The Night Market (22 page)

“No, it’s okay,” Jenny grumbled. “I’m totally good.”

“Oh, really?” Yael said, gesturing at the small but
growing pool of blood between Jenny’s sneakers. “Give me your hand.”

When Jenny moved too slowly, Yael snatched it from
her, setting it carefully on a piece of gauze spread across her thigh, then
began to clean and sterilize it.

“You should let me take a look at the other ones,
too.”

“No thanks,” Jenny said, inexplicably flinching when
Yael tried to apply antiseptic, requiring her to take a firmer hold of her
wrist. “I’m fine. I heal really fast.”

Yael had to admit that was true. Jenny’s hand had been
cut almost in half not twelve hours before, but now she had little more than an
ugly wound between her fingers, extending to the palm of her hand – unpleasant,
to be sure, but not dire.

“That’s good, given how stupid you are. You should
probably get a tetanus shot, you know.”

“A what-shot?”

“Tetanus? You know, when you cut yourself on metal?
It’s almost always fatal.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Never mind,” Yael said, unrolling fresh bandages. “You
never told me. What do you plan on doing here?”

“This and that,” Jenny evaded, still trying to wriggle
away from Yael’s ministrations. “Getting into trouble. The usual.”

“None of those are answers.”

“Well, they are as close to answers as you are
getting.”

“How will you find Fenrir again?”

“I won’t,” Jenny said, pulling her hand free and
poking at the bandage until Yael smacked her hand away. “He’s not my dog, Yael.
We are associates. And he is dangerous – particularly to you.”

Yael pulled Jenny’s sweatshirt up and then shook her
head at the ugly wound in her shoulder. It wasn’t infected, but she could still
see yellow fat exposed beneath the skin. She sighed and started with the
antiseptic.

“Why to me?”

“Because you are a nice girl, Yael. And that’s what
Fenrir likes.”

“Then why is he with you?”

“Ha! Not bad. We like the same things, I guess.”

“You are getting quite good at it, you know.”

Jenny paused in her struggles to look confused.

“The hell are you talking about?”

“Well, until then,” Yael said, frowning. “Your
language has improved. I think I have had a positive impact on you.”

She meant to tease, to distract from the pain of the
disinfectant, the process of bandaging the open wound. But when she glanced at
Jenny’s face, she was surprised to see her giving it serious thought.

“Maybe you’re right, Yael.”

The whistle as the train pulled into the station
startled all three of them. Tobi almost jumped right into the window.

“Whatever you need to do, I would suggest you do it
now,” Tobi urged. “We have arrived. The ticket checkers will be here
momentarily.”

“Right,” Jenny said, pushing Yael away and
straightening her hoodie. “Things to do, people to see, all that.”

“You mean the people who are about to inquire regarding
your lack of a ticket?”

Jenny threw the nearest object at hand, fortunately a
pillow, in Tobi’s direction.

“Like you got a ticket, vermin.”

“I don’t need one,” Tobi said proudly, his nose in the
air. “Cats come and go between worlds as we please. It is our prerogative.”

“I am going to put your dumb ass in a bag and drown you.”

“Can’t I get us all in with my key?”

They paused their argument and looked at Yael in
surprise. She busied herself with packing her bag, keeping her face down so
they couldn’t see her embarrassment.

“No,” Tobi said, with a trace of pity. “That is for
you alone, Yael.”

Jenny unexpectedly nodded in agreement.

“It’s right.”

“He. He is right.”

Yael pulled her windbreaker on over a long sleeved
t-shirt. The key rested snugly inside in her shirt.

“Then, what will you do?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Jenny said fondly, patting her
on the shoulder. “I’ll get it worked out.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Jenny grabbed Yael firmly by both shoulders.

“Don’t you start worrying about me,” she ordered.
“Because I am worse than Fenrir.”

“You are my friend, Jenny. I am not concerned with
what else you may or may not be.”

That shut Jenny up for a few moments, which was a
tremendous victory in Yael’s eyes.

Until Jenny started shaking her, the way she always
did when she had a point to make.

“Yael, I need you to understand something. Whatever
you are trying to do – don’t tell me, I don’t wanna know – you have enemies
that it shouldn’t be possible for one girl to make. There won’t be anybody you
can trust in the city. The Outer Dark can get to anyone, they will find the
leverage. I know from experience. Hell, they could
be
almost anyone they
wanted, if they decide to get their hands dirty. You can’t trust anyone. Do you
understand me?”

Yael shook her head and nodded at the same time.

“Yes – well, I suppose. But, Jenny, surely...”

“Hush,” Jenny commanded, leaning close to plant a kiss
on Yael’s partially open mouth. Jenny’s lips tasted of bubble gum. She smelled
like iodine and Band-Aids. “You have to do this on your own, Yael. You will
never be sure who your enemies are. You need to understand or someone is going
to take advantage of your trust.”

Yael brushed her lips with her hand, still in shock.

“I think you just did...”

“Anybody else, I’d say they were screwed. You, though?
You don’t need help, Yael. Me and your cat friend would only get in the way. I
don’t know what it is about you, Princess, but I don’t see anything stopping
you.”

“I’ve simply been lucky...”

“Yeah. Like meeting the cat. Or my sorry ass. Or a
hundred other little things since I started hanging out with you. When people
get lucky as often as you do, Yael, there is something more to it.”

“I’m not sure I follow...”

