(Firstday of the Third week of Azonro, 670 A.C)

  They reached the town a few days later, a little place called Ginsgrove plopped on the top of a short hill. So far, Kletz had managed to avoid much further conversation with Wanily, though she endlessly attempted to draw him into discussion from anything ranging from the breeding habits of slimes to the meaning of life. Kletz, not wanting to get into another argument with the person he needed to get him cozy with a medium, gave as many noncommittal answers to any questions as possible and grunted along to the rest of her chatter.

  He had also managed to not let his ghosts get under his skin too much. They still unnerved him, made it difficult for him to fall asleep and constantly disturbed him with their crying and screaming and muttering during the day. But nothing catastrophic had happened so far. Not like his blunder on his last job.

  As they were passing some farms on the fringes of the town, Wanily suddenly asked, “Do you think they have a brothel?”

  Kletz very nearly stumbled but he was too graceful for that, thankfully. With a huff, he said, “I think most places do. Aren’t you a little young for that?”

  Wanily’s face turned the same shade of red as a tomato. “For information,” she stressed. “Brothels are great for town gossip.”

  That did make more sense than her looking for a fun romp, considering the circumstances. “Services from a brothel, even just getting information, don’t tend to come for free.”

  “That’s alright,” Wanily said. She smirked. “You have plenty of money.”

  Kletz grumbled, but well, she wasn’t wrong. After his last job, Kletz certainly had enough money to buy information from some brothel girls. And maybe he could spare an hour or so to relieve some stress, too, even if Wanily didn’t seem interested in such activities.

  “Taverns and inns are also decent places for information,” Kletz said, eyeing Wanily. “Your first thought was a brothel?”

  “I thought you were trying to keep a low profile?” Wanily asked. “Wouldn’t it be a bit suspicious if we showed up at an inn asking about a medium just a few days after one was killed in the next town over? Brothel girls gossip but they’re not likely to hand us over to the guard as long as they get their payment.”

  A fair point, not that Kletz wanted to concede it. In lieu of a proper answer, he grunted, which Wanily seemed to take as an acquiescence that she was right anyway. She grinned, quickening her pace as they neared the gate of the town proper. A guard was stationed outside the wall surrounding the town, and although he looked bored, Kletz kept his head down as he hurried by. He didn’t think anyone had seen him on his last job, but better to be safe than sorry.

  Inside the wall, the town had a quaint, almost sleepy quality to it. There was an inn on the left side of the main road with a stable attached to it, a couple horses dozing in their stalls. Across the way, a tavern sat on the right side of the street, and some light conversation drifted through the open door as Wanily and Kletz passed by. It was still too early in the day for it to be very busy.

  Further into town, they reached a central square with enough different businesses surrounding it that Kletz assumed there wasn’t much more to the town. He noted a seamstress, a post office, an apothecary, a general store, and some type of metal and leather working shop, as well as a couple smaller buildings whose signs didn’t make it readily apparent what services they provided. A few people milled about, coming out or going into the buildings or even just standing around in conversation. None of them paid much mind to Wanily or Kletz, thankfully.

  Kletz eyed the apothecary, considering. What if Wanily was wrong? What if Kletz really was simply going mad, and there was some kind of potion that could cure him of his ailment? He glanced beside him, where a man with pink hair stared at the ground, muttering something too soft for Kletz to make out the words. It was really fucking annoying, not to mention the other ghosts he could hear sobbing somewhere behind him.

  He sighed and decided it was at least worth a shot. Wanily was peering around the square, too, like she expected the brothel she was after to be in plain sight like that. Kletz cleared his throat to grab her attention. “I’m going to stop in there,” he said, nodding to the apothecary.

  Wanily followed the gesture, frowning when her eyes flitted across the sign. “Is your wound still bothering you? I figured two potions would be enough but--”

  “Not my wound,” Kletz grumbled. He tapped the side of his head, hoping that got the message across.

  Wanily stared at him like he was a puzzle she couldn’t work out. “You think you’re going crazy?” she finally blurted out.

  Kletz sighed, glancing around them, but there wasn’t anyone close enough to overhear. Probably. “It makes more sense than the alternative.”

