“Scram, kid.”
I hadn’t realized I’d fallen asleep until a giant boot came crashing down beside my head, splashing a puddle of water into my face.
I scrambled away, pulling my knees to my chest, looking around in the dark for my father. Heart racing, I realized he never came back and the angry man staring down at me didn’t want me here but if I left, my father wouldn’t be able to find me. This was our home. Our alley.
“What’s the matter, little petal? You lost?”
A woman circled around the man, kneeling in front of me, soaking the ends of her dress in the mud puddle as she reached for my face.
I turned away from her fingers with a jerk. “Don’t touch me.”
“Feisty little thing,” she laughed. “Between us girls, you might not want to stick around for what’s about to happen.”
“I have to be here.” I stuck my chin up high, glaring at her.
“Listen, kid,” the man said, pulling out a knife. “You either leave on your own or I’ll slit you from nose to navel and watch to see how long it takes you to heal.”
I swallowed, turning to ice. I couldn’t move or think as the man pointed his shiny blade at me. “I don’t think that’s how we’re going to play today, Mr. Vanhutes.”
The familiar clack of a cane echoed down the alley as the Maestro stepped closer, his red hair gleaming, even at night. He stood with three large men wearing gloves and long coats.
“Thomas?” The woman sounded a little like a scared kitten.
“Come, little Huntress,” the Maestro purred, holding his hand out to me. “This isn’t a place for my future diamond.”
I cowered away. “Have… have you seen my papa?”
“I sent him back with a pocket full of coins. Has he not returned?”
“No, sir.”
He tsked, shaking his head as he leaned all the way forward on his cane.
“Listen, Boss,” the man with the knife said.
The Maestro stepped forward, holding a hand for the knife. When the man dropped it into his hand, he smiled that wretched, terrifying smile.
“Come,” he said again, with far more of a demand in his theatrical voice. “We’ll leave the violence for the adults.”
“I need my papa,” I argued.
“How about some dinner and then we’ll practice finding people instead of things?”
I’d never thought to use my magic to find people. That was smart, I supposed. But something felt wrong about the way he watched my wrist when I agreed.
I crawled into the giant black carriage with as much turmoil in my belly as I had last night. The Maestro didn’t get too close. He whistled a cheerful tune and flipped a coin between his fingers as the carriage shot down the street. I stared, watching his red mustache bounce up and down as he altered his song each time the horse changed directions. A different one for each street, it seemed. How strange.
“A deal’s a deal, you know?” I said bravely.
“It is.”
“Well, you got your cane. So now I get to dance in your show?”
“Lesson one, Huntress. Consider your words very carefully when you bargain with a master. You may dance in my show, but not quite yet.”
“I see you never learned that lesson, Paesha Treasure darling.”
I was no longer sitting in a carriage, but rather lying on the cold floor, staring up at the blurry figure that hovered above me. Alastor smiled. Again. “My Remnants have always protected me. Pity yours seem to be broken.”
