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A garish grin splits his face when he sees me. With a voice rough like scraping river stones he says, “If this isn’t just who I was looking for.”
I shrink a little and try to push past him but he blocks our way with his arm.
“Rent was due yesterday, princess,” he says as his grip tightens on my arm.
Cringing, I try to free myself. “I’ll have it by tomorrow,” I lie. “I’m just waiting to get paid.”
He chuckles loudly. “Get paid for what, wallowing in self-pity? You know you can always work for me if you want to.” He runs his hand down my arm suggestively.
“Look.” Mav grabs Pavel’s wrist. “She’s not feeling so good, alright? I’ll make sure she gets it to you by tomorrow.”
Pavel ignores him. “Do I look like a damn charity to you, princess? I got my own bills to pay.”
Before I can reply, Mav says, “How about this: I’ve got some Ghostshade under my mattress… why don’t you roll yourself one and relax, huh? Take it as a down payment.”
Pavel’s eyes snap to Mav’s face. “And why do you think I’d want some shit-laced old mattress Ghostshade more than the damn rent?”
“It’s not laced with anything, dickhead. Fresh from the boatman himself.”
I keep my eyes on the floor, feeling queasy. Surprisingly, Pavel grunts and lets go of me. Without his grip I nearly fall, needing to lean on the railing to stay upright. Quickly, Mav puts his arm around me.
Pavel uses his swollen forefinger to lift my chin, making me look up. His hands smell like Ghostshade smoke and greasy hair. “Tomorrow, princess.”
Instead of gagging dramatically like I want to, I manage a pained smile. “Thank you.”
He scoffs and pushes past us, the wooden stairs creaking painfully beneath his footfalls. I’m not even sure this building is safe or legal to live in but my real-estate options as a vampire are rather limited.
We wait until we hear the door fall shut before we breathe a sigh of relief.
“Scumbag,” Mav grumbles as he helps me take the final steps down to the ground floor.
“He’s not so bad,” I say. “He doesn’t have to let vampires rent his place.”
Mav shrugs and opens the door for me, and I ready myself for a long hike to the subway station.
“Can I ask you something?” I break the silence as we shuffle through the streets, narrowly avoiding dog-shit at every opportunity. Around us, the streetlamps have hesitantly flickered to life, throwing their dim light across the rough concrete slabs making up our block. It’s not so terrible on a sunny day – the city has planted trees in the streets and tried to paint some of the buildings in bright colors. Unfortunately, most days in Midnight City aren't sunny – not that it matters to me now that I’ll never be able to go out into the sun again.
Mav is walking while staring down at his phone – though I try not to pry, I can see he’s getting messages fromNoxium guy, whose name is followed by an eggplant emoji. Noxium is another of those Elysium clubs that prides itself on offering anything – absolutelyanything– to its customers.
“Go on,” Mav says.
“You said the Ghostshade wasstraight from the boatman… I’ve heard you say that before,” I begin.
He gives me a quizzical look. “Yeah.”
“Is this like secret code or are you going to tell me what it means?”
He raises his eyebrows. “God, girl, how have you survived this long in this city?”
I bite my lip – evidently, my ignorance has come to bite me in the ass in every aspect.
“The boatman, like, Charon the boatman, who ferries the dead into the underworld?” he offers, as if that makes things make sense.
I blink at him.
“Like…Charon’s Veil?” His face is expectant.
“Oh.” I look at the ground, trying to hide how stupid I feel. I don’treallyknow what Charon’s Veil is, either, only that they’re the ones offering work to new vampires like me and Mav.
