Twin suns sat just above the horizon as I made my way home from working the market. As I looked ahead I saw a crowd of people surrounding an alleyway blocked by a police barricade. Neo MarCaeli’s city police barricades always do more to attract onlookers rather than deter them. I thought to myself as I approached the mouth of the alleyway, attempting to pass it. I preferred my walks home to be uneventful. With how busy the market gets it’s nice to finally have a long moment of peace at the end of the day. That evening I was faced with the unfortunate luck of having to push through a mob of people all crowded around a spot I had to pass by to get home.
On my right I could hear waves crash against the jetty rocks down below, on my left I could hear an officer near the barricade attempting to shoo people away. Placate them with words of “There’s nothing to be worried about.” and “We have everything under control.” Probably a lie. I let out a soft chuckle at that thought before I finally came up on the crowd. Here goes nothing. Those were my final thoughts before I made my first attempts to nudge my way through what felt like endless people on the sidewalk. In reality it was probably about twenty people, but still twenty too many.
“Excuse me.” I said over and over again to every new face, and people moved. Until one burly man acted like he couldn’t hear me as he continued to shout at the officer up near the barricade. Rattling off question after question, giving the officer no time to respond. As I found myself at a standstill, I turned to address the person behind me.
“What’s going on anyway?” I figured it’d been another violent crime. Maybe this was a fresh crime scene, but that wouldn’t explain the buzz of the crowd. It was like everyone was frazzled. I realized the stranger I’d asked was staring at me with a puzzled look.
“I mean…just look at it. What even is it?” Their response finally prompted me to glance up toward the front of the crowd and I could barely begin to describe what I saw. The alley had been overrun by a bright orange fungus that scaled the walls, and in the center of it was nothing. A large spot of…nothing. In the center of the alleyway was a dark spot in space, just lingering. The edges of its form were blurred and fuzzy, the center pitch black, and it stood about six feet high. Maybe three feet wide. For a moment I felt drawn to it before the strangeness overwhelmed me and caused the pit of my stomach to turn. I looked away and back to the stranger, searching their face for an explanation. None came. I took one more glance at the thing before I noticed the shouting man had pushed himself a foot forward. Just enough for me to sneak behind him and out the other side of the crowd.
I thought about turning back. Joining those who were demanding answers, but I had a feeling the officers had no answers. So I just stood there, my back to the commotion, a swirl of questions gnawed at my mind. What was it? Was it dangerous? Where did it come from? I half turned around and took one more look at the alleyway before I continued forward towards home. The ocean breeze made it easy for a chill to creep down my spine at a steady rate. It’s fine. It’s fine. They’ve got it under control. I repeated to myself. It wasn’t fine, and I had a feeling it wasn’t under control.
———
That night there was a scratching at the door as my hands struggled to retain their precision. I would be late for work tomorrow, and thus late for my meeting with Kadi. It was well past the witching hour, and Terrah’s suns would rise from their murky graves and bathe Neo MarCaeli in a warm morning glow in only a couple hours. The dark spot in the alleyway had kept me up. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Even though my eyelids weighed on my eyes like paperweights, threatening to snap shut at any moment, I was undeterred from the task at hand. I had to stay distracted.
The scratching continued. I barely noticed it. Even as the yellowed lamp light on my desk flickered, I remained focused. I just needed to move one more small piece into its proper place.
“Yes!” I flung the tool in my hand out of excitement as the personal cassette player’s front light flickered on indicating that, indeed, my efforts had not been in vain. Pride surged its way through my veins as the scratching, still, continued. It’s just the cat, I told myself. I had been extra jumpy all evening. I didn’t have a cat, but the cat found me and hasn’t stopped following me since. Ignoring the animal I hastily slid on the headphones and grabbed the nearest tape from my collection. I wasted no time trying out my new favorite, now finished, repair project.
The cool plastic of the tape slotted perfectly into place inside the player. I carefully closed the cassette holder. It slid into place with a satisfying click. These kinds of things were beyond vintage and hard to come by, even for someone as well connected as I had been. Truth be told, the only reason I got my hands on one in the first place was due to an acquaintance who just so happened to owe me a favor. And even then I still had to pay half. Bills had been tight that month.
I traced the edge of the player, past the worn label from the previous owners that read “Record Room,” until my finger landed on the play button. The moment was exhilarating. I had dedicated all of my spare time for the past few weeks to first figuring out how this thing worked, then how to fix it. Getting the cassette player working had been a dream project of mine, and now…nothing. I slowly twisted the headphone jack, hoping the headphones were the source of the issue. Still nothing.
“Damn it!” I pulled off the headphones and dropped them on my desk. The thud sounded like a bomb going off in my small, otherwise silent, loft. The scratching stopped. Dejected, I leaned back, head in my hands. I could have cried. I wouldn’t though. I just needed to try harder, probably eat something, think on it, and maybe do some more research. I could repair this. I knew I could find a way.
———
The next thirteen hours were a blur. I took the long way to the market that morning to avoid the alleyway. This required me to descend to the sixth city level, then ascend back up to the seventh. The city’s seventh level was home to one of the busiest markets in all of Neo MarCaeli. Centered near the back cliffs of the level the market was open to the fresh air, with only the occasional brick and mortar building present. Cloth canopies provided shoppers with the occasional shade as they would browse the wares of merchants from all over Terrah. The smell of baked goods would waft through the aisles from the café, luring both shoppers and merchants alike. People were frequently packed in like sardines during the rush hours. The shadows from the towering seaside cliffs were beginning to creep in as the suns set.