  Wanily’s frown deepened. “I don’t think you’re crazy.”

  “Touching,” Kletz drawled. “But it’s still worth a shot. Here,” Kletz slung his pack around and rummaged through it until he found his sack of marks. He took a handful, not bothering to count the amount, and held it out to Wanily. “Go see if you can find out anything around town. Pay if you have to.”

  Wanily cupped her hands below his, catching the marks when he let them go. She pursed her lips like she wanted to say something else, but eventually she just nodded, clutching the marks in her hands before shoving them in her pockets.

  “Meet back here in a couple hours?” she asked.

  Kletz shrugged. “Works with me.”

  Without another word, he turned and headed toward the apothecary’s building. Large and made of brick, it painted a rather cozy picture, one that was reinforced when Kletz walked in to find an old lady sorting... something at the counter in the back. The shop itself was set up like a bookstore--cases of shelves lined with ingredients or bottles of liquids in every color imaginable. The old lady looked up when Kletz approached, smiling at him in a way that made her whole face crinkle like paper, and Kletz realized she was sorting some type of tiny claws. From a pixie, maybe? There were three piles, though how they were being categorized, Kletz had no idea.

  “You look healthy enough,” the old lady mused when Kletz stopped in front of her counter. She had a warm voice, though a bit scratchy with her age. “A bit tired around the eyes. Do you need something to help you sleep?”

  Something to help him sleep wouldn’t go amiss if Wanily was right, but Kletz despised the idea of anything that would make him less alert. Better to just cut to the chase, Kletz decided. “No. Do you have anything for...” he trailed off, considering how he should put it. “Madness?” he settled on.

  The old woman frowned. “What kind of madness? Are you hearing things that others don’t? Seeing things? Paranoia or any type of delusions?”

  Kletz didn’t think he was delusional. And maybe he was a little paranoid, but he had always been a little paranoid. “Hearing and seeing things,” he confirmed.

  The old woman grunted. She stepped down, Kletz realizing she’d been sitting on a stool, and shuffled over to a shelf along the left wall. Each potion had a label on the bottle, but the old woman didn’t even seem to pause to glance at it before grabbing bluish one and holding it up for Kletz to see. The label read, Hallucinations.

  “This one is the only one I have in stock right now,” she said. “The ingredients for such potions are rather rare, you know, and difficult to make. Requires quite a bit of experience, but that’s the good thing about being old--you’ve seen it all!” The old woman chuckled to herself like she’d said something funny. Kletz just stared at her. “Anyway, it’ll only last about a month, but if it works for you, I should be able to make another one by the time it wears off.”

  “What do you mean ‘if it works’?”

  The old woman shrugged. “There are a few different types of potions for this, and not all of them affect people the same way. Besides, I’ve been hearing from many friends of mine that there’s been a lot more of these cases recently, and their potions don’t seem to do anything.”

  Kletz inhaled sharply. Could she be talking about other mediums? If Wanily’s theory was correct and the power could no longer be turned off, there would probably be many mediums that thought they were going crazy. And maybe there were even more like Kletz that hadn’t realized they might be mediums at all and now were seeing what they could only assume were hallucinations.

  Kletz needed more information from this woman, though he needed to be smart about it. She seemed kind enough, but he figured if he started digging for too much information, she wouldn’t be forthcoming. So, he settled for asking, “Would your friends have different potions from you? In case this one doesn’t work?”

  There. Now he could ask to their whereabouts and question them about any potential medium customers they may have had come through their shops.

  “Maybe,” she said thoughtfully. “The ones in the city, almost definitely, though my colleagues in other smaller towns might have the same selection as me. I would try Pulia to the west if you’re looking for similar potions. Find a shop called Minerva’s Medicines in the magic district and tell them Vini sent you. I’m sure that’ll get you a better deal.” She winked, smiling up at Kletz, and despite himself, he found he was charmed by this little old lady.

  “Thank you,” Kletz said, more sincere than usual when he said something to that effect.

  The old lady--Vini, presumably--just waved him off. “I know these types of afflictions can be very difficult to deal with,” she said. “I just want to make sure you get what you need, dear. Minerva is very good at what she does, and we’ve been friends for forever. She’ll be able to get you what you need.”

