Moonways pt 5

It was almost midnight, Lily realised. The moon was at its zenith, casting the silent streets into stark relief, making monsters in the shadows of daytime things like cars and discarded bikes and trees and shrubs. Everything seemed like a dream to her now; it didn't help that she couldn't focus on her companion, though she tried. He was wearing a long, flowing coat of some smooth, dark fabric that looked like it would be very soft to touch, but shared the unsettlingly shifting quality of his face, never the same colour under her scrutiny. It buttoned, double breasted, from his neck to his waist, then split out to his knees like an old fashioned riding coat. Underneath were fitted dark pants and well worn looking boots, again looking out of place under the flickering buzz of electric street lights. Lily supposed it didn't matter, if other people couldn't see him anyway. She wondered briefly if she was going mad.

"Where are we going?" The question was more to distract herself from that bothersome thought than anything else. Dusk kept up his steady pace, but was turning towards a major road that headed into the city.
"I told you, to see the Finder of Lost Things. She lives in the city. We will ride the bus." A giggle bubbled up in Lily's throat and she choked it down, realising she was one step away from hysteria. But still, the bus rolled up, filled with revelers on their way to the bars and clubs that snaked their way along the main streets of the centre of town. Lily blushed as she boarded with Dusk, expecting stares at his outlandish outfit, but nobody seemed to notice very much. In fact their eyes fixed on the pair, then seemed to slide away with sudden disinterest.

Lily couldn't resist. She stuck a hand in front of a young man's face and waved it about. He frowned for a moment, bemused, then his eyes drifted to the view out the window. Lily scowled at Dusk.
"What did you do to me?" He shrugged, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Every step you take with me pulls you further from their world. It serves me well to go unnoticed, so now it serves you too. Deal with it." Anger and fear rose up and battled across Lily's face. Then she thought of Mona, and the Gate Man.... She threw herself beside him unceremoniously, though her eyes burned as fiercely as a cornered animal.

Neither broke the tense silence as the bus chugged and rolled down the streets until finally it was puffing and heaving its way past skyscrapers and elaborate city lamp posts that cast bright, warm light over the friday night revelers. They disembarked, Lily jostled by the crowds, Dusk passing through them like smoke. He waited a bare moment for her to catch up before he dipped his head at a side street.
"This way." Lily's jaw set, but she still felt her heart hammering with nervousness. What manner of nightmare would be waiting for her this time? Dusk turned and turned and turned again as the streets grew progressively narrower, until finally they were in an alley squeezed between two buildings, barely wide enough for the pair to walk abreast. For the first time, Lily felt almost glad for the strange man's company, as the darkness grew thick like pitch around them. At the end of the alley was a grubby old door, with a small neon sign next to it declaring it to be "The Grotto". Dusk rapped smartly on the door three times.

It opened almost immediately, and a tall, skinny man eyed them suspiciously. Lily tried to figure out what was wrong with his face; looking closer, she realised he had a fine sheen of flesh coloured scales instead of skin. Despite herself, she shuddered. He looked at her sharply, then back at Dusk.
"You got no business bringin' her sort here, Law Keeper." Lily noted the title with interest, storing it away in her mind for later.
"She has lost something very precious. She needs to find it. It was taken by the Percontors. That makes it my business, and I'm making it your business. Let us in." For a moment the scaly man looked like he might argue, but with a sigh he conceded and stood aside. Dusk swept in, and Lily followed, careful not to touch either of the men.

The hall within glowed with a red, dirty light that made Dusk look like some sort of Biblical demon, and the steps that led down might have been a stairway into Hell. Still, Lily followed, chin thrust out in defiance. At the bottom was another door; the scaly man left them there with a grunt. Dusk paused.
"You go first." Lily looked at him incredulously.
"Are you insane? Do you think I'm stupid? No!" He sighed a long-suffering, patient sigh, then turned the door handle.
"Go, or I will make you go." Though there was nothing but cold promise in his tone, Lily bristled.
"You don't scare me!"
"Are you going to stand and argue on my doorstep or are you going to come in?" The mellow voice melted through the cracked open door, oozing into Lily's ears like butter, sending pins and needles to the tips of her fingers and toes. Without further argument she stepped through the door and blinked in surprise.

