Aug. 3, 2025

Night Market (Part 2) - "The Price Of Wonder"

Night Market (Part 2) - "The Price Of Wonder"

Ava returns to the night market after twenty-eight agonizing days of withdrawal, but this time she sees the horror beneath the wonder—customers connected by silver threads to a massive web, tended by an ancient entity called the Collector. Despite Kieran's desperate warnings and his revelation that he's trapped as the market's unwilling servant, Ava trades her sense of home for nostalgia honey that contains writhing memories.

As she experiences concentrated perfection from her past, she feels the memories being consumed by something else, and a silver thread emerges from her chest, connecting her permanently to the Collector's web. Now marked as property by a vast predatory presence that speaks directly into her mind, Ava flees back to the ordinary world—but the whispers follow her home, and she realizes that something is coming to collect what it's owed, whether she returns to the market or not.

To become a premium subscriber (no ads and no feed drops) visit caloroga.com/plus. For Apple users, hit the banner on your Apple podcasts app which seays UNINTERRUPTED LISTENING. For Spotify or other players, visit caloroga.com/plus. You also get 25+ other shows on the network ad-free! Go to Caloroga.com for all our shows!

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.160 --> 00:00:16.839
Caleroga Shark Media.

2
00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:14.919
Welcome to the Night Market, a special Romance Weekly and

3
00:00:15.039 --> 00:00:20.039
Ghost Scary Stories crossover event. This is episode two, The

4
00:00:20.120 --> 00:00:21.039
Price of Wonder.

5
00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:29.320
Twenty eight days. I'd counted them down like a prisoner,

6
00:00:29.399 --> 00:00:33.479
marking time. Each sunrise another small death as the honey's

7
00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:37.399
memory faded further from my tongue. The article I'd written

8
00:00:37.399 --> 00:00:41.280
that first night had sparked something. My editor wanted more

9
00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:44.719
pieces like it. Readers were sharing it across social media,

10
00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:47.560
and for the first time in months, I felt like

11
00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:51.640
maybe I could salvage my career. But the words wouldn't come.

12
00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:56.479
Every morning, I sat at my laptop, fingers poised over

13
00:00:56.600 --> 00:01:00.960
keys that might as well have been foreign symbols. The

14
00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:04.920
blank document mocked me, cursor blinking like a slow heartbeat.

15
00:01:05.879 --> 00:01:11.640
I'd tried everything, visiting new restaurants, experimenting with exotic ingredients,

16
00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:16.120
even attempting to recreate the flavors from my grandmother's old recipes.

17
00:01:17.239 --> 00:01:23.640
Nothing worked, food tasted like cardboard, experiences felt flat and colorless,

18
00:01:24.159 --> 00:01:26.599
and the world around me seemed drained of all meaning.

19
00:01:27.719 --> 00:01:32.079
The bells had gotten worse. What started as a distant chime.

20
00:01:32.120 --> 00:01:35.519
I could almost convince myself was imaginary had become a

21
00:01:35.599 --> 00:01:41.079
constant presence. They followed me through grocery stores, whispered through

22
00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:44.359
my apartment walls at night, echoed in the space between

23
00:01:44.439 --> 00:01:48.799
raindrops during Seattle's endless drizzle. Other people didn't seem to

24
00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:51.719
hear them. I'd even asked the barista at my usual

25
00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:54.959
coffee shop if she noticed anything strange, and she'd looked

26
00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:58.000
at me like I was losing my mind. Maybe I was.

