Taken

I’d been holding up the outfit to get its shape, but at that I looked up with a frown. “Really?” Sonder said from outside, sounding interested. “I thought since the treaty they all stayed in India?”

“Jagadev is older than the treaty,” Arachne said. “Very old and very powerful. Why he came to these shores I do not know, but I first heard of his presence in this city back in the days of your empire. He sides neither with the Council nor with any of the Dark factions. The Tiger’s Palace is his domain and within it his word is law.”

“Have you ever met him?” Sonder asked.

“Once.”

Sonder fell silent, which was a surprise. I’d expected him to keep asking questions but something in Arachne’s manner must have made him think twice. “Alex?” Luna said from the next room over. “Why was Anne delivering invitations for him?”

“I’m not sure,” I said, putting the shirt on.

“Isn’t that the kind of thing apprentices do for their masters?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Arachne? Do you know if Jagadev takes human apprentices?”

“There are rumours,” Arachne said. “But I always had the impression that Jagadev’s feelings towards humans were . . . not warm. Especially mages.”

I had a sudden flashback to Natasha’s words at the gym. I shook it off—just because a creature looks like a monster doesn’t mean it is one—but it left me with an uneasy feeling. “Come on, Alex,” Arachne said, interrupting my thoughts. “You’ve had more than enough time to try them on.”

I wanted to tell Arachne she hadn’t complained about Luna taking three times as long but held my tongue. I came out at exactly the same time Luna did.

The outfit Arachne had made for me was plainer than usual: coal-coloured trousers and a top, with a long jet-black coat. On the whole I liked it. It was light and flexible, and if I got into trouble it would allow me to move fast.

If my clothes were understated, Luna’s were the opposite. She wore a narrow dress cut in such a way that she seemed to be wearing nothing else, the cloth following the lines of her body and emphasising her shape. The dress was a vivid emerald green, shimmering in the light. It was beautiful and eye-catching but there was something disturbing about the colour. It made me think of poison, like a venomous snake.

“Wow,” Sonder said. He was staring again. “You look . . .”

“Perfect,” Arachne said.

Luna looked uncomfortable. “I feel like the evil queen in Snow White.”

“Where you’re going that’s exactly how you want to look.” Arachne scuttled forward and peered down at me nearsightedly with her eight eyes, then settled back. “You’ll do too.”

Luna gave me a glance, then a curious look. “Hey, did you lose weight all of a sudden?”

“I said I don’t want to talk about it. Arachne, you keep talking about ‘where we’re going.’ What are we getting into?”

“Tiger’s Palace?” Sonder said in surprise. “Haven’t you ever been?”

“I’m not exactly high up on the social circuit, Sonder.”

“Um,” Sonder said, hesitantly. “But it’s not—I mean—”

“What Sonder is trying to say,” Arachne said, “is that given the reputation of Tiger’s Palace, most people would expect you to fit right in.”

“What reputation?”

Arachne made a clicking noise, her equivalent of a sigh. “You really should get out more. Tiger’s Palace is a . . . meeting point, a place of exchange. There are no entry requirements but it’s not a place for the vulnerable or the careless.” Arachne glanced at Luna. “Apprentices don’t typically go. If you do, make very sure not to look like prey.”

Luna and I looked at each other for a second, then I turned back. “Sonder—”

“I know,” Sonder said resignedly. “You want me to go research. I can do other things too, you know.”

“You haven’t got anything to prove,” I said with a smile. “But if someone’s targeting me—and it looks as if they are—then going there together will make you a target as well.”

“You’re still taking—” Sonder began, then stopped. “All right. Be careful.”

“Good luck, both of you,” Arachne said. “And Sonder is right. The information you’re looking for may be there or it may not, but either way I suspect the people there won’t react favourably to nosing around.”

*  *  *

“No ribbon this time?” I asked Luna as we walked up the polished stone of the exit tunnel.

Luna shook her head. The last time we’d gone together to a party like this Arachne had made her a one-shot that absorbed and neutralised Luna’s curse, making her able to touch people without fear of hurting them, just for a little while.

“She’d do it if you asked,” I said.

“I know,” Luna said. “But . . . I know it’s hard for her to make those.”

“Is that the only reason?”

Luna walked in silence for a little while. “I don’t want to get too used to it,” she said at last.

I nodded. “I think that’s the right choice.”

Luna looked sharply at me. “Items can be taken away,” I said. “You don’t want to get too dependent on them. The only things that are really yours are your magic and your mind and your body.”