Page 9 of The Princess of Portals

Tak put away his goggles, muttering to himself. “People aren’t meant to sparkle so much.”

I set my hands on my hips and so-very-subtly shook my arms. To my great disappointment, no sparkles rained down. Marlow snickered at me.

Real slick, Savannah. Real slick.

I could have sworn I heard Wolf laugh. I stared at her, and she stared back, not the least bit contrite.

Marlow chatted some more with Tak. They talked about dogs. Apparently, Tak had a dog too. He showed us a picture. What I saw in that photo was not so much a dog as a hell beast. Gold eyes, burning with fire. Black fur, burning with fire. A big mouth of scary pointed teeth, burning with fire. A shiny spiked collar, burning with fire… I was sensing a theme here.

Finally, Marlow circled the conversation around to our missing person.

“Yeah, I saw him. He stopped by the Black Market the other day. He bought a few things from some of the merchants.”

I grew very, very still, hardly daring to breathe, like the slightest whisper of my breath would blow away the first wisp of a lead that we’d found.

“What did he buy?” Marlow asked.

“Contraband.”

Oh, boy.

“But he wasn’t going by the name Ren. He said his name was…was…” Tak tapped the photograph a few times. “Oh, what was it again?”

I felt my body lean forward, my toes kissing the tips of my shoes.

“Christopher.” Tak snapped his fingers. “That’s right. He said his name was Christopher.”

Simple, understated, blend-into-the-background Christopher. Ren was definitely hiding from something. Or someone. But what? Or who?

He might be a criminal. His purchase of contraband certainly supported that theory. Yes, he had to be a criminal, and Christopher was just his latest alias.

“What kind of contraband did he buy from you, Tak?” Marlow asked.

The Alchemist checked to make sure no one else was listening, then bent over, voice lowered. “Magic lanterns.”

I’d heard about magic lanterns. They came with a built-in overload switch, which effectively turned them into magic-powered bombs. Invisible bombs. From the outside, they looked like boring, mundane, magic-less lanterns, the kind you’d use to light your way in the dark.

“Don’t look at me like that, missy.” Tak’s eyes narrowed on me. “Magic lanterns aren’t inherently bad. They have many legitimate, innocuous uses. They can be used as power generators. They’re very handy in smithing and brewing. And they’re powerful light sources, of course.”

I could see it in Tak’s eyes. He didn’t think Ren was interested in the lanterns for their many legitimate, innocuous uses.

“Can I see one?” I asked him.

“See what?”

“One of these magic lanterns.”

“Hush, girl, don’t go telling people that I have them,” Tak said, his laugh uneven.

“Apologies. Far be it from me to drum up business for you,” I said drily.

“You’re clever.” His eyes narrowed for a moment, and he shook himself, making a harsh, sudden sound, like a horse snorting. “It must be the sparkles.”

“The magic lantern, please.” I smiled, holding out my hand.

He just stared at it. “Sorry, I can’t help you. I don’t have any left. He bought them all.”

“Ren…Christopher bought all of your magic lanterns?”