  “Right,” Kletz, feeling more unsure now. He didn’t like how earnest Vini was about it all, but he’d gotten a lead, at least. “I’ll take that potion. How much?”

  She told him the amount--in Tirandan marks, thankfully--and Kletz counted it out before handing it to her. If she saw anything strange about his large sack of money, she didn’t comment on it but merely handed over the potion with a nod and another gentle smile. It made Kletz’s skin prickle, but what did he honestly expect was going to happen? This old lady was simply being kind.

  Maybe Kletz just didn’t do well with soft things. He was a creature of hidden edges and bloody blades.

  He thanked her again, and this time it came out much more dryly. She didn’t seem to mind and returned to her counter to continue sorting her pixie claws or whatever they were. It was an effective enough dismissal, and Kletz left the shop with his new potion in hand.

  He waited until he found the mouth of an alleyway off to the side of the town square before popping open the potion and downing it. The thing was almost unbearably salty with a hint of sourness that threatened to make Kletz sick. He’d had many different potions over the years, though, and all of them had been varying degrees of disgusting. This one wasn’t about to be the one that bested him.

  He managed to swallow down the potion with nothing more than a grimace and a slight cough. He waited several moments, watching the people with colorful hair beside him, but after many heartbeats, they were still there. Kletz sighed. Maybe the potion would need more than a few seconds to take effect? Most he knew of, though, had instantaneous effects. If this was purely an affliction of the mind, he would see the results right away.

  Well, however unfortunate it was that this apparently didn’t have an easy solution, he still had a lead to another apothecary that might know a medium. He just had to travel to Pulia, find this Minerva that Vini spoke of, and convince her to reveal the location of one of her customers. There was also the chance, slim as Kletz figured it was, that one of the other potions would be able to help him, and that would put an end to everything.

  Looked like he hadn’t really needed Wanily’s help after all, but as tempted as he was to just leave without her and chase down the new lead, the idea sat wrong with him. She’d saved his life. Usually Kletz didn’t care much for loyalty, but she might prove useful in the future if anything else happened. There was always the possibility that they ran into more trouble on the road, and Kletz wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to have a mage on his side in such a circumstance.

  Or maybe, just like with Vini, he found himself charmed by Wanily and wanted her around for a little while. The very thought made him frown. He couldn’t be going soft, could he?

  He shook his head to himself. Not more than an hour could have passed, and he didn’t see Wanily at the rendezvous point anyway. He still had some time to kill, and there were plenty of shops around to help him do that.

  He ducked into a small clothing boutique and purchased some new gloves and a scarf. The winter months were soon approaching. He’d ruined his last scarf in a fight, and the leather of his old gloves was crumbling around the creases. He also purchased a new shirt to replace the one that currently had a large gash along the side and a copious amount of blood staining it.

  After that, he stopped by the general store and picked up some travel rations. Before he had to set out back onto the road, though, he figured he might as well treat himself to a warm meal for a change. He wandered a little outside of the town square where there were stalls of street vendors set up in the adjacent streets until he found something cheap, warm, and handheld.

  Munching on whatever wrap he’d bought--chicken, maybe, in a thin piece of round bread with an assortment of vegetables--he returned to the square to find Wanily waiting for him. She grinned when she caught sight of him, and Kletz hurried over to her, eager to share what he’d learned so they could be on their way.

  “There’s a medium in this city to the west,” Wanily said the moment he was within earshot. “Pula or something. I circled it on my map.”

  Kletz nodded. This was good--their stories matched up. “I talked to the apothecary, too,” he said. “She gave me the name of an apothecary in Pulia that might be able to tell us where to find this medium.”

  “Pulia, that’s right,” Wanily said, snapping her fingers together. “Perfect, then. We’ve got a good lead to follow.” She hesitated for a moment, and Kletz suspected what she was going to say before she said it. “I’m guessing the potion didn’t work, then?”

  Kletz shook his head, not bothering with a verbal response. Wanily didn’t seem surprised by the answer, even if she gave a sympathetic wince. “Well,” she said, drawing out the word, “I guess there’s no time to lose then. On to Pulia and whatever medium we can find there. We’ll need to let Eko know to meet us there, though, before we get too far.”

