“Did you happen to get those,” Edie said flatly, “Off of those wooden platforms on the sides of the street?”

“Yup.”

“And were there many humans around when you took them?”

“Oh, so many. Boggy wasn’t kidding when he was talking about how weird it was.” A shiver ran down Karla’s spine.

“And did any of them try to attack you? Or try to follow you?”

“Only the ones with pointy sticks. Anyways, why is this so important?” Karla not-so-subtly twirled, showing off her newly acquired possessions. “I thought that we had better things to do?”

“Well, remember when we were just running away from the guards of the town?”

“Yes?”

“I think that you just led them towards us.”

Karla froze for a second as that thought sunk in. “Oh.”

Boggy stood up, and started walking towards the bejeweled bird. He reached for her, but this time Karla jumped backwards, putting her back against the wall. “What are you doing?” She hissed.

The boglet blinked. “We’re giving the shiny things back, obviously.”

“What!? Why?” Karla hunched her back and spread her wings, as though trying to make herself seem bigger.

Boggy just gave her another confused look. “Because stealing things is bad?”

“Big talk coming from somebody who just stole from that other human.”

Boggy took a look at his stained, dirty cloak. A pang of guilt flowed through him, but he restrained it. “We needed this. You don’t need that.” He pointed at one of the rubies that Karla was absentmindedly adjusting with her beak.

A defensive look came over Karla’s face. “Oh, yeah? Guess what you do need. Directions out of here.” She gave a smug little smirk. “And I’m the one who has those. So, in a way, you do need to let me have those.”

Boggy stared at her. “But that’s just going to put us all in danger.”

“And since the guards are coming, guess what else is putting us in danger? Just standing around and waiting. So what’ll it be?”

A tense silence came over the alley. Edie was the one who broke it. “She’s right, Boggy. Let’s talk about this later.” She sent a piercing glare towards Karla. “Get in the cloak.”

“But my shinies don’t look as good in the dark!”

“Get. In. The. Cloak.” Even Boggy was a little scared by the tone of the voice. It was hard to remember that it was coming from a tiny fish sometimes. Karla rolled her eyes, her smug expression sticking to her face. She clearly thought that she won, and that irked Boggy a little bit. Not as much as her putting all of them in danger, but certainly a little bit.

Karla joined Darkness underneath the new cloak, and the cloak rippled a little bit. Darkness stirred awake, and asked, “What? What happened to you, Karla?”

“I upgraded.” She replied in a cheerful voice.

“Just tell us how to get out of here already.” Edie said in an impatient voice.

“Keep travelling down this path, and then take the second right. That should take you directly to the big street.”

Boggy started walking, and the group quickly descended into a strained silence. At least, it was strained for Boggy and Edie. Darkness seemed to be in a confused silence, and Karla was too busy admiring her new bling to bother conversing.

Although the train of thought left a bad taste in his mouth, Boggy began to wonder why Karla had even chosen to come along with them. She clearly didn’t care about what the others thought, and every action only helped herself. The only reason that he’d even come to the human world was to help Darkness see colors. If Karla got in the way of that…

Engrossed in his own thoughts, Boggy wasn’t paying any attention to his thoughts. Thankfully, Edie was, and whispered, “Humans!” before retreating back into her little cranny in the breastplate.

Boggy quickly tugged the hood of his cloak even further down, and slunk towards the sides of the alley. He heard footsteps and loud voices make their way down the empty street, and braced himself to run.

What rounded the corner was not an armored battalion of combat-ready guards, but a group of unruly children. Boggy relaxed, and tried to blend into the wall as much as he could. This was something that he was used to, at the very least.

It was a group of three boys, of varying ages. The one in front, the tallest one, said something that, once translated by Edie, piqued Boggy’s interest. In a laid back, casual tone, he said, “Well, you know what Uncle Matt’s like. He’s always on about something. Probably heard the alarm bells and went crazy.”

The smallest one chirped up. “Come on, Bik, don’t be like that! Mother told us that he used to be somebody important in the army.”

Bik gave a dry bark of laughter. “The army? Like that matters now. The way the wind’s blowing, this entire town’ll be filled with Burners by next week. And that means they’ll find the Market eventually, no matter how well it’s hidden.” The way that he emphasized the word ‘market’ made Boggy sure that they weren’t just talking about the stalls that had lined the main street.

“What? No they won’t!” The youngest said in a whiny tone.

“Yes, they will.” Bik sighed. “Listen, David, it was good while it lasted, but sooner or later, those damned inquisitors will find out that we still have magic items hidden. In fact, the only reason that the Market still exists is because the damn Northerners don’t have the time to burn everything to the ground.” He kicked a rock down the alley. “But more and more of ‘em are coming each day, and soon enough they’ll be able to hunt us down.”

“Oh, really? And what’re you going to do if you’re not going to take up the enchanting business?” David asked, one eyebrow raised in skepticism. “It’s not like you know how to do anything else.”

“Ha! Isn’t it obvious?” Bik mimed stabbing a sword in the air. “I’ll be a soldier in the Imperial Army!”

David gasped. “No, no! You’re going to betray us for them?”

“Listen, David, it’s not betrayal.” Bik let out a tired sigh. “You don’t understand yet, but Mother just simply isn’t making enough money to keep us afloat. Every day, less and less customers come to her stall. It’s just too risky to have a magical device on you these days.”

Magic. Boggy felt Darkness stir underneath the cloak at the word as well. That was the stuff that could allow his bodiless friend to see color. Boggy felt himself practically salivating at the idea that they’d found it so quickly.

