Everywhere Inesa turned, she thought she saw him. A flash of black. A streak of blonde. It was never him. Aisle after aisle, she walked until the market began to empty and day bled into night.

  “What’s a pretty girl like you doing out here alone?” a man asked, stepping out of the shadows clinging to the edges of the stalls. “Are you lost? I could help you find your way.” His grin told her exactly what he intended.

  Inesa turned on her heel and ran. His laughter rang out behind her, chasing her through the empty aisle.

  She ran until she could hardly breathe, only slowing when she reached the opposite end of the market. Here, a few stall keepers were still packing up for the night. They barely glanced up at her as she passed.

  “Excuse me,” Inesa said, stopping a kindly-looking lady. “Can you tell me where I might find the nearest inn?”

  The woman sized her up. “Go that way,” she said, pointing at the main road leading out of the market. “Then take a right at the first corner. You’ll see the sign out front.”

  Inesa thanked her and hurried on.

  More people moved in the shadows, but she was careful not to make eye contact and keep her bag close. If the inn wouldn’t take her, she didn’t know what she was going to do.

  She found the place exactly where the woman had said. It was a small building in need of a new coat of paint, some window shutters, and if Inesa was being honest, probably a new roof as well. Despite all the disrepair, it seemed to be popular enough. From out on the street, she could hear the occasional strains of music mixed in with conversation and laughter.

  The minute she stepped foot inside the front door, her mouth began watering from the scent of freshly baked bread and roasted meats. Inesa scanned the room, looking for the innkeeper. The place was crowded with mismatched tables and chairs that, like the outside of the building, had seen better days. Servants weaved expertly between them, bringing meals and drinks to their patrons. Through all the hubbub, Inesa spotted the man who must own this place, watching over the barely controlled chaos from behind a counter.

  He swiped a rag down the length of the wood surface and then shouted orders over his shoulder at someone in the kitchen. His voice was lost among those of the crowd.

  Inesa squeezed her way up to the counter, narrowly avoiding a collision with one of the servers, balancing two overlarge trays.

  “Excuse me,” she said.

  The man didn’t seem to hear her.

  “Excuse me,” Inesa said again, rapping her knuckles against the wood.

  The innkeeper turned around and squinted at her. “What can I do for you?”

  “Do you have any open rooms?”

  “No, all booked for the night. Try again tomorrow.”

  Her heart sank. She didn’t want to go back out into the night and search for another inn. “What about the stables? Could I stay there?”

  “You paying?”

  “Well—”

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  The man’s eyes narrowed. “If you aren’t paying, you can’t stay. That’s the rules. I’m running a business here, not a charity.”

  “But I could work. I see you are quite busy. Maybe you could use another pair of hands.” It was her last hope.

  The man stared at her some more before finally saying, “What can you do?”

  “I can cook, clean, serve. Whatever you need.”

  She had never served in her life, but he didn’t need to know that. It couldn’t be too hard to pick it up if that’s what he wanted her to do. She would do almost anything to keep from having another encounter like the one with the man from the shadows.

  “I suppose. We are short-staffed after my best server disappeared with one of my stable boys. How about this? You clean up the tables and help out my servers, and if you do well enough, you can stay in the stables for the night.”

  It was the best she could hope for. She could always find something else tomorrow if she didn’t find the boy.

  “Done.”

  “Put your things over there and get started.” He pointed to a corner in the back of the kitchen, out of the way of most traffic.

  Inesa was reluctant to leave the book out in the open where anyone could grab it, but she really didn’t have a choice. She dropped her things, someone shoved a rag into her hands, and she got to work.

  The night passed in a blur. When she’d arrived at the inn, she’d been exhausted, but after hours of working, she was dead on her feet.

  When the last of the tables had been cleared, the innkeeper gave her a bowl of leftover stew and directed her to the stables. Inesa didn’t even remember eating. She found a quiet corner filled with sweet-smelling straw and fell asleep.

  The next morning, Inesa was awakened by a stable boy.

  “Innkeeper says you can eat this,” he said, holding a bowl out to her, “and then you have to go. If you want to stay another night, come back this evening for the dinner shift.”

  Inesa thanked him. With any luck, she would find the boy today, and she wouldn’t need to stay here another night.

  She quickly finished her breakfast, returned the bowl to the kitchen, and was on her way.

  Her best bet of finding the boy again would probably be the market, she decided. He had said something yesterday about having business there. Even if she couldn’t find him, perhaps she could find another from his group.

  She set off for the market and spent the day wandering the aisles while the stall keepers watched her with suspicious eyes every time she passed.

  By midafternoon, there was still no sign of the boy or any whisper of someone belonging to his group. She had to face that she might be spending another night working at the inn if she wanted to continue looking for him.

  Before Inesa knew it, a week had gone by, and she still had nothing to show for it. The innkeeper had upgraded her to a small room inside the inn instead of the stable, but she hadn't found the mysterious black-robed boy.

  Inesa was starting to lose hope.

  Maybe she was wasting her time when she should have been searching the book for clues. If she didn't find anyone by the end of today, she would move on, she decided. The regular patrons had been leaving her tips, so she had a little money now. It wasn't enough to get herself back to the farm, but it might get her at least part of the way, and she could walk the rest if she had to.

  As with all the previous days, Inesa spent her time wandering the market, but once again, it proved fruitless. Before she headed back to the inn for her nightly shift, she decided to check the street outside the market where she’d first run into the boy. It might make her late for her shift, but if this was the last time working at the inn, it would hardly matter.

  She strolled along the street, taking her time to watch the people around her. Most were from the everyday working class, and she could pick out a few like herself who weren't from the city. There was no one dressed in a black robe.

  She reached the end of the street and turned around, already thinking of how best to spend her money to reach home as fast as possible.

  If the innkeeper noticed her tardiness, he didn't say anything as she grabbed an apron and headed into the dining area to take orders.

  Two hours flew by, and the dining room filled to maximum capacity. She was clearing off one of the tables and tucking the few coins they’d left into her pocket when the front door opened.

  At first, she took no notice because there was constant traffic in and out at this hour. Then Inesa heard him speak.

  In a flash, she was across the room.

  "I've been looking everywhere for you," she said.

  He still wore the black robe she’d seen him in the first time. When he lifted a hand to brush back a piece of hair that had fallen into his face, his sleeve slid down to reveal a small circular tattoo on his wrist.

  "Funny," the blonde-haired boy said, "I could say the same about you."