“So I’m security, and he’s air conditioning, is that it?” Hinata asked Candy, shouting over the band. “Anything else? What are your expectations? What is our schedule?”

  Candy widened her stance and stood tall, exuding savvy and respect, even in lacy black lingerie.

  “I have no expectations of you,” she answered. “You’ll set my expectations tonight. As for your schedule… you’re on the list until you’re off it. Right now, you’re on the list. You can come every night or at your convenience. The less often you show up, the lower down the list you fall, you get me?”

  Hinata processed this information. She looked around the room, making herself familiar with it, the dancing crowd, the booths, the brilliant lights, and the reflective black stone walls.

  “So what happens behind those doors?” Hinata asked, indicating all the closed doors along the far wall.

  Candy looked over and then back to say, “Don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to. Listen, you can sit here as long as you like, but if anybody gets rowdy, I expect you to handle it without being told. If you can’t handle it, don’t sit here. Understood?”

  Hinata nodded. “Understood.”

  Candy walked away to serve patrons, leaving Hinata and Plenty alone to wonder at their good fortune. The music was blaring, so they switched to signed communication.

  ‘This is turning out much easier than I expected,’ Hinata signed.

  ‘I know,’ Plenty responded. ‘This is incredible. We got so lucky, I’m kinda nervous, waiting for the other shoe to drop.’

  Hinata pondered and then signed, ‘You mean Winchester.’

  Plenty nodded. ‘He thinks he owns us. He might be right. We know nothing about him, except he has us exactly where he wants us. We don’t even know what he wants.’

  ‘Then we need to find out. I bet he’s a regular here. Maybe we should work the crowd?’ Hinata suggested with dread. She hated talking to strangers. And Plenty agreed.

  But as she looked up, she noticed many people were checking her out, or they were checking Plenty out; it wasn’t always clear. One man sidled up to Hinata and said, “Are you aware that you’re currently the most interesting person in the room?”

  Hinata felt a surge of social anxiety, but she swallowed it and said, “That’s awfully generous. I’m sure there are far more interesting people here than me.”

  The stranger leaned back against the bar, casually revealing a very furry chest. His clothes were expertly tailored and of fine material. “No, I’m not exaggerating. You’re hot, the both of you, with an exotic, mysterious air about you, and here you are, speaking your own little secret language. How intriguing. And possibly the most enticing quality: you’re fresh meat, unsampled. Are you two together?” the stranger asked while sipping a drink.

  “I’m Plenty. This is my wife, Hinata. And you are?”

  The man gave a self-effacing laugh. “Quite right, I’m being terribly rude! Where are my manners? I’m Heathcliff. The pleasure is all mine, I’m sure.”

  Heathcliff extended a jovial hand. Hinata shook it graciously.

  “Perhaps you can help us,” Hinata smiled. “There’s so much we don’t know about the city. It would be advantageous to make a friend.”

  “Then consider me your new best friend,” Heathcliff said.

  “Can you tell us where to find the Admissions building?” she asked. “Our daughter is adept at light magic, and we want to enroll her in college.”

  “An unregistered Luxori! That’s quite the little asset you got there. No wonder you made the list. I can tell you where to find Admissions, but if you want my advice, don’t go there.”

  Hinata was curious. “Why?”

  “If you take her to Admissions, they’ll test her and register her. If you take her directly to the Luxori manor, you might find someone willing to give her private lessons. She could grow up to be a free agent! Not at the whims, beck, and call of anyone in the Ivory Tower. Almost all the benefits of Uppercity living, plus the freedom and anonymity of Lowercity living.”

  Plenty said, “Thank you for the advice. My wife and I will have to discuss where to go next.” He took the map out of his pocket and opened it on the bar. “Can you point on this map where is Admissions, and the Luxori manor?”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Of course,” said Heathcliff. He peered over the map and then pointed at a location next to the Tower. “There’s Admissions, and… there’s Luxori Manor. It’s in the Light District. That’s this area here.”

  “Thank you,” Hinata shouted. “That’s incredibly helpful.”

  “Happy to oblige,” said Heathcliff. “It’s the neighborly thing to do, after all. And welcome to the neighborhood, by the way. To new friends and neighbors!” He lifted his drink to them and then drank enthusiastically. Plenty did the same, and Hinata found herself feeling like the odd one out.

  Plenty coughed at the spirit and then laughed at himself. “So, Heathcliff,” he began. “You must be a regular here at Strangers, is that right?”

  “Aye,” said Heathcliff.

  “Can you tell us who are all these people? Who makes the list?”