“I’ve tried convincing Mother to just let the enchanting business go, but she refuses to listen. At this rate, we’re going to starve to death before we get killed by the Northerners. We need money one way or another, and I’m not going to do odd jobs for pennies while the Empire’s coffers are ripe for the picking!”

“Uh huh. And how are you going to get a job as a soldier? I’ve never heard of an Intigoan getting recruited.”

“Ah, that, my little brother, is where connections come in.” Bik leaned down, in a facsimile of a whisper. “You know Julie’s dad? The big one, with the crazy eyes? I heard that he just got a job as a city guard.” He put on a huge grin, ear to ear. “And I figure, with enough buttering up, I can convince him to put a good word in for me.”

“Had,” said the third boy, who had been silent until now. “He had a job as city guard. He lost it this morning.”

“What!?” Bik exclaimed. “Are you serious? He didn’t even get hired a week ago!”

“Apparently he had an argument with the Lieutenant.”

Bik visibly recoiled. “Lieutenant Slager? That Lieutenant? The one who locked Billy in a cell for two weeks for stealing a loaf of bread?” He shuddered. “I guess he’s lucky that he got away only losing his job.”

David put on a gloating little smile. “Oh no. It looks like you don’t have any connections anymore. What a shame.”

Bik gave him a glare, and let out a frustrated grunt. “It looks like I’m back to square one. The only other Intigoan I know is Uncle Alan, and I don’t even know how he managed to keep that job. He’s got an awful attitude.” He looked suspiciously at the third boy. “Where do you even find this stuff out, Ingy? It’s like you’ve got three pairs of ears.”

Ingy didn’t respond, and just kept on walking forwards. Bik’s mouth twisted into a sour frown, and muttered, “Fine. Keep your secrets. I don’t need them anyways.” He kicked the little rock forwards again. This time it skittered to the side a little bit, curving towards the wall. It stopped right in front of Boggy’s feet.

As if a spell was broken, the boys noticed his presence, and immediately grew wary of the new stranger. David, in particular, looked like he was going to run away.

The tallest one, Bik, in a more neutral tone than he’d been using, asked, “Sorry, who’re you? I can’t tell beneath the hood.”

Edie opened her mouth to speak, but Boggy had an idea. He whispered it to her, and after a couple of seconds of awkward silence, she said, in her uncharacteristically deep human voice, “Sorry. I was on my way to the Market, and I got lost. Could you help me find it?” Boggy nodded along, trying to seem eager.

David responded, “You’re looking for the Market? Now?” The wariness in the boy’s voice turned to confusion. “It doesn’t open for another hour.”

Edie paused, and said, “I’m new in town, and I’m looking for some magic to buy.”

The young boy’s face perked up. “Oh, is that it! Well, you’re in luck, because my mother--”

“Shut up, David.” Bik growled. He stepped in front of the boy protectively, putting his arms up. “Sorry, sir, we don’t know anything about the Market. You’ll have to ask somebody else.”

Another pause. “Are you sure that you don’t know the way?” Edie’s voice rasped through the air, and the humans flinched back a little bit.

Bik gulped, but kept his voice firm. “Yes, sir. I’m positive.” Boggy could see his legs shaking, but he didn’t understand why. The stare-off continued, and the boglet was almost positive that he was missing something.

That didn’t matter, though. He was this close to finding the answer to Darkness’ problem, and not much was going to stand in the way. To Edie, he whispered, “Order them to tell us.”

Edie paused. “Are you sure?”

“...Yes.”

A second of silence. Then, in the human tongue, Edie said, “Tell us where the market is, or else.”

The fear in the boys’ eyes was palpable. Boggy felt more than a little bad, but he stepped forwards, hoping that one of them would say something.

The middle child spoke up. “Wait.”

Boggy turned to face him. The boy was squinting at the cloak, as though trying to place it in his mind.

“Is that… Uncle Mat’s cloak!?” The exclamation drew his brothers’ eyes, and they all gasped.

Edie tried to do damage control. “Wait. There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for this. We actually--”

She was interrupted by a sharp plink. Everybody looked down, and saw the ring that had dropped from underneath Boggy’s cloak. It rolled on the ground, making a long clinking sound that slowly evaporated as it came to rest. Then a second came tumbling down. Then a bejeweled necklace.

From the cloak came an ashamed voice saying, “Um. Sorry.”

The alley went silent as the implications ran through everybody’s heads.

Ingy reached his conclusion first. He gathered his breath, and yelled as loud as he could. “Thief!”

David was the first to run away, and he was by far the fastest of the three. He was out of the alley before Boggy even had time to react. But the boglet caught on quick. With a silent apology to Darkness, he opened up his cloak just a crack. Not too much light came into the cloak, but there was a big enough crack for the humans to see it.

Bik and Ingy stopped dead in their tracks, their eyes wide with fear. Boggy knew exactly what it was like to see Darkness’ entire body for the first time, and it wasn’t pleasant.

Their eyes widened in surprise, and Boggy could see the fear hit their faces. They both stumbled backwards, leaning back on the brick wall to support themselves. Boggy quickly closed his cloak, making sure that more light didn’t touch Darkness. He felt extraordinarily guilty, more for burning his friend than for hurting the humans.

The two humans slumped to the ground, letting out heaving, struggling breaths. Boggy slowly walked towards them, and crouched down next to them. As if on cue, Edie said, “Tell me where the Market is.”

The smaller of the two, Ingy, managed to choke out a laugh. He turned to look at his brother, and said, “At least he’s not a Burner.”