27
00:01:59.079 --> 00:02:03.840
By day fifteen, I was jumping at shadows. By day twenty,

28
00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:09.560
I'd stopped leaving my apartment except for absolute necessities, and

29
00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:13.599
by day twenty five I was barely sleeping because the

30
00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:19.439
bells had developed a pattern, three slow chimes followed by silence,

31
00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:26.080
then three more like a countdown, like something was measuring

32
00:02:26.159 --> 00:02:31.599
time until it could collect what it was owed. On

33
00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:34.840
day twenty seven, I called in sick to a restaurant

34
00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:38.479
review because the thought of pretending to taste anything made

35
00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:43.000
me physically ill. I spent the entire day pacing my apartment,

36
00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:47.240
checking the locks, obsessively, drawing the curtains tight against a

37
00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:51.159
sun that hurt my eyes. The bells were so loud

38
00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:56.599
now that they drowned out traffic television, even my own thoughts.

39
00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:02.120
When I looked in the mirror, my reflection seemed wrong, somehow, thinner,

40
00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:06.360
more translucent, like I was fading from the inside out.

41
00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:13.919
And tonight, finally, mercifully, tonight, the moon would disappear entirely

42
00:03:13.960 --> 00:03:18.719
from the sky. I arrived at Pine and Melrose three

43
00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:21.840
hours early, sitting in my car like some kind of

44
00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:26.199
supernatural stalker. The alley looked exactly as it had for

45
00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:32.879
the past month, empty, ordinary, disappointing. But as darkness fell

46
00:03:33.240 --> 00:03:35.960
and the last sliver of moon faded from view, I

47
00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:39.960
felt it a shift in the air, a change in

48
00:03:39.960 --> 00:03:44.120
the quality of shadows. The temperature dropped ten degrees in

49
00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:47.520
an instant, and my breath began to fog. Despite the

50
00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:53.120
mild October evening, the bells stopped ringing. The silence was

51
00:03:53.159 --> 00:03:56.879
somehow worse than the sound had been. It pressed against

52
00:03:56.879 --> 00:04:01.759
my ear drums like water, thick and soft, vocating, And

53
00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:07.080
then cutting through that terrible quiet, came something that might

54
00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:09.439
have been music, or might have been the sound of

55
00:04:09.479 --> 00:04:14.080
reality tearing at its seams. The light appeared at eleven

56
00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:19.000
forty seven pm, exactly spilling from that impossible gap between

57
00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:23.879
buildings like liquid gold. But this time I noticed things

58
00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:29.319
I'd missed before. The light didn't just spill, it writhed,

59
00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:34.199
moving with deliberate purpose, reaching toward me with tendrils that

60
00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:38.800
looked almost like fingers. The shadows it cast were too dark,

61
00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:44.519
too deep, and they moved independently of their sources. I

62
00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:48.920
was moving before i'd consciously decided to, drawn by sense

63
00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:52.399
that made my mouth water and my chest ache with longing.

64
00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:57.040
But underneath the familiar aromas of cardamom and star annis,

65
00:04:57.839 --> 00:05:02.399
I caught something else, something metallic and bitter that made

66
00:05:02.439 --> 00:05:07.439
my stomach clench with unease. The market had changed. New

67
00:05:07.519 --> 00:05:11.240
stools lined the twisted pathways, their wares glowing with inner

68
00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:15.600
light that pulsed like a heartbeat. A woman with butterfly

69
00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:19.519
wings that left trails of silver dust sold bottled laughter

70
00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:24.600
that sparkled like champagne, But when I looked closer, the

71
00:05:24.639 --> 00:05:30.360
bottles contained what looked suspiciously like tears. An ancient man

72
00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:35.279
whose skin looked like tree bark offered first memories the

73
00:05:35.319 --> 00:05:38.199
moment a baby opens its eyes and sees the world,

74
00:05:39.079 --> 00:05:42.000
But his display case was filled with empty eyed dolls

75
00:05:42.079 --> 00:05:45.959
that tracked my movement as I passed children who might

76
00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:50.120
have been there for centuries or minutes, traded in perfect conversations,

77
00:05:51.160 --> 00:05:54.519
but their voices carried an echo that made my teeth ache,

78
00:05:55.360 --> 00:05:59.439
and when they smiled, their teeth were too sharp, too numerous.

79
00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:03.240
But it was the customers that made my blood run cold.

