“You guys mentioned it before, but never told me what it was,” I said. “I’d say now’s about as good a time as any.”
“Remember my lecture on the different planes?” Wol began. “It is an extension of those places. Simply put, imagine each plane as a house with different rooms. Some rooms are easily accessible. There are no doors, no rules for entry, and no one guarding them. Others are hidden, whether it be behind a door or a curtain. Sometimes on purpose, other times because they were lost.”
“Example?” I asked.
“A closed-down amusement park,” Mina said quietly, “An abandoned house. Abandoned villages. Forgotten churches.”
“Yes,” Wol said. He leaned forward by digging his claws into my shoulder, sniffing the air in front of us. “However, those are recent developments. Though sometimes, these places are old enough that no one knows how they were created.”
“And what’s so dangerous about them?”
“Because the rules of this world will not apply,” Wol said. “Not always, but most often, each place will have its own rules to be followed.”
“Not following here,” I said.
“If there are rules to enter, my practitioner, there are rules to getting out,” Wol said dryly. “The room could have its own occupants, who are privy to those rules. Those who would manipulate you into breaking them. Perhaps a kingdom. Sometimes a tribe. It’d be best to treat Lost Places as a separate place altogether from this portion of reality.”
I looked back at the empty cafe. “It’s empty, though.”
Mina stomped a foot in annoyance. “Are you even listening?! That’s a doorway. Yes, the empty cafe exists but that’s only on our plane of existence. But to actually get into Sana’s cafe, we have to figure out the rules for entry or exit.” She turned to Wol. “You deal with this every day?”
“He’s usually smarter than this,” Wol said.
I ignored the double jab, leaning forward and reaching out with my senses once more. Again, the unsettling sensation reached back out and I straightened myself. “Well, we need to get in there.”
“I literally just explained to you how it could be dangerous,” Mina said.
“Which changes nothing,” I said. “Sana’s cafe is a place frequented by other supernaturals. It might be a Lost place, but it can’t be as dangerous as you two are making it out to be. Remember the practitioner with the fae at school? The one that turned into that puma-lion thingie?”
“Yeah, I do.”
I took a step closer. “Well, she’s the one who told me about this place. And we’re trying to talk to people who aren’t really major players in New York’s supernatural scene. From what you two are telling me, a Lost place seems like the perfect place for loners to hide out, gather, and talk. Especially if these rules are set in a way that deters violence, or protects them somehow.”
Mina took an audible deep breath through her nose, then exhaled through her mouth. She frowned, thinking about what I said. “That… makes sense.”
I nodded. Of course, someone like Mina wouldn’t think of it. But when they explained it to me, the first thought I got was that I’d love a place like that at school, especially if there were rules in place to keep people like Sloan out. Somewhere to relax that wasn’t the lunchroom or the hallways. Somewhere private. I wouldn’t mind if there were other loners there, as long as they kept to themselves. Hell, maybe if a place like that existed at school for humans, I’d actually have friends and we could share about our troubles together.
I think that’s the problem with a lot of the people that I dealt with. The Hudson Witch, Assad, Emyrith—they couldn’t think outside of their own point of view. They were important, respected members of the supernatural world in New York. Since inheritance was a real thing here, they probably grew up with privilege. Well, me? I hadn’t.
Maybe that was the real edge I had over Victor in this trial. Victor would think like one of them. Maybe my real advantage was that I could think outside of the box of privilege that the Hudson Witch was thinking in, which could very well be the reason why she couldn’t find the Mother Tree’s Killers.
“We need a way in,” I said. “Any general rules about entry?”
“More often than not, mortals happen to fall into Lost Places. Or rather, Lost Places find them. A girl following a white rabbit down the rabbit hole, a pair of siblings following a trail of candies to a secluded spot in a forest.”
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“Or you find a golden ticket tucked inside the chocolate wrapper,” I mumbled. I continued before anyone could comment. “So you’re telling me no two rules are the same? Or if they are, it’s rare?”
“It would be best not to compare different lost places to one another. One could have only one rule for entry, while others might have no rules at all. Another might have ten rules. And remember, my Practitioner, this is only to get in.”
I turned and looked at Mina. “Are you able to do something?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Perhaps I could be of assistance?”
The voice came from behind us.
We all reacted differently with varying degrees of violence.
Mina unzipped the tube bag and had her staff in her hand in about three seconds, flat. The swirly runes —most of them Chinese characters— glowed with the hue of fresh riverwater. Seoul was even faster. He had placed himself between the newcomer and Mina, the nubs on his forehead starting to give off motes of light.
I had whipped out my gravity knife and had my thumb on the closest edge of the blade, ready to bleed myself. Hwari glided out of the ground, and Wol stayed perched on my shoulder and pink backpack.
Yokocho took a step back, waving his hands in front of him. “Oh hohohoho! Had I known you fine practitioners had a pedantry for things like sneaking up behind potential customers, I would have done this differently!”
“Yokocho?!” I said incredulously.
Mina narrowed her eyes. “You’re the black market merchant.”
Yokocho perked up noticeably. I blinked, and he was within arm’s reach again. “Oh?! Doth the ladiy knoweth me? Yow!” he yowled, completely un-feline and more human than expected. “Business is booming, and I must say that the fact that my humble name has graced the lips of a scion of the Baek family delights me beyond reckoning!”
