The World Which Is

Chapter 68

I nearly walk into Helen, opening the door to leave the club.

"You're back," she says, surprised. "I was going to ask Malcolm how to track you down."

Silver is a few steps away.

"Is something wrong?"

"I'm skilled at finding people," Harry says, behind me.

"He charges for his services in sex," I say before I can stop myself.

"Sorry," Helen tells him dismissively. "I'm not into fur. Silver got jumped, so I'm thinking it's time we got out of this city."

"I'm fine," Silver says, sounding exasperated. Looking at her, she looks like she'd been in a fight. Her clothing looks fine, but she'd have equipped her armor as soon as it started. She has a bruise on a cheek, and she seems to favor her left arm.

I glance at the party window and realize I missed a few things. The big one is that Brandon is no longer part of the party. The second, somehow, I'm the leader now, and third, Silver's health is down by a quarter. Not that I could have done anything about any of it, but the only reason I missed all these things happening was because I wasn't paying attention like I should have. Instead, all my attention was on the books.

"Was it because of me?" I ask, anger rising. They would have seen us together before Malcolm made sure they all scattered. Her shrug is answer enough. They tried to get her to get to me. It takes a few breaths before the anger is manageable. I can't afford to lose my head in this city.

"We're going to get Brandon, then we're leaving."

"You know where he is?" Silver asks.

"No, but that's where he comes in." I thumb at Harry over my shoulder.

Helen raises an eyebrow. "You paid his price?"

"Malcolm agreed to pay in his stead," Harry says before I can figure out how to answer her.

"I didn't think that was something he did," she says.

"Turns out he likes Dennis," Harry replies.

"Where do we start?" I ask before this turns into a discussion about my likability.

"First, add me to your party. If you don't have one formed, do it. The last thing we want is to lose contact with each other," the bear says. "Then, we're heading to the East Market. If there's anything to be learned, that's where we're going to find it."

I add him, then we get moving.

We walk mostly in silence. The only time he speaks is to tell us we're going around a forested zone because we don't want to deal with what's in there. Silver tries to get him to elaborate, but he shuts her down with a, "I'm not being paid to be a touristic guide." Unlike when he made me the offer to help, the tone makes it clear this isn't something he wants to be paid for.

The forest has housing next to it the entire time we can see it. Leave it to Detroit to let people live next to a place that's clearly dangerous, and I don't even feel bad for thinking that.

When we leave the forest behind, it's to continue among houses and taller buildings. Harry keeps us on the wider road, and the number of smaller ones reminds me of the neighborhood in Toronto where the Explorer's club is located. I definitely don't want to go in those.

Then, we're standing in front of a field with booths, tables, and just people hawking stuff between them. It's maybe three blocks deep and four or five wide; all surrounded by building. It's like a merchant forest in how it reminds me of the actual one we passed. I expect this is just as dangerous.