80
00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:07.639
What I'd taken for drowsy contentment on my first visit

81
00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:13.439
now revealed itself as something far more sinister. They didn't

82
00:06:13.480 --> 00:06:18.959
move like sleepwalkers. They moved like marionettes, jerky and unnatural,

83
00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:23.839
as if something else was pulling their strings. A woman

84
00:06:23.959 --> 00:06:27.399
in expensive clothes stood at a stool selling perfect beauty,

85
00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:31.839
but her face was gaunt, hollowed out, and when she

86
00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:35.959
turned her head, it moved too far, rotating at an

87
00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:41.079
angle that should have been impossible. A man clutched a

88
00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:44.800
jar of confidence to his chest, but his hands shook

89
00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:49.079
and his eyes darted constantly, and I realized, with growing

90
00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:54.399
horror that he wasn't holding the jar. It was holding him.

91
00:06:54.600 --> 00:06:58.920
Thin silver threads extended from the lid, wrapping around his

92
00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:02.399
fingers like puppet strings, and every time he tried to

93
00:07:02.439 --> 00:07:06.480
set it down, the threads tightened and pulled his hands

94
00:07:06.519 --> 00:07:13.800
back up. They're not customers, I whispered to myself, the

95
00:07:13.879 --> 00:07:19.199
realization hitting me like a physical blow. They're livestock. But

96
00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:23.199
Kiran's stall remained exactly where I remembered it, honey jars

97
00:07:23.240 --> 00:07:27.160
glowing like captured sunsets. He looked up as I approached,

98
00:07:27.879 --> 00:07:35.079
and something crossed his face. Relief, disappointment, terror. You came back,

99
00:07:35.439 --> 00:07:39.680
he said, voice soft as midnight rain, but carrying an

100
00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:45.439
undertone I hadn't noticed before, fear. Did you think I wouldn't.

101
00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:50.480
I hoped you wouldn't. His storm gray eyes held mine

102
00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:53.879
with an intensity that made my knees weak. But now

103
00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:58.879
I could see something else there. Desperation. The market doesn't

104
00:07:58.920 --> 00:08:03.079
give gifts without act, affecting payment eventually, and the interest

105
00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:09.920
he swallowed hard. The interest compounds quickly. Then it's a

106
00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:13.360
good thing I brought my wallet, I said, trying for lightness,

107
00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:19.439
but hearing the desperation in my own voice. Kieran didn't smile. Instead,

108
00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:24.240
he gestured to the other customers wandering between stalls. Look

109
00:08:24.279 --> 00:08:29.279
at them, ava really look. I followed his gaze and

110
00:08:29.319 --> 00:08:32.600
felt my stomach drop. The woman at the beauty stool

111
00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:36.960
wasn't just gaunt. Parts of her were missing where her

112
00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:40.279
left eye should have been was empty socket that seemed

113
00:08:40.279 --> 00:08:44.840
to contain swirling darkness. The man with the confidence jar

114
00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:47.799
had no shadow, and when he opened his mouth to

115
00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:51.440
speak to a vendor, no sound came out, like his

116
00:08:51.559 --> 00:08:55.600
voice had been stolen. But worse than the missing pieces

117
00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:00.559
were the things that had been added, silver threads from

118
00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:05.320
every customer, connecting them to their purchases, like umbilical cords,

119
00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:09.759
and those threads all led back to the same place,

120
00:09:10.840 --> 00:09:13.720
a massive web that hung in the shadows between stalls,

121
00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:18.200
tended by something I couldn't quite see, but desperately didn't

122
00:09:18.200 --> 00:09:23.919
want to. What happened to them? I whispered, they traded?

123
00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:27.759
Kieran said, simply, the market always collects what it's owed,

124
00:09:27.879 --> 00:09:32.480
one way or another. And once you're connected, he gestured

125
00:09:32.519 --> 00:09:35.960
to the silver threads, you become part of the collection.