  Kletz nodded again. “You’re the one with the map,” he drawled. “Lead the way.”

  Wanily smiled at him. Without further preamble, she turned on her heel and took off toward the west. As Kletz followed, and his ghosts followed him, he could only hope this other medium was still alive when they got there.

  Pulia was a bustling city near the border of Oavale, right at the base of the mountains. It was relatively close to the farms in the middle of the country, enough that bountiful amounts of produce could be shipped in with only a touch of magic necessary to keep it fresh. The mountains of western Oavale were treacherous--peaks tall, terrain rough, and all manner of animal and magical creatures alike to make the journey through them all the more dangerous. It was good natural protection from their neighboring enemy, Lirende, but despite that, Pulia was bursting to the seams with soldiers ready to defend their country. It made Kletz uneasy when he and Wanily arrived in the city a week and a half later. The last thing he ever wanted were perceptive eyes on him, and Pulia promised dozens of pairs at least.

  Still, as much as Kletz wanted to turn right around and march off somewhere with far less risk, he needed to talk to another medium. He’d hardly slept on their journey to the city, unable to tune out the crying and screaming of his ghosts. It made him far jumpier than he liked, ramping up his survival instincts to their breaking point. Already, he’d almost thrown a knife at Wanily about half a dozen times when she managed to startle him. He had thrown one, exactly once just a day ago, and though she had managed to fling it away with her magic, he still felt a little bad about it. She had hardly even done anything--just started talking when he didn’t expect her to.

  So, even though Kletz would prefer to be anywhere else, he needed to talk to another medium. And currently, there only lead was in Pulia.

  They got into the city with little issue since they were coming from the larger Oavale area--the only trouble Kletz had heard with getting into places in Oavale was when coming from Lirende or Vixx, both of which they were at war with. Kletz still kept his hood up and his head down, mostly following Wanily rather than plotting his own way through the city. He figured, with her bright hair and eyes, she made the pair of them less suspicious than if Kletz had been alone.

  Finding Minerva’s Medicines was another mountain to scale entirely. The journey to the city had been the easy part--with Eko back in their ranks and avoiding any major roads, they managed to hunt to keep themselves fed, take water from a nearby stream to quench their thirst, and escape the notice of any bandits or wild beasts. Or, if they had been spotted by any bandits, they took one look at Eko and decided the small group wasn’t worth the trouble.

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  Now, though, they were in a large city with lots of people and no clear direction to go. Minerva’s Medicines could be anywhere, and it could take days to find it if they just tried to comb through the city. Obviously, the alternative would be to ask around for where the shop was, but Kletz didn’t want other people knowing his business. Besides, what if the meeting with the other medium went sour and Kletz ended up having to kill him? Then people would probably assume it was the person who’d been trying to sniff him out. All in all, it didn’t seem worth it.

  As they passed through the gate and onto the main road of the city, however, it seemed Wanily didn’t have any similar inhibitions. Kletz froze when she marched right up to two women off to the side of the street in front of a store and started chatting with them. Kletz, initially, wasn’t close enough to hear what she said to them over the bustle of all the other people pouring into and out of the city, but he was quick to approach.

  “--that would be really helpful,” Wanily was saying when Kletz was in earshot.

  The woman on the right, tall and spindly with hair in a long, black braid thrown over her shoulder, nodded. “Your best bet is the south length of Clover Street,” she said. “That runs straight through the magic district. If you’re after an apothecary--”

  The woman cut herself off, glancing up at Kletz. “Can I help you?” she asked icily.

  “He’s with me,” Wanily said before Kletz could say something appropriately cutting. “So, Clover Street?”

  The woman eyed Kletz, which Kletz could begrudgingly admit was fair as he probably looked half-crazed with how sleep deprived he’d been lately. He certainly felt half-crazed.

  She didn’t comment on him further though. “That’s right. If you keep following the main road west, you should see a sign for it after a while. Well, I guess the sign is more for the magic district itself, but it’s on Clover Street. It’s pretty hard to miss.”

