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spirit in this box. . . .”
    “With your very special power over the dead,” Gillis finished breathlessly.
    “Yes.” He tried to inject confidence into the single word.
    “Amazing.”
    It was good that Gillis needed no further convincing—he was a believer from the start. That made everything much easier. After this, whatever creaking or knocking heard in the middle of the night that had disturbed the Gillis family enough to seek his help would be considered nothing more than what they actually were: knocks and creaks in a large house on the edge of a tall, windy cliff.
    Maddox sensed no actual spirits here, only a family of rich cowards. But to admit this would be to forfeit payment.
    He held the box in his hand and closed his eyes.
    “Come to me, spirit of the dark. Leave these good people alone. Come to me. Come to me now.”
    He waited a few moments, then tapped into the ability he knew he
could
easily control, which was to summon a shadow from the corner of the room, drawing it toward him in a ribbon of darkness. The shadow swirled in front of him in a dramatic display before he drew it fully into the box.
    He closed the lid to trap it inside.
    “It is done,” he said solemnly.
    Gillis stared at him with utter amazement, which was a completely normal reaction. The trick had impressed many over the three years Maddox and Livius had been traveling together, separating many lords and nobles from their gold.
    “Incredible,” Gillis said with awe.
    “Your worries are now at an end,” Livius said. “The spirit has been successfully removed from your home, and we shall dispose of it so it will never trouble you again.”
    Gillis clasped his hands. “Much gratitude, kind sir. To you and your incredible son.”
    I’m not his son
, Maddox thought darkly.
I’m nothing more than a slave to him.
    A slave he could use to make enough coin to pay back the moneylenders to whom Livius owed a small fortune. Livius had once been a gambler, one with very bad luck. The last time Livius hadn’t been able to make a payment, one of the moneylenders had taken his left eye as punishment.
    “No gratitude necessary,” Livius replied. “Except, of course, the second half of the fee that we agreed upon.”
    “Yes, of course. Of course! Please, follow me.”
    Maddox turned toward the entrance to see that a girl now stood by the golden archway leading into the huge room. She gazed around, her eyes wide.
    “Don’t worry,” he told her. “The spirit is gone.”
    She stared at him. “What?”
    Likely, she was Gillis’s daughter. Though, Maddox thought, she really was far too lovely to be the daughter of such an ugly man. Perhaps her mother was a rare beauty. The girl’s clothing was unusual, to say the least. The top half of her ensemble was made from wool, but was dyed an incredibly unnatural, bright shade of rose. And he’d never seen a girl wearing trousers before. These trousers were not the baggy style that Mytican men wore; they were close-fitting and made from some sort of finely woven blue material. He forced himself to stop gawking at her long, lean legs.
    “Who are you talking to?” Livius growled at him.
    He nodded toward the entryway. “The girl.”
    “
What
girl?”
    Maddox blinked. “Lord Gillis, your daughter. . . .”
    Gillis shook his head. “No daughter. I have only sons, andthey’re out for the day at the festival. Now, come with me, both of you. I will pay you and we will part ways as good friends.”
    The girl still stood by the entrance, looking around at the large room as if seeing it for the first time and finding it horribly confusing.
    “Where am I?” she asked Maddox. “I—I found myself out in the garden a few minutes ago. How did I get here?”
    Lord Gillis approached the girl, but as he got closer, he didn’t slow down, nor did he acknowledge her presence. Maddox opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, the lord walked right into her.
    No, he didn’t