  Heathcliff shrugged. “These are folks from all over. Mostly uppercity, but lower district stewards, too, or more likely, their kids. As for who makes the list, I couldn’t say. I’m not even sure if ‘the list’ is real, or just a metaphor for ‘don’t piss off Candy.’”

  “So she owns the place?” Plenty asked.

  “Owns it? No. She runs it. I don’t know who she answers to, and I’m not fool enough to ask. Some things are better left unknown, you catch my drift?”

  Plenty and Hinata both nodded seriously. “Yeah,” he said. “I think so.”

  “Hm,” the twinkle in Heathcliff’s eyes was almost threatening. “Now tell me all about yourselves! Where did you get that marvelous accent?”

  Hinata pretended to flirt. “We’re from Vulpex. Safo, specifically.”

  “Fascinating! That’s such a mysterious part of the world. So little is known about the Vulpen Islands. Familiar memories are conspicuously forgotten. It’s quite the secret. Your mystique only grows. What is life like in that distant corner of the world? I understand the Church manages everything.”

  Hinata answered, “Most everything, yes. There are royal families, but they’re figureheads. But Plenty and I were removed from all that. We kept to ourselves. We lived on a feirm. We raised goats.” She shrugged. “I wish reality lived up to the mystery, but before we came here, our lives were boring compared to… all this.” She looked around, acting impressed.

  Heathcliff looked at the crowd and practically scowled. “This loses its shine quickly,” he said. “Almost everyone here is vapid, apathetic, just here to lose their minds and forget themselves for a night. And if you come often enough, you notice every night is the same. Little variations, but in every way that matters, the exact same. Except for the odd night when something new and exciting walks through the door. And that’s what we’re all waiting for, hoping for: for something new and exciting to come up and say, ‘Hello,’ so we can stop coming here, and waiting for someone who might never arrive.”

  His response surprised Hinata. “Who are you? Do you live in Uppercity?” she asked him, genuinely curious.

  “Ah, you caught me out!” he teased. “Yes, I live in Uppercity. As for who I am… I find it’s best to avoid family names while at Strangers. Anonymity is one of the reasons we come here, after all.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I hope that wasn’t rude of me to ask,” she exaggerated.

  “Not at all! I’m grateful such a beautiful woman took an interest in me.” He winked.

  As he said that, a fight broke out between two men on the dance floor.

  Hinata figured this was her moment, so she walked over and grabbed both men by their arms and pulled them toward the door. When one tried to hit her, she brought her arm down and slammed him to the floor. The other guy relaxed and stayed quiet. She picked the first guy up and forcibly led them both to the door.

  A third man, well-dressed and well-kept, opened the door and grabbed the first by his other arm, assisting Hinata, and together, all four of them went outside.

  The third man shouted, “Sue, eighty-six Albert. He’s acting a jackass again. I’m sick of it.”

  The guard in the box from earlier walked over and took the rowdy drunk out of Hinata’s hands, sparing her an admiring glance in the process, and half leading, half tossing him out the gate.

  Hinata released the other guy. He rubbed his arm and regarded her with a mix of fear, curiosity, and resentment.

  “What happened in there, Charlie?” the third man asked the other. They had an easy air between them, except the third man seemed to be in charge.

  Charlie was indignant. “He kept shoving me! I told him to knock it off, and he went crazy.”

  The third man regarded him, then he said, “Alright, Charlie. You can head back in, but I don’t want to have this conversation again.”

  Charlie nodded agreeably and then went back inside, leaving Hinata alone with this new stranger.

  “You smoke?” he asked her.

  “Oh, no, but I’ll join you all the same, if you like,” she said. “I could use a break from the loud music.”

  “You don’t like it?” he asked as he took out a smoke and lit it.

  “It’s incredible! I love it! But it’s a lot, and I could use a break. Besides, I get the sense we have something to say to each other,” she said. She had no idea what she was talking about, but this guy just gave an order to the doorman, and she wanted to know him better.

  The man regarded her much the way he regarded Charlie a moment earlier. He exhaled a cloud of smoke.

  “You handled yourself well in there,” he said, not sounding impressed, only observant. “What’s your name?”

  “Hinata. What’s your name?”

  “What’s your family name?” he pressed.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Your family name. Who is your clan?”

  Hinata wasn’t sure whether to breathe in or out. “I thought it was best not to share family names at Strangers?”

  The man gave her a withering stare.

  She continued, “And you haven’t even told me your first name, which is very rude, I might add.”

  He smirked. “Xavier Gato. And you are?”

  “Oh, um. Fisher. I’m Hinata Fisher.”