The red glow was gone, replaced with clean, white, fluorescent light that filled a large, high ceilinged room. It was lined on every wall with shelves that reached the entire span from roof to floor, and those were filled with things that made Lily's eyes widen with wonder. There were glass domes covering carefully preserved animals, next to large and small leather bound books that seemed to rustle and then settle like startled birds; there were glass vials supported neatly on wooden racks containing liquids that glowed with shifting colours, or seemed to suck the colour out of things nearby; broken pieces of spyglasses and bones and gems and teacups and lengths of fabric and thread all crowded Lily's mind until she felt quite dizzy. A polite cough drew her from her stupor.

Sitting at an expansive table that was scattered with more junk was a small, plump young woman. Her hair was a silvery sort of pale blonde, wild with loose curls that had feathers and beads tied in almost like they were stranded in a retreating tide. She was wearing small, round glasses with red lenses, though one lens had a cracked and wavering piece of glass fixed over it, which made the eye underneath seem huge and grotesque. Her clothes were a clashing and mismatched tumble of bright fabrics, though they were all of a fine cut to Lily's eye.

"So," again those smooth, lilting tones bewitched Lily, "you've come to find something you've lost." The Finder of Lost Things adjusted her glasses, and peered at Lily intently. "Oh my... oh my yes. It's written across every line on your body." Suddenly, she smiled, but it wasn't a kind smile. Her inscisors were sharp, like a predator's. "The most precious thing you have. And it's lost! How unfortunate..." a pause while her smile widened a little, "for you that is." Suddenly, she seemed to notice Dusk standing behind Lily, a stony frown fixed for once in his shifting face.
"You." Her voice lost some of its honey, and she looked less human. "You know I don't work for free, Keeper of Laws. The girl pays the price, same as any. And a costly price it will be too. That's the Law, and you know it." Dusk stepped forward, and the Finder of Lost Things seemed to shrink back a little.

"It is the law. If her need is great enough, the girl will pay the cost." He turned an inquiring look to Lily. Again, Lily felt the situation slipping out of her control, sliding through her open hands and into God knew what sort of deeper mess. Her shoulders pulled back unconsciously and she stood rigidly.
"My need is great enough." A smug look flickered across the Finder's face.
"So it would seem. The price to pay is proportional to the lost item's worth. I think you know what I'll be needing from you." Without warning, Lily's heart began to beat harder in her chest; it seemed to fill her up as though it was expanding, each moment thundering a thousand echoes of her blood in her ears until she thought she would burst.... Then it was over. She realised she was on the floor, clutching at her chest.
"Is the price still worth it?"

Lily gasped for breath, sweat pouring off her.
"My sister for my heart. The price is worth it." She struggled to breathe. "Only when she's back in my arms, living, breathing, and... normal. Not... not like you. No tricks. That's my deal." Her voice was harsh and ragged. She couldn't see Dusk's furious expression at the Finder, who poked her tongue out at him and giggled with glee.
"Deal! Use this! It'll bring you to her." She tossed a large shard of broken mirror in front of Lily on the ground. Its edges had been worn smooth, and there was a leather band tied around it so it could be worn around the neck.
"Now go away Law Man, before I decide I don't like you."

Dusk's anger radiated from him like waves of heat but he was silent as he hefted Lily off the ground and set her straight. They left without another word, but once they were out in the street, he spun on Lily, suddenly seeming very tall and broad.
"You were looking for your sister? Why didn't you tell me?" Lily glared up at him.
"I don't trust you! Why would I? What difference does it make?" He made a few angry noises that sounded almost like words, then flung up his arms in defeat.
"You don't understand anything at all. Nothing." It was Lily's turn to flare with anger.
"No I don't! I don't care about your world! I just want my sister back! And I don't care what it costs! I would die for her!" She realised she was shouting, and bit off her words, her mouth clamping into a tight, bitter line. Dusk seemed to calm down slightly.
"Come. We have even less time than I thought."