Nadia and her mother were pressed against the window closest to the stairs, watching the man warily as he licked his fingers clean of the pie juices and sighed contentedly.
Ms. Woods shot Nadia a look that clearly read I do not think this is a good idea and may in fact be one of your worst ideas.
Nadia bit her lip and eye-spoke back, Be open minded. We have no other options.
"So," the man said, interrupting their silent conversation, "I assume you want to know about how I am connected to the Lost Princess and her brother, the Extra Ordinary Apprentice."
Nadia nodded slowly.
"Well, when their dragon flew in, they needed a place to keep him. Not many places you can safely keep a fire-belching dragon. I hired out my storage unit. They used it for a few days, nearly eating me outta house and home, then vanished in the middle of the night. They took something, though. I've been tracking them. They're in some farmlands-but I won't tell you all that without a price."
Nadia and Ms. Woods exchanged another look before her mother broke in. "I'm sorry, we spent all our coin on renting a room here."
The man sighed and rolled his eyes. "Had a feeling you'd say that. Or something along those lines. I don't hand out free guiding sessions."
"Please, it's a matter of life or death!" begged Nadia.
"You seem fine to me."
"No, not us! There are people trapped in the Wizard Tower at the Castle, people who can't leave unless we help them. And we can't. We're not Magykalenough."
"Not Magykalenough?"
Nadia drew in a breath, knowing what he wanted her to do. Under her breath, she chanted the basic Invisibility Spell and glanced down to see that she was no longer visible to the human eye.
The man let out a strange noise. "Wow. You're...you're a Wizard!"
"Ordinary Wizard Apprentice," Nadia corrected him.
"Still...wow! You're valuable. Tell you what, you help me get my stolen belonging back and I'll lead you straight to the people you wanna find."
"How can we trust you?" asked Ms. Woods skeptically.
"You can't." The man grinned, half turned toward them. "I could use you and then kill you."
Ms. Woods raised a hand to her throat. Nadia balled her hands into fists.
"However, I am your only hope at finding the Lost Apprentice," the man continued. He pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket that looked remarkably like a business card. On closer inspection, it was indeed confirmed to be a business card.
"Maxx Longsilver, trader, hoarder, and the best tracker in all of the Port. Maybe the Port and the Castle. Maybe the world." Maxx grinned again. "But then, I'm only certain about the Port."
Twenty minutes later, the trio had worked out a plan.
"So first," started Maxx, "I take you to my storage unit. There, we go over exactly what I lost and how I think you can help me look for it.
"We really can't just know now?" asked Nadia.
"No."
"Okay, we go to your storage unit and hear about your stolen item. Then we get supplies at the general good store."
Ms. Woods picked up the plan. "After getting supplies, we rent three horses at the stables, load up their saddlebags with supplies, and start riding."
Maxx grinned. "See? Simple!"
Nadia shot him a sideways glare. He was much too callous and rude for her liking. And he acted muchtoo familiar.
The three set off, thanking the pie shop owner as they left. She ran out the door after them, and pressed three small, steaming, blueberry pies into Nadia's palms. "Just in case you get peckish," she explained, and bustled back inside the pie shop.
Nadia smiled at the pudgy woman's retreating back and distributed the pies. They made for a delicious treat as they walked to Maxx's storage unit.
Maxx's storage unit was a large warehouse filled with all manner of strange things. Shadowy objects lurked in the corners, and objects covered with tarp loomed behind every junk pile. It was also poorly lit.
Maxx sat down on an old, creaking sofa and settled back. He gestured to two patched armchairs in front of him. "Please, sit."
Nadia settled on the very edge of one of them, spine rigid, while her miter have scrunched up her face and quickly shook her head.
"I think I'll stand."
Maxx nodded. "Okay. Anyway, I suppose you want to hear about this object." He waited until a response was given in way of a nod from Ms. Woods and a, "Yes, please," from Nadia.
"All right, then." Maxx leaned closer and looked around conspiratorially, as if checking for spies around the piles of junk-not that one would have been apparent in the poor lighting.
"It's a dragon egg."
Maxx waited until all exclamations of surprise were done before continuing. "It took me forever to get. I suppose it was because the Apprentice has one dragon already that he wanted the egg. Although why anyone would want to put up with two of those repulsive beasts is beyond me."
Nadia's eyes were growing steadily wider. "What do you want meto do?"
Maxx met her gaze steadily. "To fetch me that egg. You can sense the baby dragon inside of it."
Nadia hesitated, then nodded. "Yes. I can."
Maxx smiled and leaned back again. "Then that's settled. Let's go to the general goods store!"
At the general goods store, they bought bags of nonperishable food and water. Nadia purchased two stupidly expensive charms, one to turn things into chocolate and another to enlarge anything.
They left happy, if a little low on money. "Next," thundered Maxx, "the stables!"
Ms. Woods and Nadia waited impatiently outside the stables. They were an odd type, completely enclosed, with only a few grimy windows close to the top.
Suddenly, the double doors flew open and Maxx ran out on a large horse with loaded saddlebags, leading two ponies behind him. "Hop on!" he called out.
Nadia heard a commotion from inside the stables. A sneaking suspicion began to worm its way into her mind. "Maxx..."
"Get on!" he urged forcefully, and Nadia had no choice but to obey as her mother followed Maxx's lead.
Nadia climbed onto her dappled pony and kicked it into a gallop through the streets after Maxx.
"Did you steal these?" she yell-demanded over the wind.
"Yup," Maxx called back with a cheeky grin. "And you'll be grateful for them soon!"