Moonflower's Arc

Chapter 3 of 5

Moonflower reached the old hotel at dusk. Its stone face wore cracks like scars. Ragged curtains hung from broken balconies. The empty tin rode in her satchel, light as a dead leaf. Behind her the drugged plant slept in its pit, and the sleep would not last. She counted the hours in her head. One more dose left. Maybe two. She needed the butterflies before the trap woke hungry. She circled the building and found what she came for. A single butterfly with stained-glass wings drifted near a broken window. Pink dust fell from its motion in a slow cloud. Moonflower opened her tin and crept close. She caught a pinch on the metal edge, then another. The powder settled soft and warm. "Don't move," a girl said behind her. Moonflower turned. A short girl stood in the doorway. Pink hair, round glasses, a schoolgirl's uniform. Her stance was low and ready, hands loose. This was the one Brooke Lee had hired to clear the place. She looked harmless until you saw how she watched your hands. "I only want the dust," Moonflower said. "I'm not here to fight." "Two goblins followed you," Tia said. "They're in the wall behind you. They want what's in your tin." Moonflower heard scraping then. A brown-skinned goblin girl squeezed from a gap in the plaster, braids swinging, gold rings on every finger. A smaller goblin followed her, jersey loose, cigarette dead in his teeth. "Hand it over, plant lady," the braided one said. "That powder's ours now." Moonflower closed her fist on the tin. The goblins lunged together. Tia moved first. She stepped in front of Moonflower and struck the braided goblin flat in the chest. The goblin flew back into the wall and dropped. The smaller one grabbed Moonflower's wrist. She flung the loose pinch of pink dust into his face. He breathed it. His eyes went soft. He sat down in the dust and smiled at nothing. The braided goblin scrambled up, saw her partner slumped and grinning, and said in an exasperated tone “Damn it, your ass is useless now.” She sat down next to her companion. Moonflower knelt fast by the window. She scraped the tin along the sill where the butterfly's dust had gathered thick. The tin filled halfway, then more. Enough for many doses now. Enough to lead the trap home. "Why help me?" she asked Tia. "Brooke Lee hired me to clear this place," Tia said. "You could work for her too. That would make you mine to protect." Tia answered confidently, then with a slightly different tone she said “If, if.. you want to, you know… we could spend some time together or whatever maybe….” Her awkwardness was too cute for Moonflower to ignore. She watched as Tia toed the floor with her shoe and nervously fidgeted her index fingers together. “She’s like a little kid with a crush” Moonflower thought. “How about I talk to your boss first, Brooke was it?” Moonflower stood, tin heavy and full. She had her leash for the guardian. But the drugged goblin still sat grinning on the floor, and the braided one sat holding her dazed companion. “She will tell the whole nest below where the powder came from.” Tia said in a wary tone. Moonflower's sleeping plant waited in its pit, its dose already fading. “Maybe not, I have an idea” She said with a grin as she walked towards the girl Goblin holding her companion’s head in her lap. “I have some questions for you little Goblin, and maybe a deal for you depending on how you answer.” The girl goblin lit a cigar and laughed led at Moonflower with a grin and a raised eyebrow. “I’m listening” she said.