Traveler by Melanie Jackson Page A

can’t,” she said honestly. “And she’ll attract attention if we don’t shut her up.”
    Jack considered this point. “It’s only temporary, and you know it,” he said. “She’s going to die soonif she doesn’t get some goblin fruit. She’ll probably die even if she does get it. She’s too far gone.”
    “But we can help her now.”
    Jack looked at Io, his face unreadable. She felt naive for suggesting that they stop their own task to help an addict who would certainly turn them in for a piece of blood-fruit. But she truly could not bear looking at the poor, mad creature. There but for the grace of the goddess might have gone her mother.
    “We can’t help her,” Jack said more kindly, speaking to Io as if she were a child. “The addiction is rarely reversible. And you know that there are other dangers in dealing with a weak mind.”
    Io knew this better than anyone, having grown up with it, but she couldn’t let it go.
    They could get caught out in the street. The girl could turn them in. And Jack was a death fey. If the girl was wretched enough, given the choice, she might decide to give herself over to permanent oblivion and die in his arms. Hadn’t Io been tempted herself? And she wasn’t a junkie in withdrawal. Could she do that to Jack—make him responsible for someone’s death? It wasn’t fair—wasn’t right.
    Yet none of that mattered very much in the face of such complete suffering.
    “Please do what you can.” For the first time, Io touched Jack voluntarily. She added obliquely, “If you have to…Well, it would be a kindness. And it wouldn’t be your fault. It would be mine.”
    Jack exhaled and a small current passed from his skin to hers as he roused his magic. Io dropped her hand and stepped away before anything substantial could leak over onto her.
    “We are done here anyway. There’s nothing else to look at,” she pointed out. “Either we have the goods, or we’ll have to go into the Labyrinth to find them.”
    “ I’ll have to go into the Labyrinth,” he corrected, watching her retreat from him. His expression was annoyed. Apparently he didn’t like having his magic treated like a case of cooties. But that was just too bad for him! Io only had so much strength.
    “Just remember that nothing comes for free,” he warned her. “I work for wages, not charity. This girl is going to cost you.”
    Io answered sharply, trying to ignore the way her stomach rolled over at the implied sensual threat. “Don’t be such a bastard. You know this is the right thing to do.”
    Probably he was just teasing her. They were sort of partners now, weren’t they? He couldn’t wish to harm her.
    Of course, it was a little early in the relationship to be guessing about what he might consider harmful.
    “Nevertheless, there is a price. I doubt it’ll be high enough, though, since I’m not the total bastard you think me. I knew that I was going to regret getting involved with you,” he added, sotto voce, pulling onhis invisibility and opening the door. Then, louder, “The coast is clear. You coming, softheart? May as well see what you’ll be paying for.”
    “I’m coming.”
    Io slipped out of the lab and closed the door behind her. The sample vials of perfume and cream she had taken clinked softly in her pockets as she walked. She had removed one of everything they’d found. Not being able to smell with her breather in place, short of rubbing each item on her skin she had no way of knowing which samples might contain the magic-charged elixir that had been aerosolized into the ventilation system of The Madhouse.
    She stopped at the top of the staircase and peered after Jack. The stairwell was tight, twisted, and very dark.
    “This has to violate fire code,” she muttered, starting after him.
    “Write your congressman.” The floating voice was growing faint, so Io hurried after it.

Chapter Six
    Jack knew a whole lot more about Io Cyphre than he had the day before, and it had