  “Perfect,” Wanily chirped. “Thanks so much.”

  The woman nodded again and turned back to her companion who was seemingly trying to kill Kletz with just her eyes. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to earn such hostility from the two of them, but he supposed it didn’t matter. Wanily had gotten the information they needed, so Kletz just followed her as she rejoined the crowd moving into the city proper.

  “Sounds like we just need to keep following this road then,” Wanily said, glancing back at Kletz. He nodded. “I don’t know how long until we reach Clover Street though. This city is pretty big, huh? I’m a little surprised I’ve never been here before, but I guess it is pretty close to the border. I learned that lesson, thank you very much.”

  Kletz wasn’t sure whether she was referring to trying to cross the mountains and all the danger that entailed or successfully crossing the mountains only to come face to face with the Oavalen military. It didn’t matter, he thought, and he didn’t ask for clarification.

  They continued down the main road for a long while. The crowd around them thinned some, but not enough to stop Kletz from feeling on edge. Though, with how jittery he’d been lately, he figured the presence of anyone else was bound to make him antsy. All the soldiers milling about, both in uniform and out, were certainly not helping though.

  They eventually reached a crossroads with a large purple sign set up on the corner with an arrow pointing to the left. In cursive lettering, it proclaimed, This way to the Magic District of Pulia! Then, in smaller, even loopier text below that, Sponsored by General Magicks.

  Kletz supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. General Magicks seemed to be everywhere nowadays, and even Kletz had bought a couple of goods made by them when he needed enchanted items. He wouldn’t be surprised if the apothecary he went to in Ginsgrove was also owned by them--it seemed anything and everything even remotely associated with magic tied back to them somehow anymore.

  He didn’t particularly care what the Tirandan-based company got up to. If anything, it might make their mission even easier. Maybe the medium in town was also employed by them, and Minerva would be able to point them in the medium’s direction without any trouble.

  Wanily, however, frowned when she scanned the sign. “General Magicks, huh?” she muttered. She glanced at Kletz. “They hunt a lot of magical creatures for their potions,” she told him, presumably to explain her distaste. “When he was young, Eko’s mother was killed by hunters trying to sell to them.”

  That somewhat explained how Wanily had managed to get in good standing with a griffin, creatures typically known for their hostility toward humans and anything else that moved. Kletz grunted in acknowledgement, and Wanily cracked a small smile.

  “I guess things happen for a reason though,” she mused.

  Kletz said nothing. It was better than outright disagreeing with her, he thought, as there was no reason for anything that happened in the world. People killed animals, magical creatures, and each other to serve their own needs. That was all.

  “Anyway,” Wanily said, “let’s go meet this Minerva.”

  She turned and started down Clover Street, and Kletz followed. It didn’t take much longer for them to run into another sign welcoming them to the magic district. It looked very much like the rest of the city--buildings packed close together with signs hanging out above the road from businesses and people bustling to and fro. There were side streets branching off every so often, though Kletz had no intention of getting lost in the city’s back roads if he could help it.

  There was something different to the air in the magic district, though. Kletz couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Maybe it had to do with the streetlights placed every couple dozen feet that held pieces of light crystal instead of being designed for fire. Maybe the buildings were a little nicer than the rest of the city, the paint fresher and the walls clean. Maybe the people flitting about here seemed more cheerful, excited in a way that the rest of the city hadn’t been. Or maybe Kletz was just imagining something that wasn’t there.

  They walked down Clover Street for a bit, eyes scanning for a sign that would bring them to Minerva’s Medicines. After walking for several minutes and seeing a lot of different enchantment shops and apothecaries but no Minerva’s Medicines, Kletz had to concede that the store was probably along one of the side streets in the district. Because nothing could ever be that easy.

  Wanily must have reached the same conclusion because she stopped, frowning. “Do you think one of the other apothecaries could point us toward Minerva’s Medicines?”

  Kletz snorted. “Sure, but I doubt they’ll want to point us to their competition.”

  Wanily hummed. “That other apothecary in Ginsgrove told you about this apothecary. I don’t really see the issue.”

