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"Merci"

We jogged down the street, and I noticed for the first ti his thigh A blud eoods stacked outside as daimon workers packed them into crates and ha then over the storefront read simply, "A Fermin, Artificer," and the air around the open doors stank with an odd and fa Vale, he nored the daih the door as if he belonged there Me being me, I followed him

"Can I help you, monsieur? Madeed to was even colder His sneer ed inferior, which made me automatically hate him He even had a little Hitler mustache and a monocle

"We seek Anatole Ferue Good day"

The man cleared his throat and looked down at his clipboard My eyes were drawn to the pin on his cravat: a gold sigil that I noell So I did what any cabaret girl would do when confronted with an uppity felloho had so she wanted I simy eyelashes "What a pretty pin Trade it for a kiss?"

His lip quirked up in disgust, and he took a step back, dusting off his paperwork "Made yourself Please vacate the preet it up," I whispered to Vale, elbowing hih

I couldn’t help it I hated the snotty guy with the clipboard

And he hated undy that he was beginning to rese so close I could smell the cloves and tobacco on his fetid breath, he whispered, "I could have you killed ten different ways by Sunday Get out before I change my mind"

Vale was between us in a heartbeat, his fist wound into the guy’s shirt "How dare you insult the lady? You will not live to see Sunday, talking like that"

The hten his shirt and jacket, failing utterly "Consider yourself a dead lob

"Not yet" Vale gave hied me out by ainst the brick wall, out of sight of Ugly McClipboard and his beady little pig eyes With an iold pin he’d ripped fro their scuffle

"That’s two," he said

I heard a gasp One of the dai crates close by watched us anxiously When he sawhis stare, his eyes ide, and he hurriedly walked in the other direction, darting down an alley

"Come on," I murmured, and Vale followed me

The daimon was quick, but my nose was quicker, and I finally cornered hi behind a stone statue still covered in dust, shaking with fear

"You know so," I said

"And we’ll pay you to tell us," Vale added, holding out a shiny franc

The face that peeked around the statue was the flaccid purple of near-death, one eye covered with a cheap silk patch and the other round and wide Twisted scars cut across his face as if he’d been whipped with a ulped as he stepped into view, and I noted he had no tail And that he was very young, barely a teenager

"I have seen that before," he said, nodding at Vale’s fist Vale’s fingers uncurled, showing a glint of gold, and the dai sticky-padded hands to the wall, he scurried straight up the building, quick as a lizard, disappearing onto the roof

The words hispered fro

"That’s the crest of the Malediction Club," he said

Vale tossed the coin straight up It never landed

26

I looked up and muttered, "Why do they always run?"

Vale rubbed his chin "They are most likely still alive because they always run It does not matter; we have e needed"

"We do?"