Star

Chapter 4- The Underground

and the world became a kaleidoscope of colours, lights and flying shadows. It was like a thousand voices speaking at once, haggling, selling, wandering. Star spun, but the door was no longer there and she bumped into a man with eyes made of light. She was in the middle of apologising when a hand grabbed her sharply by the elbow and tugged her away.

"Don't talk to anyone here," Coal hissed, dragging her away. "And do not, under any circumstances, tell anyone your name."

Star was busy gaping at the stalls around, it was like Yaba market but...more. There were men and women advertising bright potions with spells that were guaranteed to make any man, or woman, or animal, fall in love with her. A young girl around Star's age was selling bracelets that could make you fly, and for half price as well. An old man with only one arm was shouting through the air, advertising his candles that could stay lit forever and, for a bonus, they could also levitate in the air, following the holder.

"How come there're no prices?" Star noted. "How much are these things?"

Coal was looking around, trying to find the path to the Witches of Auchi. The Underground was always shifting, always moving, like a large stubborn creature that...oh, the girl had asked him a question.

"You don't pay for things in The Underground with money," he said absentmindedly.

Star looked at the potions. "Then what do you pay with?"

Coal looked at her. "Money is...good, I guess. But how valuable is it?" he asked. "There are tons of it in the economy. Your self is the most valuable thing in the universe; there's only one of it. That's what you pay with in The Underground: your lust, pride, anger, drive...even memories. You pay with a part of your self."

Star looked at him and then the stalls but she didn't say anything, the words had buried themselves in her throat.

A creature that looked like a large bird with bright red and white wings flew down in middle of the walkway, nobody paid attention to it and just continued with their business. It observed the ground and looked up at Star.

"What's that?" Star asked, pointing.

Coal sighed and pulled her hand down, "and definitely don't point. Tell me, are you trying to die?" He looked up with cautious eyes at the bird. "That's a Yezulu, they're creatures of darkness with lightning in their wings. They guard the Seekers' Havens, it's odd to see one outside like this, though.

"It's said that they can see the future in a person's soul, and appear at moments of great change."

"Is that good or bad?" Star asked. The Yezulu was still staring at her. There was something in the dark eyes it used to look at her, something in the swathing colours of hell on its wings. It felt dark, it felt dangerous but it also felt glorious, and beautiful.

"Change can be both," Coal said, slowly dragging her away as he kept a steel eye on the Yezulu.

The bird, unimpressed, cawed, flapped its wings and flew into the air, disappearing in a boom of thunder into thin air.

"Wow," mouthed Star.

She shook herself back to the present as they walked, Coal expertly manoeuvring them around the thick crowd, dodging bystanders and hagglers alike, and there were many of them. Almost too many to count, it made Star wonder how the place had so many people and still managed to smell like they were still outside. Fresh air blew from an unseen place and she was glad for it, some of these people looked like they hadn't had a bath in years.

As they walked, they were approached by sellers who, rightly assuming that Star was new to the scene, wanted to make a quick killing. They tried to offer her more bracelets that would make her fly, earrings that would allow her hear for hundreds and hundreds of miles, a magic potion that would make her taller and be twenty-five for a hundred years. And it was fine if she didn't have any of her self to pay, one man with dirty teeth and ravenous eyes had said, she could also pay with other methods.