126
00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:41.000
A chill ran down my spine, but it was overwhelmed

127
00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:46.519
by the desperate hunger clawing at my chest. I could

128
00:09:46.519 --> 00:09:50.120
feel the emptiness inside me, like a physical wound, and

129
00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:55.519
I knew, knew with absolute certainty, that only another taste

130
00:09:55.559 --> 00:09:59.919
of that impossible honey could fill it. The bells might

131
00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.759
I stopped, but they'd been replaced by something worse. A

132
00:10:04.840 --> 00:10:07.960
whispering in the back of my mind that sounded like

133
00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:13.440
my own voice but spoke words I'd never thought. You

134
00:10:13.559 --> 00:10:18.759
need it. The voice whispered, You'll die without it. Look

135
00:10:18.759 --> 00:10:23.600
how gray you've become, how lifeless you're already dead, you

136
00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:28.519
just haven't stopped breathing yet. I need it, I said aloud,

137
00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:34.000
abandoning any pretense of dignity. Whatever the price is, I'll

138
00:10:34.039 --> 00:10:40.200
pay it. Kieran's expression grew pained. Behind him, the honey

139
00:10:40.320 --> 00:10:43.279
jars pulsed with their own light, and I could swear

140
00:10:43.320 --> 00:10:48.600
I heard them calling my name, Ava, Please. The word

141
00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:52.960
came out as a broken whisper. I can't. I can't

142
00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:56.799
live like this. Everything is gray and flat and meaningless.

143
00:10:57.440 --> 00:10:59.879
I haven't been able to write, to taste, to feel

144
00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:02.679
like anything real since that night. I need what you

145
00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:08.000
gave me. The whispering in my head grew louder, more insistent.

146
00:11:08.919 --> 00:11:13.279
He wants you to beg they all do. Show him

147
00:11:13.320 --> 00:11:16.399
how much you need it, show him you'll do anything.

148
00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:22.320
For a long moment, he just stared at me. Then,

149
00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:26.679
with the careful movements of someone handling something incredibly dangerous,

150
00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:31.399
he reached for a different jar. This one contained honey

151
00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:35.679
that swirled with ribbons of gold and amber, beautiful enough

152
00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:39.600
to make my chest ache. But as he lifted it,

153
00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:43.960
I noticed something that made my blood freeze. There were

154
00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:48.240
things moving in the honey, tiny writhing shapes that looked

155
00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:54.120
almost like memories. Kiran said, quietly, following my gaze. This

156
00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:58.039
is nostalgia, honey. It tastes like every perfect moment from

157
00:11:58.120 --> 00:12:04.559
your past, concentrated and purified. But the price, he hesitated,

158
00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:09.840
and I saw his hands shake slightly. The price is homesickness,

159
00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:15.759
your ability to feel settled content in any place. You'll

160
00:12:15.799 --> 00:12:18.759
always be searching for somewhere you can never find again.

161
00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:30.120
I should have asked questions, should have demanded to understand

162
00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:34.279
exactly what I was trading away, But the whispering in

163
00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:37.360
my head had become a raw, and the tiny shapes

164
00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:40.919
in the honey were reaching toward me, pressing against the

165
00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:45.679
glass like they knew I was there. They're your memories,

166
00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:49.919
the voice explained, with sick sweetness, pieces of you that

167
00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:53.480
are already gone. He's just showing you what you've lost.

168
00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:58.720
Take them back, take them all back. I'll take it,

169
00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:04.159
I said, without hazard. Kieran's jaw tightened, but he dipped

170
00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:07.519
a silver spoon into the jar. The honey clung to

171
00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:10.919
it like liquid light, and the tiny shape swarmed toward

172
00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:14.480
the spoon, clustering around it in a mass that pulsed

173
00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:18.240
with their own heartbeat. I could swear I heard it humming,

174
00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:22.360
a frequency that resonated in my bones and made my

175
00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:28.360
teeth ache with anticipation. Wait, he said, as I leaned forward.

