“If you want magic, you need to give us something worthy of it,” Paheli replies promptly.

The Greenich chuckles. His long tongue snakes out and he licks his eyebrows. Okay, we lied. Some things are easier to accept than others. No one should have a tongue that long. “I was wondering when you would get here.”

“Why?” Sevda asks.

“How much will you pay me?” The Greenich won’t budge.

“One Between diamond,” Paheli replies.

“Two,” the creature counters.

“One. If you don’t want to trade, there are others who will tell us what we want to know,” she says to him with a firmness we are not used to.

“Oh fine. You are stingy as usual,” the Greenich says with a huff.

“Thank you,” Paheli replies with a sweet smile. “Talk.”

“Here’s what I know,” the Greenich says. “A predator has emerged from the depths of the dark where he was imprisoned for a long while. Don’t ask me the details because I won’t say. I can’t say. All you need to know is that those who imprisoned him have disappeared, though whether it is by their own design or his is unknown.”

“What does that have to do with us?” Kamboja asks.

“He is obsessed with the Between, or to be more precise, the Keeper of the Between. You are of the Between, and thus, he is interested in you. Don’t let him catch you, girlies. He will chew you up and spit you out before you know what’s going on.” The Greenich looks us up and down and shakes his head as if grieving. We hiss; we are no one’s prey. The sound carries enough magic that the creature loses his color. He rushes back to the palm tree, perhaps to disappear into the tree trunk once again, but Paheli grabs him by his shoulder.

“What about a creature with very sharp teeth and feathers on her head instead of hair?” she asks.

“A Cheraj?” The Greenich turns back, his eyes wide and his fear forgotten. “Have you seen one? If you have, pluck a feather from her head!”

“Why?” Daraja asks. She sounds horrified by the idea.

“A Cheraj feather is said to attract luck! Pure luck! Guaranteed luck! Maybe pluck two feathers and give me one?” the Greenich wheedles.

With a curl of her lips, Paheli takes a Between diamond out from a bag and throws it to the creature. Without another word to him, she turns her back and walks away. We, of course, follow. None of us look back.

This is not the first time we have sought out the Greenich for information, and it probably won’t be the last. But this is the first time he has given us information that has so thoroughly disturbed us.