CAGED (#3, of Crows and Thorns)

Chapter 84

The first thing I did was kick off the godsdamned shoes.

The ballet flats tumbled across the Aubusson rug with its colorful motif and skidded beneath a small table with bird's claws for feet. Then I was gone, fleet-footed and sleek. Fast like a mouse scurrying through a maze searching for a way out. But not this mouse. This mouse was searching for Zrenyth's mites.

My skirt and the ends of my scarf snapped wide as I darted from underneath the outstretched wing of Brangwene and dashed around the corner where I couldn't be seen by either Graysen or the Purveyor of Rarities. I disappeared between a row of mismatched shelving units, much like open apothecary cabinets displaying their wares for sale. Florin's lair wasn't a large place, but it was oversized to accommodate the Horned God's height. The cabinet's shelves were spaced wider apart, their framework solid and tall, reaching up towards the lofty ceiling. Even the fat glass jars sitting on the shelves were huge.

I burst into a frantic flight. My movements were jerky and harried as I poked my head over small tables to furiously inspect the centerpieces of strange items before I rushed across the brightly woven rugs to crouch down low and sift through the silvery stems shoved into an urn. My hair sprang around my eyes and bounced against my back as I zipped from one cabinet to the other, frantically scanning the glass jars. My darkest fear was that Florin had either sold the mites or he'd locked them away in a treasure trove because they were so rare. I prayed to Skalki that they were somewhere in a secluded part of the shop where I could get my hands upon them.

I couldn't stop myself from racing onward, nor could I curb the mounting desperation strangling my nerves at such an enormous task. My mind screamed hurry, hurry, hurry, as I threw myself into the hunt, my gaze skipping all over the place. Everything became a blur of indistinguishable shapes and blended colors. A whirlwind of fragmented thoughts spun inside my head. All of them were screaming at me to move faster, search quicker, find the mites before I lost this chance. Now! Now! Now! I turned my jittery attention back to the glass jar in front of me and flipped the label over with shaky fingers to read it before shifting to the next jar, the one after that...

Hells, hells...

I was panicking so much I wasn't taking in the names properly, nor fully identifying what was contained within the jars. I was searching without a plan, without a clear direction of how to tackle this monumental task. Toxic panic charged through my bloodstream, jackhammering my heart. What if Graysen cut his conversation short with the Horned God? What if I only had five minutes? This was my only opportunity. I'd never find my way back to Florin's lair for the mites if I couldn't locate them right this very moment.

As I stumbled around to take in the room, I knocked into the edge of a solid stone table. Thorny heat stabbed my hip bone and I bit back a startled cry of pain. Stress coated the back of my neck and the palms of my hands in sticky perspiration. I rapidly calculated what I couldn't see from this vantage point, what remained beyond this spot that needed to be searched. My breath came quicker, shallower. I became lightheaded. I'd need a solid week to comb through this place and turn it upside down. And I didn't have the luxury of time.