176
00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:32.600
Before you do this, you should know I'm not just

177
00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:36.679
a vendor here. I'm bound to this place, trapped by

178
00:13:36.759 --> 00:13:40.840
debts I can never fully repay. I've been watching people

179
00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:45.360
like you for longer than you can imagine. And he

180
00:13:45.399 --> 00:13:49.200
looked away, jaw working like he was fighting with himself.

181
00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:54.159
I don't want to see you become like them? Then

182
00:13:54.200 --> 00:13:58.559
why offer it to me? Because if I don't, someone

183
00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:03.480
else will. They won't warn you first. His voice dropped

184
00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:07.440
to a whisper. And because every person I don't help

185
00:14:07.559 --> 00:14:10.440
feed to this place means another day of my own punishment.

186
00:14:12.200 --> 00:14:15.399
The honesty in his voice made something flutter in my chest.

187
00:14:16.039 --> 00:14:20.960
Separate from the hunger. There was genuine pain there, genuine concern,

188
00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:24.879
but it wasn't enough to overcome the desperate need that

189
00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:29.000
had been eating me alive for twenty eight days. I

190
00:14:29.080 --> 00:14:32.679
opened my mouth, the honey touched my tongue, and the

191
00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:37.000
world exploded into memory. I was seven years old in

192
00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:40.759
my grandmother's kitchen, flour dusting every surface as we made

193
00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:46.480
Christmas cookies. I was sixteen, tasting my first real croissant

194
00:14:46.519 --> 00:14:50.360
in a tiny cafe in Portland, understanding for the first

195
00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:54.799
time that food could be art. I was twenty two,

196
00:14:55.600 --> 00:14:58.960
writing my first restaurant review and feeling like I'd found

197
00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:03.960
my calling. But this time I could feel what was happening.

198
00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:08.320
As each memory played out. They weren't just being recalled.

199
00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:12.559
They were being extracted, pulled from the deepest parts of

200
00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:16.000
my mind, and consumed by something that tasted them along

201
00:15:16.039 --> 00:15:20.559
with me. Every perfect moment I'd ever experience flooded through

202
00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:24.519
me at once, but as they passed, I felt them

203
00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:29.200
becoming hollow, empty shells that would never again carry the

204
00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:34.399
same emotional weight. And as the honey dissolved on my tongue,

205
00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:39.159
I felt something else dissolving too, the comfortable feeling of

206
00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:43.159
being home in my apartment, the satisfaction of a quiet

207
00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:49.759
evening alone, the simple pleasure of familiar surroundings. They drained

208
00:15:49.759 --> 00:15:53.840
away like water through a broken glass, leaving behind a

209
00:15:53.879 --> 00:15:58.240
hollow ache I couldn't name. But worse than the loss

210
00:15:58.840 --> 00:16:03.080
was what took its place. A silver thread, thin as

211
00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:07.320
spider silk emerged from my chest and stretched back toward

212
00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:11.639
the shadows between stalls. I watched in horror as it

213
00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:15.840
connected to the massive web i'd seen earlier, and suddenly

214
00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:19.279
I could feel everything it touched, the desperate hunger of

215
00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:24.000
every other customer, the cold satisfaction of whatever tended the web,

216
00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:28.559
and underneath it all a vast and terrible presence that

217
00:16:28.679 --> 00:16:31.440
regarded me with the interest of a child examining a

218
00:16:31.480 --> 00:16:37.720
new toy. Welcome, something whispered directly into my mind, and

219
00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:42.960
the voice was old and patient and infinitely hungry. We've

220
00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:46.559
been waiting for you. I was still crying when the

221
00:16:46.600 --> 00:16:50.679
honey's effects began to fade, but now the tears felt different,

222
00:16:51.480 --> 00:16:56.480
not joy, but loss, a bone deep longing for something

223
00:16:56.559 --> 00:17:01.240
I couldn't identify, some perfect place that existed only in

224
00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:05.799
the space between memory and dream. And underneath the longing

225
00:17:05.960 --> 00:17:09.839
was terror, because I could feel that presence watching me,

226
00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:14.440
measuring me, calculating exactly how much more I could give

227
00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:19.000
before there was nothing left. What did you do to me?

