Page 36 of At the Mercy of Midnight
Amelia choked on her surprise. “Fifty? For a sliver of rock?”
Silas scoffed. She scowled at him as he raised a brow at her. “Don’t do your own shopping, do you?”
“Do you mean to say they’re that expensive all the time?”
Silas looked back to the merchant. “Not always, this is a tad inflated.”
The merchant just shrugged. “Mountain ranges can offset Waystone calibrations. Takes a stronger enchantment to compensate. Costs extra.”
Amelia narrowed her eyes. “I’ve spent twenty on Waystone chips. That’s alotextra. You’ll accept twenty.”
The merchant gave her an assessing look, before saying, “no.”
Amelia turned to Silas. “Go on Mr. Wealthy. Surely you can afford it.”
Silas smirked, slipping a coin purse from his belt and jingling it, clearly laden with money. “I could, but watching you negotiate is far more entertaining.”
“Fine.” She turned back. “Thirty.”
The merchant laughed throatily. “Forty-five.”
Amelia sighed dramatically. “Thirty-five…and I’ll leave you be,” she added, trying for the kind of smile that always seemed to work for Silas.
“That’s worth at least ten,” Silas muttered under his breath.
She elbowed him sharply, and he grunted, rubbing his ribs. The merchant, clearly enjoying the show, leaned forwards. “Forty, and the stone is yours. And I’ll offer a free bit of advice.”
Amelia plucked the purse from Silas’ fingers before he could protest, pulling out coins for the merchant. “What advice is that?”
The merchant’s voice dropped lower, eyes darkening. “Don’t use the Waystone chips near midnight,” he said. “There’re stories of people disappearing into nothing, not reappearing again…justgone. The magic is becoming worse quicker than people realise.” The merchant then pointed over to the wall near them, and Amelia’s gaze found a series of browned papers, depicting several faces, the word ‘Missing’ adorning the tops.
Amelia felt chilled by the haunting stares of the lost.
They moved away, Silas giving her a sidelong look as she stared down at the glowing rune on the purchased chip.
“Scared, Winslow?”
Amelia dropped the stone into her pocket. “Of faulty magic? No. Iamafraid of being stuck travelling with you, so the risk is worth it.”
Silas opened the door for her with a half-grin, a blast of cold wind hitting her. She brushed past him to step into the chill.
He fell into pace beside her to descend the steps towards their horses. “We’ll need to be touching each other and both horses if we don’t want to leave anything behind.”
Silas’ breath misted as he chuckled. “You know, for someone who claims to hate my company, you sure seem to find plenty of reasons to get close to me.”
She didn’t dignify that with a response.
Mostly because she had no clever retort to throw back at him.
Amelia had travelled by Waystone many times, mostly to avoid the Rift. While bartering for a chip had been a new experience, her university providing them in the past, she wasn’t afraid of what it would feel like.
It had never been painful like the midnight pull.
She was calm as they readied and stood, Amelia clutching on to Silas’ elbow while they both held onto their respective horses.
“Ready?” he asked, the chip held between his thumb and forefinger.
Amelia nodded.
