Beck slowed as we turned from the traveled path and plunged onto the roads below the fisheries. The air changed in the liminal space between the city and the vast void of space. Aurora blue lighting gave the impression of a depth of emptiness deeper than the purest black. Even the scooter’s headlight was swallowed by the pulses of indigo and the angled reflections of the jagged edges of the narrow tunnel. The farther we spiraled downward, the colder the air grew, and soon our breath billowed as white as lies and twice as thick. After weaving down the narrowing path for as long as she could manage, she pulled to one side and we stowed the scooter.

Then, we walked, only vaguely aware that the network of tunnels was no longer empty. People lived in these depths and grew accustomed to the darkness. They moved as quiet as shadow in the void of space, but their bodies pressed closer in the black. The scuff of my shoes on hard metal were the drumbeats of an invading force.

This was a space where none were welcome, and nobody stayed long if they could help it.

Nobody but the thief Maurice Ribar.

A woman emerged like a ghost from the blue-black shadows. Her eyes shone in the light like headlights on an empty street, bright and unfeeling as the metal under our feet. She locked that gaze on me and grinned a toothy smile.

“Who’s this man walking in the dark.” she said. It wasn’t a question so much as an acknowledgment that she knew who I was. She knew what I could do.

“I’m looking for a friend.” My voice boomed in the dark.

Beck tensed at my elbow as two more pale ghosts materialized. They had the same stringy white hair and luminescent eyes. They didn’t speak, but hovered at the edge of sight. The woman barred her teeth at them.

“They’re addicts,” I whispered to Beck. “Users of burn or something similar. They’ll be useless if they’re too high. Worse if they’re too deep into withdrawal.”

“You get us some electric mud,” the woman said, “and I’ll take you to whoever you like.”

I shook my head, hoping she couldn’t tell that I had no idea what electric mud was. “You’ll need to take us to him first. Payment comes later.” It hurt my soul thinking about feeding this group’s habit, but I needed to find Maurice. Whatever this electric mud was, I was sure I could find it.

The woman’s nostrils flared, and the two men took a step forward.

“Demarco,” Beck said by way of warning.

“I know.” To the ghost woman, I said, “You know I can get you what you need. Just tell me where I can find Maurice.”

Her muscles twitch, spasming her hands into tight fists. She mouthed, “Electric mud,” over and over.

It wasn’t looking good.

Beck pressed her back against mine. “What if they don’t know where Maurice is?”

Jason’s note had told me to come down here, and he’d never led me astray before. Of course, all it took was once. Best plan I could come up with was to ask again. “Tell me where Maurice Ribar is and you’ll get your electric mud.”

“Aw, shit,” Beck whispered behind me.

The ghost woman stepped forward, her twitching muscles giving her a judder like bad video. I didn’t dare look behind me to see what Beck was talking about, but I didn’t need to. Behind the woman more pairs of eyes appeared, and more ghostly shapes emerged from the darkness.

Then, they attacked.

The ghost moved like a pouncing panther. A blink and she was on me. I had bulk on her, but she had strength. Such strength. I tried to shove her off, but her grip was a steel vise. She bit, drawing a well of blood from my arm and a vicious curse from my lips.

I thumped a fist into her temple. Once, twice, a third time. Then the others hit and I tumbled back into Beck.

Gunshots. Beck had both guns out, but her shots thumped into uncaring flesh. Unfeeling victims shrugged aside their flesh wounds.

I heaved my attackers back. Three of them now. The woman didn’t relent at all, but with a handful of hair I tore her teeth free of my arm. Blood darkened her translucent skin.

The others piled forward, driving Beck and me together. I threw a punch and shoved with all my strength and they tumbled back as a single mass. Their eyes were a sea of madness and greed. Lust defying all logic.

“Run!” I said.

Beck didn’t need to be asked twice. She bolted and I followed, weaving our way through the blue-black tunnels. Furious scrabbling, scratching at our heels told me they followed. Fast. Beck’s light flashed left, and I followed down a narrow tunnel. The maze swallowed us, welcoming us into its violent embrace. The blue glow faded, and the ache in my knees told me we were descending even farther into the belly of the liminal space. We neared the edge of the void.

“Hey!” The voice came from somewhere up ahead. “Follow me!”

Beck hesitated. I didn’t.

I grabbed her arm and dragged her forward. The breath of a hundred slavering beasts warmed our necks, and I wasn’t about to question salvation. Following the voice into deeper darkness, trusting the instinct that kept us moving forward, we found ourselves ushered through a narrow gap between sheer metal surfaces. Beck slipped through easily, but my shoulders stuck.

“Go!” I said.

This time she didn’t hesitate. I heard her scrabble away into the darkness.

Dammit.

I pushed. Bony fingers grasped my elbow and my leg. They’d caught me.

They pulled and bit. Panic welled deep in the core of my chest. My heart threatened to leap through my throat. I punched. Pulled. Kicked. Scraped forward.

My shoulder twisted farther through the gap, but that only pinned my arm. My legs burned and I pushed harder. Another junkie grabbed my foot. I kicked again, this time losing my shoe in the process. They snarled and fought each other. Blue eyes flashed in the dark.

A flared ahead, blazing orange like a tongue of fire. Its brilliance blinded me and the junkies recoiled. A strong hand gripped my shoulder and hauled me through the narrow gap.

“Come on,” said a gruff voice. He dropped a blazing flare to the floor and its fire licked at corroded steel. “Before they recover.”

I followed him, but there wasn’t far to go. Feeling our way along the wall, we located an entrance to a side passage and beyond that we entered a dimly lit chamber that smelled of old sweat and the heat of human habitation. Blank eyes stared up at us from filthy blankets on the floor. Beck stood in the center of the room, hands on her knees as if she were trying to keep from vomiting. She’d already failed at least once.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged me off and glared at me so hard hat fell off.

The man led me in and sealed the door with a heavy crossbar. He wore a torn leather coat and his beard resembled a tangled mess of wires. His dark skin was pressed with oil and grime, and when he smiled there was a gap in his perfectly white teeth.

“You going to make it?” I asked Beck.

She straightened. Something danced behind her eyes and four lines on her collarbone oozed blood. “What the hell were those people?”

“Junkies,” said the man who had rescued us. He had an odd accent I couldn’t place.

“Those weren’t run of the mill junkies,” I said.

A middle-aged woman with hair in thin braids said, “Electric mud isn’t your run-of-the-mill drug.” She held two young children close to her and looked up at us like we might bite.

The man said, “You’re lucky we heard you.”

Beck scoffed, her brave face returned with a vengeance. “They’re lucky, you mean.”

“You might have killed them, sure,” said the woman. “But electric mud can keep them going long enough to make you wish you’d never paused to think about it.”

“What’s the best way out of here?” I asked.

“Back the way you came,” the man said. “It’s a maze back there, but there are ways through.”

“Won’t they figure out where to find us?”

The woman said with a dry voice. “They’re not the thinking type.”

“You’ll want to stick around a while before you leave,” the man added. “Let things settle down.”

I gave him a sideways look and waited for him to confirm what I’d already figured out.

“And because I’m the man you were hollering for out there. I’m Maurice Ribar.”