I got no sleep after my failure with the cassette player, using that time instead to fiddle with it more and keep detailed notes in my journal of what I had done. After taking a closer look at the internals, I came to the quick conclusion that a tiny belt was missing. One that would connect both reels to spin together. After that realization I spent the rest of the night lamenting on my lack of attention to detail within my journal as I picked at the leftovers of last night’s dinner. I let potential customers pass me by all day. My mind now solely preoccupied with where I would find a belt small enough for the player, because if I stopped thinking about my project my mind would wander back to that alley.
The suns now lingered just behind the rocky cliffs, casting huge shadows over the market. Business had quieted down for the evening. The shade from the cliffs began to chill the market. One would need a jacket if they lingered too long within the darker shadows. Normally I would have begun packing up ten minutes ago, but not today. Today, unbeknownst to me thus far, I sacrificed my daily routine just to stare out into space. My mind so preoccupied that I hadn’t noticed the time. She hadn’t forgotten though.
“You’re usually the first merchant out of the market, had a change of heart?” Kadi leaned on a display table which hosted a variety of trinkets and devices, many fixed up by myself. As my former guardian, an old family friend, and fellow merchant involved in Neo MarCaeli’s branch of The Artifact and Rarities Coalition (or The ARC as they liked to be called.) Kadi routinely took it upon herself to keep a watchful eye on me. Since my parents disappeared Kadi had also made a point to overstep on almost all things, and well into my adulthood. I was quick to assume today’s meeting would be no different.
Contrary to being met with the conversation Kadi clearly wanted to have, I instead met her with a thick silence. Picking up a mechanical toy, Kadi turned it over in her sun tanned hand. Her hands still looked like those of a netter, even though she left the industry before I was born. She handed the toy to me. “Your fixin’ work is still as impressive as always. Good to see.”
Without even a glance I snatched the toy from her. The cold metal stung and finally pulled my full attention back to the conversation.
“What was it you needed to see me for?” I eyed her suspiciously as I packed up my stall for the evening. Last minute informal meetings were not commonplace for Kadi. That either meant I was in trouble, or she had a job for me. Always a job I didn’t want to do.
Kadi was quiet as she lingered and watched me while I packed up, my blonde hair falling out of my bun as I hauled signs from the front of the stall to the back. Once my signs were taken down and stored behind my tables for the next day, Kadi finally spoke.
“You never answered my first question.”
I shot her an attempt at confused look, pretending not to recall, as I began to gather my inventory. Kadi knew better, and I knew that. She always saw through my bluffs but often decided it wasn’t worth the argument. I know she just wanted what was best for me. It’s what she’d always wanted since my parents disappeared. I knew she had felt an important burden to raise me to be someone my parents would have been proud of, and I respected her for that, but I was an adult who would have liked her to back off. She restated her question.
“I asked whether you’ve had a change of heart recently.”
“Oh.” I continued to gather my wares into a bag. “No, I haven’t.”
Merchant work wasn’t my passion. To the disappointment of the Artifact and Rarities Coalition as well as Kadi herself, I preferred repair work. A line of work not included under the coalition. Doing both was hard to maintain. I was on the fence about renewing my membership or not for the next year. Being a member of the coalition meant almost no tabling fees, which was the only perk that kept me involved.
“Hm, I see.” Kadi’s expression twisted and her eyebrows furrowed. It reminded me of a disappointed parent about to scold her child. Not an expression she’d usually display in public. Great, here we go.
I watched out of the corner of my eye as Kadi quickly shook off the begrudged expression. “So anyway, I got something arranged for you.” She stood up straight with her chin held high, taking on her business woman posture. Though that day she seemed even stuffier than usual. “The Coalition’s got a small errand to run here in the city. I put in a good word for you and promised higher ups you’d take care of it.”
I opened my mouth to cut her off, but Kadi quickly continued.
“It’s an important delivery, but I was able to convince them Birk and Elouise‘s kid was finally ready to take the coalition work seriously and would be up for it.”
I rolled my eyes in response. “I’m not my parents, Kadi.”
“Clearly.”
My parents. My parents had been shining members of the coalition. My mother a retired archeologist, my father a star assessor. Both had started up a very successful trade business of rare and uncommon objects together. Then there was me. A girl who had little interest in the family business, but still refused to let my parents dream for me fully die. So, I hung on to the coalition by a thread in hopes one day they’d just let me go of their own accord.
My suspicion rose as I figured I knew what the deal was, “You arranged me to do your busy work again, huh?”
“It’s an opportunity, Molly.”
“I’m busy. I’m not-“
Something caught my eye just behind Kadi. A small black figure shuffled through the market and up to me and Kadi. A cat. The cat that had been following me around for days now, and scratching at my door at random hours of the night. Kadi jumped at the sight of the animal. Narrowing her eyes as they darted back towards me.
“Who’s your friend here?”
I sighed not knowing where to start. “I-I don’t know.” I sputtered out, realizing Kadi looked more perturbed by the cat than I originally thought. “They just started following me recently, scratching at my door sometimes. I admit I fed them a couple of times but…”
“Why would you feed a stray?” Kadi’s tone accusatory.
It was my turn to furrow my brow. “Why do you care? It’s just a cat.”
Kadi rolled her eyes. “Well, feeding stray cats doesn’t count as busy. How about this, get the job done and I can guarantee your family name will be back in favor with the higher ups again, just like it used to be. The package will be sent to you soon.”
“If it’s so important why don’t you make the delivery?”
Kadi smiled a wicked smile and simply responded “I’m busy.” before she turned and left. I called after her begrudgingly. “Fine! When should I expect to receive the package?” Kadi only gave my a brief wave without turning back. I gave her neither a wave nor a goodbye. She didn’t deserve either one.