  Which was a fair point, not that Kletz would admit that. He grunted and nodded to the nearest shop which looked like it sold enchanted cooking supplies. “Just go in there. I’m sure any of the shopkeepers could point us in the right direction.”

  Wanily glanced at the shop, shrugged, and headed inside with Kletz on her heels. There were quite a few customers inside, several sales attendants that seemed to be trying to get them to buy as much as possible, and a portly man in the back behind the sales counter. Wanily immediately went for the cashier who had as good a chance as any of these people at being the owner of the shop, so Kletz didn’t argue and merely tailed her to the back of the shop.

  The man gave them a hearty smile when they approached. “Hello there. Already know what you want, hm?”

  “Yep,” Wanily said, smiling right back at him. “We need to find Minerva’s Medicines.”

  The man’s grin twitched at the corner. “Why bother with apothecaries anymore?” he asked, which only made Wanily’s brow furrow. “Brewing has been made simpler with innovations that you can find right here in this shop! You don’t have to worry about your potion getting too hot or cold with our pots that can keep a steady temperature. You don’t have to worry about stirring it incorrectly with our pot and ladle combos where you can set the ladles to stir at specific angles and a specific number of times. We can even outfit your home with an explosion-proof kitchen in case our products fail to make the potion properly, but we’ve never had a customer complain about such a thing! Really, all you need to do your own brewing is now at your fingertips.”

  Wanily frowned. “You know brewing is more complicated than that, right?”

  The shopkeeper didn’t grimace, nor did his smile so much as twitch this time. Kletz gave him some credit for that. “I assure you, my friend, General Magicks has made many products that has streamlined the brewing process, bringing it from a dangerous art to something any housewife could do.” He laughed, but at Wanily’s flat look, he quickly quieted. His smile didn’t fall though. “Apothecaries will soon become a thing of the past, I guarantee it.”

  Wanily arched an eyebrow, and with the thin set of her lips, Kletz could tell she was growing irritated. Before she could start arguing any further with the man about the intricacies of potion-making, Kletz jumped in. “We need to talk to Minerva, that’s all. We’re not looking to buy.”

  “Ah, why didn’t you say that in the first place?” The man said, promptly dropping his smile. “I should’ve known, you don’t look the type to carry much money,” he said, eyeing Wanily.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she muttered, but both Kletz and the shopkeeper ignored her, though for different reasons, Kletz was sure.

  The shopkeeper continued, “Minerva’s shop is back east a couple of streets. Turn left when you get to the second street, should be the third building on the right.”

  Kletz nodded, mentally repeating the directions to himself. “Thanks,” he said and promptly turned to leave, forcing Wanily to scurry after him.

  “The nerve of some people!” she said the moment the door of the shop swung shut behind them. “Brewing can be very dangerous, you know. You have to follow recipes exactly or else it can literally blow up in your face. The timing of everything has to be just right--it doesn’t matter if you have a pot that doesn’t get cold or a spoon that stirs it right. There’s a lot of variables and--”

  “Wanily?” Kletz interrupted tiredly.

  “Yes?”

  “I don’t care.”

  Wanily huffed. “I’m just saying,” she insisted. “I know enchantments have gotten better over the years, but I doubt they can replace an experienced apothecary any time soon. Saying that they can is just going to get people hurt.”

  “And?” Kletz asked blandly. They had reached the second street, and he turned down it. Third building on the right, the man had said.

  “And that’s terrible!” Wanily huffed again. “I can’t believe I have to even say that.”

  Kletz shrugged and pushed open the door of the third building on the right. It was a nondescript, wooden structure sandwiched between two much taller buildings, and while there was no sign hanging out over the street, the door was painted with glittery letters that read, Minerva’s Medicines. Seemed they’d gotten good directions after all. Kletz had sort of doubted it after Wanily started being difficult.

  Inside, the left wall contained shelves neatly lined with labeled potions, much like in Vini’s shop. However, the rest of the shop was a cluttered mess of ingredients in jars or baskets, some on shelves on the wall, some hanging from the ceiling, others crammed onto the tops and even at the feet of tables in the center of the room. It was at one of the tables that a young woman with short, green hair and thick spectacles was picking through the seemingly random assortment of goods and occasionally stopping to scribble something down on the notepad in her hand.

