Page 15 of Leviathan's Song
“If I’m not back by the time you close up here, just wait for me, or if you want, call one of the boys.” I couldn’t call her brothers from the Void if they were in the Boundlands, but I’d be fine walking a few blocks to the Gate.
“Okay, just don’t get into any trouble. Have someone come get me if you need bail money. Maybe we should just close the shop, and I can go home so you can call me more easily if you need me.”
Sidney rolled her eyes and took another bite. “You’re fretting. Stop it. I’ll be back soon.” With one final weapons check, she blew me a kiss, waved, and was out the door. I really hoped her hangover didn’t affect any of her decision making today.
I blew out a big breath, hoping to clear some of the nervous feeling in my gut, and tried to remind myself she’d fought for sport on the weekends for years.
After I’d settled into my work for a few minutes, I felt magic at the edge of my senses: ocean mist and warm sand. I fought down the butterflies in my stomach and turned, expecting to see Levi walk by, but the feeling faded to nothing, was gone for a few moments, then came back again. The door swung open, and Levi stalked in with his jaw set and a determined look on his face.
I sat quietly, a little confused by his mood as his eyes flickered over me, unsure of whether or not I was still irritated with him. He opened his mouth to speak, paused, and then abruptly snapped it shut and glared at the ground, frustrated.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He huffed. “You said my enchantments were ‘disconcerting’, but I can’t speak without making them, and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I guess I could write, but my penmanship is terrible.” Even as he said it, I felt the magic in his words roll over me, crashing waves and sea foam, full of life and tiny creatures burrowing in the surf. It tugged at my soul, just barely kept at bay by my bracelet.
I laughed at his words despite myself. “I’m sure your penmanship is fine. Can I help you with something?” I noticed he had my card tucked between the fingers of his left hand and was flicking his thumb across the edge over and over again.
“I wanted to check on you,” he answered, gazing around absently at the items in the glass cabinets. “I would have come yesterday, but my dad needed me… and then I was down the street and saw your guard leaving without youagain.”
My guard?“What guard?” I stood and walked to the counter, feeling my brows draw together in confusion.
He shot me a look like I was crazy. “The girl, Sid, with the blond hair and the kicking and the knives who just stomped out of here murdering an apple.” He gestured behind him.
“Oh. No, Sidney’s not a guard. She’s just my friend. I don’t have guards.”
That took the wind out of his sails. He dropped his hands, and his face blanked. “You don’t have guards.”
I shook my head.
“You were attacked by Phantoms, you don’t have guards, and you don’t want to report them, because apparently, it’s no big deal.”
“It does sound a bit crazy when you phrase it like that, yes.” I gritted my teeth and stared at my hands fisted on the counter. Even though he was clearly exasperated and doubting my mental competence, his magic was still a lure, a caress. I had to focus on trying to ignore what I felt and listen to his words because the tone of his words and magic were at odds with each other.
He looked to the ceiling like he was pleading for help, or maybe sanity. “Okay. I thought she was your guard. Do you mind if I ask why those men attacked you?”
I glanced at the glass case to his left and shrugged, feeling a little uncomfortable. I didn’t want to bring up the golems with anyone new and risk more talk getting around. “They want me to make weapons.”
His gaze followed mine to the case—which happened to contain knives—and his shoulders relaxed, as if that scenario wasn’t as bad as what he’d come up with in his mind.
He pursed his lips in thought. “So, this is where you work?” He approached the counter slowly, his eyes scanning some of the pieces on the shelves below. “I had to come and find it. I didn’t have any other way to get ahold of you.”
We didn’t bother with a shop phone, since most of our customers were in the Boundlands and couldn’t contact us from there anyway. We’d had one for a few weeks in the beginning and the only calls we’d gotten were from curious humans. Sidney had canceled it without asking me, and frankly, I’d been relieved.
Hating myself just a little for being flattered he wanted to check on me, I reached under the back of the counter, grabbed a small pair of scissors, and snipped off a tiny lock of my hair. In the Boundlands, where technology was more limited than in the Void, we’d found a multitude of ways to make use of the spectral messengers. You could present them with a lock of hair that belonged to your desired recipient, and they would travel through the Mahajarem—a celestial river of energy—using rifts in space to locate that person’s life force and deliver your message.
Levi watched with a small smile as I located a locket, closed my hair neatly inside, and held it out for him. We didn’t give out our hair as easily as humans handed out phone numbers—usually only gifting it to family and close friends—so my gesture felt a little vulnerable. I was essentially telling him he was important to me. His eyes were soft as he plucked the locket from my hand and closed his fingers around it.
“Thank you,” he said, his voice gentle. His eyes held my own, then dropped to my lips, making my neck heat. “I would actually need your phone number, though, if you have one. I live here in the Void.”
I realized I’d been in a daze and blinked, feeling confused. “Why did you take my hair then, if you only needed my cell?” I asked, a little embarrassed. I looked at his closed fist that held my locket.
A large, mischievous grin spread across his face. “I like it. It was sweet.” He clenched his fist tighter and held it to his chest. “It’s mine now. Don’t try to take it back.” His smile was winsome and boyish. He thumbed open the clasp and hooked it onto a thin leather bracelet around his left wrist.
His smirk stayed as his gaze returned to mine and then dropped to my neck. It was probably flushed bright pink at this point. I covered it with my hand and ducked my head a little, making him blink and shake his head.
He placed his hands on the edge of the counter and took a step back, bending to look closer at the items shelved underneath. The tattoos on his left arm drew my eye, and I followed the line of his arm up his shoulder to the muscles flexing in his back.
Levi blew out a breath and straightened, stepping away again as he did. “Would you have any interest in mer artifacts or amulets? Do you buy things that are already magical?” he asked, crossing his arms and continuing to stare at the shelves. He looked a little unsure of himself, and I felt the lure of his enchantments lessen substantially.