228
00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:23.839
I whispered. Kieran's expression was full of regret, but also relief,

229
00:17:24.319 --> 00:17:26.880
like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, even

230
00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:30.240
as a heavier one settled on mine. I gave you

231
00:17:30.279 --> 00:17:33.240
what you asked for and took what the market demanded

232
00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:38.039
in return. Around us, the market seemed brighter, more vivid.

233
00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:42.039
The other customer's hollow expressions made perfect sense.

234
00:17:42.119 --> 00:17:42.359
Now.

235
00:17:43.160 --> 00:17:46.200
They were all searching for pieces of themselves they'd traded away,

236
00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:49.680
following silver threads that led back to a web that

237
00:17:49.720 --> 00:17:52.880
would never let them go. The woman at the beauty

238
00:17:52.920 --> 00:17:56.319
stool was running her hands over her face, looking for

239
00:17:56.359 --> 00:17:59.599
features that were no longer there. The man with the

240
00:17:59.640 --> 00:18:04.079
comfortdance jar was checking his reflection in every shiny surface,

241
00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:08.680
seeing someone he no longer recognized. And they were all

242
00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:12.799
connected to the same web, all feeding the same hungry

243
00:18:12.839 --> 00:18:15.519
presence that I could now feel in the back of

244
00:18:15.559 --> 00:18:20.559
my mind like a tumor made of whispers. How long,

245
00:18:20.920 --> 00:18:24.960
I asked, How long before I end up like them?

246
00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:30.599
That depends, Kieran said, softly, on how strong your will

247
00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:35.400
is and how much you're willing to lose. As if

248
00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:39.519
summoned by his words, something moved in the shadows between stalls,

249
00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:43.960
not quite visible, but there a presence that made the

250
00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:49.240
air grow cold and the paper lanterns flicker. It was enormous.

251
00:18:49.319 --> 00:18:53.920
I realized something that existed in the spaces between spaces,

252
00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:56.799
and the web was just the part of it that

253
00:18:56.920 --> 00:19:01.200
I could perceive. The other custom has suddenly looked up,

254
00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:05.480
their empty eyes filling with terror, as they searched the crowd,

255
00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:11.759
their silver threads vibrating like harp strings. What is that,

256
00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:17.839
the collector, Kieran said grimly. It runs this place, feeds

257
00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:21.880
on what we trade away. And you. He looked at

258
00:19:21.880 --> 00:19:25.519
me with something that might have been pity. You've just

259
00:19:25.559 --> 00:19:48.599
signed your name in its book. The presence moved closer,

260
00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:51.200
and I caught a glimpse of something that hurt to

261
00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:56.400
look at directly. Tall, wrong shaped, made of absence rather

262
00:19:56.440 --> 00:20:00.680
than substance. It had too many eyes, all of them

263
00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:04.960
focused on me with predatory interest. The bells I'd been

264
00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:08.359
hearing for weeks suddenly made sense. They hadn't been calling

265
00:20:08.359 --> 00:20:11.599
me to the market. They'd been marking time until I

266
00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:15.799
was ready for harvest. Soon, the voice in my head whispered,

267
00:20:16.519 --> 00:20:19.480
and I realized it wasn't my voice at all. It

268
00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:23.000
was the collector's voice, speaking through the silver thread that

269
00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:27.920
now connected us very soon. Now I have to go,

270
00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:33.720
I said, backing away from Kieran's stool. Ava wait. He

271
00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:36.720
reached for me, but his hand passed through empty air.

