Finally, Rhia led Jack off the horrible bus creature. Jack felt almost ready to kiss the ground, had it not been covered with glass shards, burnt paper tubes, and patches of gray scum. He felt a sudden stab of longing for the forests, fields and shining caves of Faerie. This place, with its metal and clay buildings marked with strange sigils seemed like an eerie dream.

The bus reached their stop, and Rhia led Jack off. Most people would call this place a slum or ghetto, but Rhia liked it. It didn’t pretend to be anything other than it was. Although the ground was covered with broken bottles, cigarette butts, and spit-out gum, and although the buildings were old and grafittied, she felt at home among the urban decay. She began walking towards a pawn shop she’d been to a couple times before, and which had the reputation of fair deals with a certain flexibility towards the law.

As she passed an alley, a figure melted out of the shadows and greasily slid in front of them.

“Hey baby, how much are you?” asked the figure, which Rhia now recognized as a local part-time dealer and full-time sleazeball, named Joey.

“Not for sale, lardbrain.”

“I wouldn’t want a thing like you, anyway,” he said defensively.

“Uh-huh. Get bent, Joey. Go harass some sixth graders.”

“Or maybe you want to buy?” Joey persisted, “Got some excellent stuff, pure Colombian-”

“Fuck the hell off! You know I’m not interested!” She attempted to brush past him.

“You know you wanna,” he said in a sing-song voice, and seized her wrists, but before he could make another move, Rhia found herself bowled over onto the concrete, and Joey found himself pressed against the brick wall, Jack pressing an elaborate silver dagger to his throat.

“Peace man, peace! No trouble!” Joey babbled.

“My Lady said she wasn’t interested. Remember thou that,” Jack hissed, releasing Joey. Joey ran for the dark alley, and Jack turned to help Rhia back to her feet.

“What did he want?” Jack asked. Rhia was stunned that a warrior with lightning reflexes seemed to live beneath Jack’s perpetually confused skin.

“They call it the world’s oldest profession….”

“Ah! In my time… you aren’t-?”

“No, no. A prick like Joey just doesn’t understand any girl who isn’t.”

“And what was he trying to sell you, that was Comulbian?”

Rhia sighed. “Columbian. It’s cocaine.”

“Cocaine?” questioned Jack as they continued to walk.

“A drug. It makes you feel powerful and happy.”

“That sounds good! I have felt so weak since they stripped me of my magic!” said Jack with misguided enthusiasm.

“I’m not sure if I should let you live on your own,” said Rhia with a sad laugh.

As with many other bewildering points from this strange world, he let it go.

After a few more minutes of walking, they reached a small store with a flickering neon sign that read ‘P wn Shop.’ A bell tinkled as they walked through the door.

“Welcome to Anderson’s Pawn Shop and Gold and Silver Exchange, what brings you here?” asked the man behind the counter.

“We’ve got some gold we’d like to exchange for cash,” said Rhia, trying to stay calm while thinking about the sheer amount of gold in Jack’s bag.

“Let me see,” said the man.

“I’d like to continue this in the back room,” said Rhia.

“C’mon, little girl, nobody’s gonna swipe your bracelet or whatever you’ve got, give it here.”

“Back room,” Rhia demanded.

The man rolled his eyes, clearly just humoring the little girl who didn’t understand the value of things, and unlocked a door on the back wall. Jack and Rhia followed him into what seemed to be a refurbished closet, filled with odd scales and jeweler’s tools, with a steel table and spotlight absorbing most of the space.

“So show me this precious gold,” the man sneered.

Jack poured the contents of the bad onto the table. Several pieces bounced off the table and cascaded to the floor with weighty clinking sounds. The pawn shop man’s key dropped to the floor as he stared, slack-jawed, at the hoard.

“Holy shit,” he said.