
“Perhaps just doing me a simple favour can be our deal. I trust you are as loyal to your word as your father is.”
My ears perk up. So this woman knows who Caspian’ father is and clearly trusts him somewhat. “Indeed, it is. You will be owed a tiny favour.”
“Then ask me what you need,” she replies with a smile. She glances at me, and I look away, not wanting to draw attention to myself.
I look down at the table while they talk about the marketers around. I pick up a necklace with a small crescent moon on it that reminds me of one my mum used to have but