272
00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:41.599
I was already running, pushing through the crowd of lost souls,

273
00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:45.319
following the scent of night air and car exhaust back

274
00:20:45.400 --> 00:20:49.839
to the gap between buildings. But as I ran, I

275
00:20:49.839 --> 00:20:54.039
could feel the silver thread stretching, never breaking, and the

276
00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:57.839
presence at the other end growing more excited with every step.

277
00:20:58.839 --> 00:21:03.319
Behind me, the other customers began to moan, a low,

278
00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:08.480
harmonious sound that vibrated in my bones. They knew I

279
00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:11.039
was trying to leave, and they didn't want to be

280
00:21:11.079 --> 00:21:14.880
alone with whatever was coming for them. But as I ran,

281
00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:19.200
I could hear them behind me, not just the bells now,

282
00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:25.359
but something else. Whispers, voices calling my name in tones

283
00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:28.400
that made my skin crawl and my heart race with

284
00:21:28.519 --> 00:21:36.839
primal terror, And underneath the whispers the sound of something

285
00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:41.640
vast moving through spaces too small to contain it. Following

286
00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:45.759
the silver thread that led directly to me. I burst

287
00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:49.440
through the gap and stumbled into the alley, gasping and shaking.

288
00:21:50.759 --> 00:21:54.799
The market was gone, leaving only brick walls and dumpsters

289
00:21:54.839 --> 00:21:58.960
and the distant hum of traffic. But the whispers followed me,

290
00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:04.759
going off the walls like accusations, and the silver thread

291
00:22:04.799 --> 00:22:10.079
remained invisible now but still there, still connecting me to

292
00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:15.200
something that regarded me as property. And Worse than the whispers,

293
00:22:16.039 --> 00:22:19.440
Worse than the thread, Worse than the terrible presence I

294
00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:22.240
could feel watching me from the other side of reality,

295
00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:27.079
was the growing certainty that I would be back. The

296
00:22:27.160 --> 00:22:31.440
homesickness was already setting in, that terrible ache for somewhere

297
00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:36.039
I could never find again. My apartment would feel wrong now,

298
00:22:37.119 --> 00:22:40.799
every familiar place would feel like a lie. I would

299
00:22:40.799 --> 00:22:43.880
wander through my own life like a ghost, searching for

300
00:22:43.960 --> 00:22:47.920
something that existed only in honey and memory. I drove

301
00:22:47.960 --> 00:22:51.039
home with tears streaming down my face, the taste of

302
00:22:51.079 --> 00:22:55.559
nostalgia still sweet on my tongue. But underneath the sweetness

303
00:22:55.640 --> 00:22:59.720
was something else, something bitter and hungry, that whispered of

304
00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:04.759
death unpaid and prices yet to be collected. In my

305
00:23:04.839 --> 00:23:08.279
rear view mirror, I caught glimpses of something following me,

306
00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:13.799
keeping pace no matter how fast I drove tall shadows

307
00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:17.480
that moved between street lights, always there when I wasn't

308
00:23:17.480 --> 00:23:22.799
looking directly, always gone. When I was twenty eight days

309
00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:26.039
until the next new moon, I wasn't sure I could

310
00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:29.559
survive that long without going back, and I wasn't sure

311
00:23:29.599 --> 00:23:33.960
I could survive going back either. The whispers followed me

312
00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:36.839
all the way home, and when I finally made it

313
00:23:36.839 --> 00:23:40.839
to my apartment, I realized with dawning horror that they

314
00:23:40.839 --> 00:23:48.160
were coming from inside. Welcome home, the collector's voice murmured,

315
00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:51.799
as I locked the door behind me. We'll be seeing

316
00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:55.960
each other very soon. The silver thread pulsed in my

317
00:23:56.079 --> 00:23:59.559
chest like a second heartbeat, and I knew with absolute

318
00:23:59.599 --> 00:24:02.759
certain that no lock in the world could keep out

319
00:24:02.799 --> 00:24:03.720
what was coming for me.