“Both? They weren’t made by anyone famous or nothing. Just a pair a null handed in years ago before he left town. I’d take . . . fifty for them.” The goblin worked his way over to me. “You sure you want them? Probably better stuff here, if you can afford it.”
“Maybe not, if they’re cheap steel.” I stepped away although it was difficult, and forced myself to look at a few other things. A bag. Some rope. A couple smoke bombs. A new shirt and pair of army pants, a black leather jacket with the letters RA stitched into the back of it.
I piled up a few other small items that could come in handy—a flashlight, a stack of bandages and a roll of gauze, a pair of beat-up binoculars, an extra T-shirt and sweat pants for Pete—Lord only knew how many times that guy ripped through his clothes shifting. There was even a stack of snacks. Still thinking of Pete, I grabbed a couple Snickers bars. Just in case. “Look, how much for all this?”
“Two fifty.” The goblin made a face and rubbed at his chin. “But you still ain’t got a weapon. Isn’t that what you came for?”
I shrugged. How much would a map of the prison cost? Information was always more expensive in my experience than any weapon. I had to play this smart. “I have a blade. I just don’t like it.”
His eyebrows went up. “Maybe a trade?”
I grimaced. “Not today. I’ll give you two fifty if you throw in those two daggers I looked at earlier, plus the sheaths that go with them. I won’t feel bad if I break them on someone’s head then.”
The goblin twisted around and looked over the stuff, his mouth moving as he recounted. “Two seventy-five.”
I couldn’t tip my hand about how badly I needed the map. Dad had always said to walk away near the end of a deal on buying livestock and you’d see where you stood with the seller.
I pushed the stuff back and turned to leave. “I’ll get it from someone else then. Heard there’s a new shop opening up.”
“Wait!” He grabbed my arm, and I leveled my gaze on him. He let me go. “Wait. If you give me your word that you’ll tell a few more Shades about my shop, I’ll let you have it all for two sixty. Fair?”
I made him sweat while I stared at him, then finally nodded. “Fair.” We shook and I took the clothes. “You got a place I can change?”
*_*_*
A few minutes later I was wearing a fresh shirt and jacket that smelled vaguely of moth balls. I’d sold my ripped and bloodied clothes back to the goblin for ten bucks and had my two new daggers strapped to my hips. I still had about a hundred bucks.
I circled around the room in my new clothes, looking over the remaining items. A crowbar would be handy for breaking into a jail, but too big so I left it behind. A backpack would be handy too. I put it on the counter and Gordy didn’t say a word.
What else would be needed? It was hard to say without knowing what I was truly up against.
I deliberately didn’t ask Gordy about the map, leaving that for the very end to create the illusion it didn’t matter. “How much?” I asked of the new items.
“Forty.” He squinted up at me. “What kinda map you looking for?” He sat with his feet dangling off the edge of the table. “You mentioned that earlier.”
“Hmm.” I nodded. “I don’t know, depends on the cost.” I wasn’t going to need the cash after this. I’d either get my friends out of Frost’s hands, or I wouldn’t. Either way . . . either way, the money was better used now.
Gordy grinned, showing flat, wide, and surprisingly white teeth. “Well, lucky for you, I make copies of all my maps. So they aren’t expensive. Ten bucks each.”
All that haggling earlier for nothing. I snorted. “You got a copy machine back there?” I leaned to the side to look past him into the darkness of the back room.
He laughed. “Yup. Good brand too. Even does color. So what do you need, young Shade? I kinda like you. You remind me of someone.”
I gave him a tight smile. “The jail. Shadowspell Island.”
His ears flapped and he let out a low whistle. “You aren’t trying to break the Chameleon out, are you?”
I shook my head. “I put her there. And . . .” Did I trust him? Not really, but I didn’t think it would hurt, “she’s taken some of my friends.”
He jumped to his feet, ears fluttering as if he’d fly away. “Shut the front door and slap me on the ass. You’re kidding me? You’re that Shade? We heard you killed her vamp lover, that true?”
My jaw ticked. I didn’t like thinking about killing Jared, because it reminded me of how his dead blood had felt on my hands, how his head lolled and showed the white of his spine. My first kill, and it had been an ugly one at that. “Yeah. That’s me.”
“Girly, you can have the map.” Gordy jumped off and dug around under the counter, paper flying in every direction. “In fact, for that, I’m going to give you something else too. On the house, of course.” The way he said house made me think he wasn’t just referring to his shop, but the House of Unmentionables.
“Why?”
He peeked over the edge, eyes wide. “Because we can’t have her finding what she’s looking for, can’t have either of them finding what they’re looking for. And you never know just who is working for who anymore. Me? I work for me and my house, that’s it.” The little goblin stood and thrust two papers at me. One was obviously a copy, but the other was rolled and tied off with a thin piece of leather.
“This first one is the map you want. Not complete, nobody ever got a complete look in that jail and came out to tell the tale, but it’s close. The other . . . the other you should read before you face down Frost or the Shadowkiller. So you know what you’re really up against. And what it is that’s being fought over.” He touched the side of his nose and then pointed the same finger at me. “Once you read it, burn it.”
The door creaked open and Izzy was suddenly at my side. Gordy glared at her. “Out with you! You aren’t part of this, you lazy bloodsucker!”
She obviously had been listening to our conversation and tried to snatch the rolled parchment from me, but I caught her wrist and twisted it behind her back, dropping her to her knees.
Gordy let out another low whistle. “Been a long time since I saw anyone outmaneuver a vamp. Not since the Sandman came along.”
I let her go with a push. “Not even Ruby?”
“Ruby cheats. She pulls on her connection to her master to make her faster.” Gordy shrugged. “Be careful out there. If you’re hunting Chameleons, remember one thing.” He paused for what I could only imagine was dramatic effect.
“Yes?”
“They aren’t sane. Not a one of them.”
A disgruntled Izzy led me out a different way than I’d come in, while I tried not to think about what Gordy had said at the end of our conversation. Not a single Chameleon was sane. Did that mean I was bonkers too? Or would I lose my mind over time?
Another set of stairs led to a ladder, which led to a trap door that opened up into the floor of a spa, of all places. A few of the women glanced at me all decked out in a leather coat and dark jeans, but otherwise didn’t so much as give me more than a quick look. Apparently, they were used to people coming and going through their spa.