Chapter 16.5: Midnight Errands
The portal spat them out into an alley that smelled like fried noodles and rain-soaked trash.
Kyle stumbled forward, one hand on the wall for balance. "Where… are we?"
Felix looked around with a perfectly straight face. "Black Market District. Thought we could pick up supplies before your next near-death experience."
Gia pinched the bridge of her nose. "Felix, you know there's a Hunter loose in the city."
"Which is exactly why we're going to blend in," Felix replied, striding toward a narrow staircase between two shuttered shops. "Nothing says 'inconspicuous' like haggling for enchanted gunpowder at two in the morning."
Kyle groaned but followed. His jacket was still ripped from earlier, and the dried blood made it stick to his side.
The Market Beneath
The stairs opened into a vast underground bazaar glowing with neon charms. Rows of stalls sold everything from phoenix feathers to counterfeit memory crystals. Hawkers shouted in a dozen languages—some human, some not.
Gia stuck close to Kyle, clearly overwhelmed. "I've never been down here before."
Felix grinned. "First time's always special. Keep your pockets covered and don't eat anything that's still moving."
They passed a stall where a three-eyed woman was selling bottled shadows. Another sold knives that whispered in your sleep.
Kyle slowed at a table stacked with charms similar to the one on Felix's wrist. "Portal keys?"
Felix's smirk faltered for half a second. "Different make. Mine's… custom."
Trouble for Sale
They were halfway through haggling for a bag of blood-binding powder when a voice drawled from behind:
"Well, well. Look who crawled out of the rooftops."
Kyle turned to see a tall man in a patched coat, face half-hidden by a hood, flanked by two thugs with tattooed arms. The stranger's eyes gleamed an unnatural silver.
Felix sighed. "Darius. Of course."
Darius stepped closer, gaze flicking to Kyle. "You're the one The Order's after. They've got a bounty so high, I could retire in the Sun Spire."
Kyle's grip on the powder tightened. "You're not taking me anywhere."
Darius smirked—and the ground beneath Kyle's feet shimmered. He barely jumped back before a snare glyph snapped shut where he'd been standing.
A Short, Loud Fight
Felix drew his knives, Gia opened two quick portals in the air, and chaos erupted. One thug lunged through a portal and came out upside-down into a crate of singing glass. The other swung a chain at Kyle, but Kyle whipped a ribbon of blood to coil around it and yank the man off balance.
Gia redirected Felix's knife throws through her portals, making them strike from impossible angles. Within minutes, the thugs were groaning on the ground and Darius was retreating, muttering about "unfinished business."
Back to the Streets
As they left the market, Kyle shot Felix a look. "That happen every time you go shopping?"
Felix shrugged. "Only when I'm with people who attract trouble."
Gia snorted. "So… always?"
Kyle didn't answer. But as they stepped into the cold night air, he caught a glint of silver in a nearby rooftop shadow—like something was watching.
And for a second, he thought he saw a thin, vertical slit of red light before it vanished.
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