The train shuddered to a halt and Yael clung to
Jenny’s arm for support, almost sending the both of them tumbling. The sound of
the wheels slowing was immense and painful.

“We are here. The ticket checkers will come to this
cabin shortly. Be ready,” Tobi warned, moving from his perch by the window to
the vacant bunk beside the door. “Yael and I will leave first. I cannot wish
you luck, Jenny Frost, as I know you for what you are, but I am grateful for
the aid you provided to Yael nonetheless.”

“I hope you get run over in the street, you filthy
animal,” Jenny said fondly, throwing the first aid kit, case and all, in the cat’s
direction, splattering the wall with medical supplies and earning a hiss from
Tobi. “Warn Ulthar that I’m coming. You know what I want. If you all know
what’s good for you, you will stay out of my way.”

“I will keep that in mind,” Tobi said, cleaning the
extruded claws on one of his forepaws. “And I will deliver your message.”

“What are you two talking ab – ”

The door to the cabin rattled open, silencing Yael.
Two men crowded into the entrance of the car, wearing elaborate and antiquated
uniforms and holsters with very modern guns. The one who led the way wore a
blue hat that matched his uniform and looked very much like it should belong to
a drum major. He stuck out his arm, palm extended, as rigid as a statue.

“Passport?”

Yael hesitated for a moment, drenched in uncertainty.
Then she fished out the Silver Key from beneath her jacket and let it dangle in
the light a few inches above the ticket-checkers palm. He examined it closely,
then looked over at Yael with beady, inquisitive eyes. The seconds ticked by
endlessly before he gave a curt nod, the tassels on his hat bouncing.

“Welcome to the Nameless City.”

He motioned for her to walk through the door. Yael
hesitated for a moment, glancing from Tobi to Jenny, then she stumbled forward,
pushed by Jenny past the suspicious looking ticket-checkers.

Tobi hopped down from the bunk into the center of the
room, stretched, then yawned and sauntered between the ticket-checkers, who, to
Yael’s shock, bowed with obvious deference.

“Always a pleasure to see you, sir.”

“I’m not certain that will be true on this occasion,
though I do wish you well. The other human lacks a passport and is armed. Be
extraordinarily cautious. Backup would be an excellent idea.”

“Vermin,” Jenny said, grinning at the cat. “Die in a
fire.”

“Tobi!” Yael paused at the mouth of the corridor in
horror, staring at the indifferent cat, the suspicious ticket-checkers, Jenny.
“Why would you...?”

“Another time,” Tobi grumbled, urging Yael along.
“Come along quickly, would you?”

“The cat says you don’t have a ticket,” the lead
ticket-checker said coldly, one hand on his sidearm. “Is that true?”

The other guard held a frantic conference with a
crackling radio. Though much of what he said was code, Yael assumed that he was
calling for help.

“Why bother lying?” Jenny shrugged, her hands buried
in her front pockets. “Guilty as charged.”

“The Nameless City is restricted,” the ticket-checker
said sternly, pulling his gun and chambering a round, though he kept it pointed
down. “You will need to come with me.”

“Right,” Jenny agreed, walking casually to meet him before
he could warn her away, then jabbing him in the stomach with her shock prod. He
convulsed and gritted his teeth, making an awful sound before he hit the floor.

The ticket-checker behind him had good reflexes. He
spent relatively little time swearing, immediately shifting his attention from
the radio to the gun in his holster. He managed to get the pistol free and took
a firing position, but the cabin was too small. Jenny cleared the distance
between them with ease before he could take aim. She stepped close, batting the
gun aside with a forearm, then drove her shock prod into his belly. He only
fell to his knees, then Jenny soccer-kicked him in the side of the head,
leaving him moaning in a pile on the ground.

“Oh, God,” Yael whispered. “Why is this happening?”

“We need to leave,” Tobi urged, winding around her
ankles urgently. “We must get out of here before more help arrives and this
gets really ugly.”

“Listen to the kitty,” Jenny advised, taking a bottle
from one of her pockets and removing the cap. “You don’t wanna be here, Yael.”

Jenny upended the bottle on top of the two prostrate
men, pausing briefly to shock one of them when he tried to struggle to his
feet. Even in the train corridor, Yael could smell the sharp odor of lamp oil.

“Jenny, what are you doing?” Yael demanded. “Please
stop this.”

“Run away, Princess. Do what you came here to do,”
Jenny said, cursing as the first match in her cardboard book refused to light.
“Time for us to part ways. We both got what we needed.”

Yael pulled her mask down over her face so that her
expression would remain private. She followed Tobi toward the door and the
bleak sunlight beyond it, stumbling and weaving as she went, disoriented by a
persistent feeling of unreality, a nagging suspicion that she would wake up.

“Hey, Yael,” Jenny called out cheerfully, her face
demonic in the firelight as the accelerant caught, yelling to be heard above
the screams. “It was fun. I’ll see you around, okay?”

Sleep is the most precious commodity and the autonomic
nervous system’s primary treason. Puffy red eyes at three in the morning, words
blurring on a yellowed page of text. Narcotic mercy and amphetamine logic.
Consensus separates a memory from a dream.

Yael ran after the
cat, sometimes brushing against other people headed the opposite direction, too
hopelessly out of breath to apologize. She darted through traffic after the
dancing point of his tail, shuddering at the proximity of the blaring horns.
Yael sprinted across empty pavement until her lungs hurt and was forced to
stop. Tobi came back for her, which was good, because she didn’t have the
energy to catch up.