Page 43 of Hexbound
"Yes." There were runes painted on them in places, and a painted eye glared at her as she slipped past it. She felt like it watched her. "What on earth is this place?"
"You're in Balthazar's Labyrinth, I believe. Keep going. Where are they taking you?"
The world bled around the edges. Verity's next step took her inside a building. When she looked around, the door was shut and locked behind her. Warded runes were painted over its timbers.
"Come, and sit," rasped a voice from behind her.
Verity spun around.
Murphy took a seat at the table, and Verity saw herself drag out a chair beside him. The movement jerked her incorporeal body forward into her memory body. Then she was sitting there too, looking out through her eyes.
"Well-met," said a cool voice. The man sitting opposite them wore a hooded cowl that covered every inch of his face. "Who's the girl?"
"Protection," Murphy replied, with a faint, mocking smile. "She's of no interest to you. Who's the slump in the corner?"
To her surprise, Verity realized there was another man standing there, one she hadn't noticed. His gingery hair was cropped short, with thin mutton chops at the sides, and one of his eyes didn't quite look straight.
"Protection," the cowled figure mocked, and for a second she thought she knew that voice.
"Who is it?"Lady Eberhardt asked.
"I-I don't know. But I swear I've met him before."
"Have you considered my little proposal?" the stranger asked, ignoring Verity and speaking directly to Murphy. Those crisp vowels.... Whowashe?
Murphy leaned back in his chair and scowled, his waistcoat straining over his broad belly. He'd worn the green one with the gold embroidery, which meant he was trying to impress someone, and his curly hair was pomaded flat across his scalp. "I've considered it. Seems a heck of a lot of risk, for little reward."
The figure sat so still, she wondered if he was even breathing. "I'm not going to argue terms. The offer is the offer."
Murphy leaned his elbows on the table and clasped his hands, his eyes narrowing greedily. "Now the way I see it, you might not have a choice. I have something you want: the means to get inside a heavily warded house, break into a safe, and get out without being caught by a Sicarii assassin. There's not a lot of folk as can do that. In fact, there ain't nobody else, and I should know."
"How?" it asked flatly. "How do you get into the house?"
Murphy leaned back and tapped his nose. "That's for me to know and you to find out.AfterI get you this relic-thingy."
"Then what do you want in return?"
"Double or nothing."
"Double?" The creature slammed a hand onto the table, and she was relieved to see it was human, gloved in tight black leather. "That's impossible. I don't have that kind of money."
"Then find it." Murphy didn't care.
Silence fell. The creature silently seethed as it watched him, but she could almost sense it making its choice. "Done." It stretched its hand across the table. "You have three weeks to bring the Chalice to me. I don't care how you do it. But if you don't deliver it... you will repay in a pound of flesh."
Murphy shook hands, though she saw the threat bothered him. The stranger tugged a money pouch from within its robe and tossed it on the table with a metallic clink. "Half now and half upon delivery."
It pushed away from the table and Verity tried to see within its hood. "Trask," it called. "Do your job."
The man in the corner muttered under his breath, and Verity blinked as time slipped away from her. A golden web struck her in the face and for a moment, she wasn't sure where she was or what she was doing.
"Can you see?"a woman's voice demanded."Verity, try harder!"
"Who are you?" she asked.
The woman sucked in a sharp breath."Hell and ashes."Something warm brushed against Verity's forehead. Then she could see again, and knew where she was. "Verity, hurry!"
She felt ill again. The cobwebs clung to her, but somehow Lady Eberhardt kept them away.
