章 196: Showcase, Part Fourteen

{Jaylin}

The intersection loomed ahead like something out of a horror story.

[Was this dumb on my part? This may have been incredibly stupid of me, to come here.] 

Jaylin's trembling fingers kept finding the letter in her pocket, playing with the expensive paper like a nervous tic.

[Well, yeah, this is either the bravest or stupidest thing I've ever done,] she thought, drawing her cloak tighter against the night chill.

The fabric didn't do much to ward off the cold, but at least it helped hide how badly she was shaking.

[Probably stupidest. No, in hindsight, definitely stupidest.]

She'd barely taken position in the middle of the intersection, boots crunching on loose gravel, when another figure emerged from the shadows. The woman seemed to materialize from the darkness itself, her emerald hair flowing like liquid jewels in the moonlight.