  She didn’t look up when Kletz entered, but then, the door had no bell to announce customers, and Kletz’s habit of sneaking around was far too ingrained to stop him from doing so now. Wanily, however, immediately scuffed her boots on the floorboards when she entered, and that finally managed to draw the attention of the woman.

  She tensed and looked up. Kletz thought she might relax when she realized there was no threat from a couple of customers, but she didn’t. Her lips twitched into a nervous smile. “Um, are you the representatives from General Magicks?”

  Kletz arched an eyebrow. “Do I look like I know any magic?” he drawled, making a vague gesture toward his head of black hair.

  The woman let out a breath he didn’t realize she was holding. “I’ll take that as a no. Many people working for General Magicks don’t know any magic though, you know. And your friend there certainly knows a thing or two,” she said, motioning toward Wanily.

  Wanily beamed at that, though Kletz didn’t have a clue why. Obviously Wanily knew magic, he didn’t know why she would be so happy that the fact was acknowledged. Again, it didn’t matter, so he returned to the matter at hand. “Are you Minerva?”

  The nervousness, previously eased from the woman’s posture, returned in full force. “Who’s asking?”

  “Vini recommended us to you,” Kletz said. “Said you might have some potions to help with--” Kletz clicked his mouth shut, finding himself strangely unwilling to expose his weakness to this stranger. It had been different with Vini, who had posed no threat to Kletz, but this woman knew magic, was young, and looked spry enough.

  “With hallucinations,” Wanily finished for him when it became clear Kletz wasn’t going to say anything else.

  “Oh!” Minerva perked up, the anxiety evident in her expression completely wiped away again. “You’re customers! That’s--I mean, welcome! You need a potion for hallucinations? I’ve got four different types. Have you tried any before?”

  Kletz nodded, stepping further into the shop with Wanily behind him. She quickly broke away, though, to begin examining a nearby table chocked full of ingredients. “I don’t know what kind,” Kletz admitted. “But it was very salty and slightly sour. If that helps.”

  “I think I know which one you’re talking about,” she said, tucking her notepad under her arm and moving over to her shelves of potions. “When did you take it? It can react negatively with other, similar potions, so I just want to make sure I don’t give you something and inadvertently poison you.” She gave a nervous laugh, stopping beside a section of the shelves that seemed to be specifically for mental ailments if the labels were anything to go by.

  “It’s been about a week and a half.”

  “So about fifteen days?” she asked, and when Kletz nodded, she nodded back. “That should be fine, then. Here, I’ll have you try this one.” She reached up, standing on her tiptoes to grab a potion from the top shelf. It was the same bluish color the last one had been, but when the light caught the edges, it turned a dark purple. A trick of the light on the glass of the bottle or on the potion itself? Kletz wasn’t sure, but it hardly mattered.

  “I hear the most success with this potion when it comes to hallucinations,” Minerva continued. “So I hope it helps. Although...”

  She trailed off, and Kletz sensed his opportunity to pounce. “Although?” he prompted, hoping he conveyed enough nonchalance.

  Minerva grimaced. “I’ve been hearing word of people still seeing hallucinations no matter what kind of potion they take.”

  “Is there anyone in town that’s had that problem?” Kletz asked, aiming for idle curiosity and completely hitting the mark.

  Minerva, however, seemed to misunderstand what he was getting at. “Oh, my potions work perfectly well,” she hurriedly assured him. “It’s not a problem with the potions, it’s... well, I think some of the new magic healers are saying there’s something wrong with these people’s souls. Scary, right?”

  She gave another nervous chuckle. Kletz did not react. “You think something is wrong with my soul?” he asked, as casual as possible, when she fell silent.

  “N-No! That’s not what I...” Minerva sighed, cursing softly under her breath. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just... going to stop talking now. The potion is a hundred marks, if you want it.”

  Kletz clenched his teeth. He wanted to know about the medium that almost certainly had no success with potions, and he needed to find a way to get that information. Minerva seemed like an anxious creature, though, and he would have to navigate the situation carefully.