My eyes strayed behind Yokocho to the two figures behind him. “What are you two doing here?”
The short Geistheiler’s eyes were a startling green beneath the deer skull mask.“Same as you, practitioner.Exiting one place to enter another.”
Her tall counterpart said nothing.
Yokocho clapped his paws, bringing our attention back to him. “If I may so humbly suggest, perhaps it is karmic forebearance that brought the eight of us together?”
Wol sighed. He sounded tired already.
“Oh, don’t be so quick to dismiss it,” Yokocho continued. He waved a dismissive hand towards Wol. “Contrary to its name, the room beyond is quite dangerous?” He waggled his eyebrows secretively. “You might find it best in your interests to think about whose company would benefit your murder mystery within.”
I blinked.“What?”
How the hell did he know that I was on the hunt for the Mother Tree’s murderer? Was he stabbing in the dark, or did word really get around that fast?
“I call bull,” Mina spat. “He’s playing us, Hallow.”
The black humanoid feline held a hand to his chest. “Why, I’m offended! What possible reason would this one have to, in your own words, Ms. Baek, play upstanding young practitioners with bright futures ahead, such as yourselves?!” Yokocho said.
“No, he has a point,” I said, my brain already starting to put the pieces together. “The one who gave me the location information about Sana’s cafe was someone that Wol called a hedgewitch. She was coming after a bounty to boot.”
“Definitely not what one would call an upstanding member of society!” Yokocho offered.
“Don’t tell me you’re scared, Hallow,” Mina said, her tone heavy. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “This guy’s a black market merchant. We can’t just take his word for it.”
“We haven’t taken his word for anything. Yet,” I eyed Yokocho. “You’re saying the place inside is dangerous because it’s full of the unsavory sort.”
“Can’t you tell? I am one of its clientele after all,” Yokocho said, gesturing to himself.
“I—” Mina hesitated, then did a little mini-stomp with her foot. I was starting to realize it was a habit of hers that she did whenever frustrated. “Hallow, we practitioners of Society do not make deals with preternaturals like it’s some flea market.”
I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She scowled but didn’t elaborate.
“The trader speaks true,” the short Geistheiler chose that moment to join in. “Inside, you will find what you would compare to the slums of the preternatural side of New York.”
“Whoa, back up a minute. You’re telling me we’re walking into the hood?”
“What is this hood?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. The deer-skull mask made the motion all the more eerie.
“Like the projects.”
“Projects?”
“Never mind,” I said, seeing if anyone else caught the reference. The only person who might have caught it was Mina, but she was too busy glaring daggers at Yokocho. “Yokocho, you said you’re willing to guide us in?”
“Not just in, but around the place as well, my dear young Hallow,” Yokocho said, beaming.
“What’s your price?”
“Hm. Perhaps one teensy favor once we’re inside?”
“Can I reserve the right to refuse?”
Yokocho’s smile never faded, but his eyes narrowed. Calculating. “Only if you agree to pocket the favor for a later day.”
“Agreed,” I said, then held up a finger before Yokocho could speak. “But the favor is only inside Sana’s Cafe. Set to expire sixty days.”
“Ha! Someone’s been making use of their books!” Yokocho barked. “Hundred days, young Hallow, and I will make it my personal quest to help you with all my capabilities once we’re inside!”
“Or I can let you follow me around, gather information about what I’m up to, give you a first hand look at my capabilities, and Mina’s—” I shot the girl a look which kept her from speaking up. “And you can pocket that information to sell it at a later date. Of course, in that case, there’d be no favors involved. Otherwise, you can keep the favor, but I’ll agree only on the condition that anything you see or hear cannot be uttered to anyone else. Of course, standard right of non-aggression will apply.”
Yokocho clamped his mouth shut. The smile faded. “You drive a hard bargain.”
I shrugged. Wol had been right. Spending the last two days reading up gave me a much better idea of how deals worked in the supernatural world. The wording, the cadence, what could be traded, what was for sale—I had to be very careful about the deals I made.
“So, what do you say?”
Yokocho sighed, shooting a look at the Geistheilers. “This is why I hate dealing with Conjurers. Two days and he’s already this good at making deals.”
“Don’t go buttering me up now,” I said.
“I have a pre-existing deal with the Geistheilers,” Yokocho said, and he said the word with the correct German pronunciation and everything. “I can guide all of us, but it will require your permission.”
“As long as they agree to silence.”
The Geistheilers looked at each other, then nodded without a word. “We agree,” the short one spoke.
“So which deal, Yokocho?”
“No favor. But I will be keeping my eyes peeled for any interesting happenings,” Yokocho said, snickering. “Trouble does love to follow you around, Mr. Hallow.”
“Hallow—” Mina began.
I cut her off. “Mina, in or out?”
I could practically hear her grinding her teeth. She did that stomp again. “In.”
Huh. I thought she might say no. If she said yes to this, maybe her situation was more dire than I thought. That was food for thought.
Yokocho strode past us, heading straight to the door with the flipped ‘closed’ sign. He took one look claw and drew a simple sigil on the door, followed by a rhythmic knock.
There was a click.
Yokocho opened the doors to the empty cafe with nothing inside. “Well then, shall we?”
And so I followed the bakeneko into the dark building, with the nagging feeling that perhaps it wasn’t an accident that Alice fell through the rabbithole.
That she accepted an invitation.