“Incorrect password. One try left.”
“What happens if I don’t get it?”
“You will be punished for forgetting the password.”
Had Mayhem programmed this thing? It sounded like something he’d say. Asshole. “Yes, Master,” I mocked. How was I gonna get down there?
The bike descended, and we rolled to a stop. Ah, the password. I shook my head, dismounted, then put a hand on my hip. “Are you serious?” After a swift kick at the bike, I turned on my heel and proceeded toward the gate and into the market. Immediately, the smell of livestock and their crap assaulted me. I swallowed, my stomach empty and sensitive from the ride over. I put a hand over my nose and looked around.
People bumped into me. “Move it, you’re blocking the entrance,” a man pitched over my shoulder.
Right. “Sorry!” I walked down the first aisle on my left. Lots of chicken but no Maurice, so I searched the market aisle by aisle. When I reached the end, I stood by the last stand.
“Finest messenger doves in the country. Two for one. Today only!” a young woman shouted.
Wait a minute. Doves. Hmm. “Hi,” I said to a girl with brown hair and almond-shaped brown eyes. She wore a long brown dress and looked only a few years older than me, so I put her at twenty-five. A pair of doves napped on her stand. Now, I didn’t know a whole lot about birds, other than every dove looked the same, so the dove who’d delivered the message this morning could be the one on her stand or another one. Still, worth a try.
“Hi,” she greeted me back and smiled. “Two for one?”
I leaned over the stand and whispered, “There was a dove at my window this morning.”
The girl tilted her head. “That’s nice.”
“The dove carried a piece of paper.”
“Ooookay. Why are you whispering?”
Right. “The message said I should come here.”
“Here?” She pointed to her stand.
“Not here, here, but here as in Fresh Market.” I waved my hand about me, indicating the marketplace.
“I got it now. I think you think I sent you a dove with a message. I didn’t. I have no idea who you are or where you’re from. Maybe one of my customers sent it?”
My eyes widened. “Yes!”
“Fifty dollars.”
“Um, what?”
“Fifty dollars, and we can brainstorm who sent you the love letter.”
“I don’t have five dollars, let alone fifty.”
“But you have nice earrings.”
“Those are worth five thousand at least,” I said.
“I know.”
I sighed. Stupid Maurice. If he looked out for me, he’d have seen me on that pink bike. Where the hell was he? I put my hands in my pockets and left the girl to weave through the stands again. Another turn, and I was back at her stall. She extended a cupped hand.
Man, I liked these earrings, but I put them in her palm anyway. She snatched her hand back and dropped the jewelry in her pocket, then leaned and whispered, “A man came. Short brown hair, blue eyes, about five-eleven, older than us, maybe in his fifties. I sold him a dove with instructions.”
Hm. Maurice had gray eyes but still I’d take it. “Have you seen him today?”
“In the dairy section when I got breakfast.” She pointed to her left. “See the sanctuary over there? That’s the dairy section. There’s a coffee shop inside and a place to sit and eat. He was having coffee.”
“Great. Great. Thank you.”
“Oh no, thank you.”
In a hurry, I shouldered my way through the crowds and inside the sanctuary with high ceilings and small windows near the roof. The place was dark and packed, and nobody prayed. I found the coffee shop farther down and on my right. With only four tables available, people stood around in groups and ate sandwiches. A man with a gray cowboy hat obscuring his face sat alone at one table. Pretty sure it was Maurice, I plopped across from him. “You stand out more with the hat than without it.”
He tilted it up and pierced me with a look. “You’re late.”
I leaned in. “I am paired is what I am.” I slapped the wristlet on the table and opened it.
Maurice peeked inside. “Whose pair are you?”
“Mayhem’s.”
He pumped his fist. “I knew it when I saw you! Pretty and deadly.” He looked at the ceiling and closed his eyes. “Praise the Lord—”
I interrupted his prayer. “Hey, man, can we get on with it? I’m kinda in a pinch here. We’re talking about beasts, not chickens. Mayhem didn’t get to be Keeper of Earth because he’s incompetent. You’ve compromised me by bringing me here. What do you want?”