  “Do you know where we can find a medium in town?” Wanily asked, looking up from her inspection of ingredients.

  Great. Wanily was about as subtle as a rampaging hydra, it seemed. Kletz glared at her, and she shrugged. Minerva, however, merely looked thoughtful. “Are you having trouble with an enchanted item?”

  Wanily frowned. “Uh, no, I was just hoping to meet one, honestly. I figured, I’m in the magic district of the city of Pulia, there’s got to be some type of specialty mage around. And I’ve never met a medium, so.”

  Minerva pursed her lips. “There is,” she said slowly. “But he’s been having some... personal issues lately from what I’ve heard. I doubt he’ll want any visitors.”

  She said it so delicately that she definitely knew what type of issues. Kletz would bet anything that she thought he was going mad, just like Kletz felt he was going. “That’s alright,” he said. “Even if he turns us away, I’d like the chance to try to meet him as well.”

  Minerva looked between the two of them, her gaze lingering on Kletz longer each time. She must have suspected something about him, but he had no idea what since he’d barely told her anything. “He lives a street over,” she finally said. “At the end of the street, right at the base of the mountain. The house has a green roof and red door. You can’t miss it.”

  “Great!” Wanily turned back to Kletz. “You going to buy that potion or what?”

  He did, just in case, handing over the right amount of marks. Wanily held up a jar of eyes of all things. At least, Kletz thought they were eyes. They were completely black, suspended in some type of pale liquid meant to preserve them, no doubt. “By the way,” she said in a too-casual way that immediately set Kletz’s nerves on edge. “Where did you get these?”

  Minerva glanced between the goods and Wanily’s face a couple of times. “Some hunters sold them to me? From the mountains?”

  Wanily’s eyes narrowed. “I thought it was illegal to hunt griffins?”

  Minerva gulped at the sudden ice in Wanily’s tone. “Not anymore,” she squeaked. “Hasn’t been for a few years. It’s still--I mean, it’s really dangerous, and a lot of hunters don’t bother with it. I haven’t seen the ones that sold those to me in a really long time, so I’ve assumed they met Moss trying to hunt more of them.”

  Wanily turned her glare on the jar in her hand. “Good,” she said. Finally, she set the jar down. “You were afraid we were from General Magicks. Why?”

  Kletz had picked up on that, but he hadn’t--and didn’t--care why. Still, as much as he wanted to get going, he wasn’t about to ditch Wanily when they were so close to the reason he brought her along in the first place.

  Minerva sighed. “It’s nothing really. Just, uh, slow business, you know? I’m not in exactly the most prime of locations.”

  Wanily grunted. “Do they bother you a lot?”

  Minerva shrugged. “They want their pound of blood every month,” she said. “I, um, might not have enough for this month.” She brightened suddenly. “Actually, that’s not true. I should have just enough now with what you paid.”

  “Great,” Kletz deadpanned. “Let’s go, Wanily.”

  Kletz didn’t waste another second, leaving the shop and waiting outside until Wanily joined him a few moments later. She huffed when she stopped beside him. “She’s hurting for money.”

  “So?” Kletz asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “So, we could have bought some more from her.”

  Kletz eyed Wanily. “I didn’t need anything else from her. Besides, do you want to do business with someone who trades the parts of griffins.”

  “Not... really,” Wanily admitted. “But we still could have helped her. She helped us.”

  “You can’t save the world, Wanily,” Kletz sighed, turning away from her. “Come on, we’re almost there now.”

  Kletz started back to Clover Street. Wanily’s footsteps sounded after him a beat later, and he heard her mutter something that sounded a lot like, “I can try.”

  She was delusional, Kletz decided. What a pair they made, a delusional teenager with hopes of saving the whole damn world, and a crazy assassin that would rather see it burn so long as it meant his pockets were full. But, for now, they were allies, and Kletz would take what he could get from her.

  It was how the world actually worked. Sometimes, though Kletz didn’t know how to do it, an open hand beat a closed one. And as long as Wanily could extend an open hand to even those she disagreed with, Kletz was sure he could find a use for her. Right now, that meant finally--finally--meeting with another medium and hoping Wanily could charm her way into getting him to help Kletz.