Excerpt: Blind Item

Ever since James had first come to New York, he had never liked the Hudson River. It smelled funny, and it was too windy, and it was just highly unpleasant to be around. He had never liked the ocean in general, to be honest, ever since he was a child. But, Valerie had insisted on living close to the ocean, and he had been willing to give up the world for her.

Wearing an old pair of Chucks and a pea coat, he made his way down the dock. As it was winter, and still rather early in the morning, there were no people there. Well, except for Natalya, who was leaning over the railing, smoking a cigarette. She nodded in greeting when he stood next to her. “I'm glad you came,” she said. “Last guy I told to meet me down by the docks freaked out and left town. I think he thought I was part of the Mafia or something.”

“I'm nothing if not an adventurous soul.” He went out for Thai food every year on Charlie's birthday, and that was the extent of his fantastic adventures.

“Nah, your soul's boring, like unflavored milk.” She grinned at his mock outraged, and put her cigarette out on her heel. She ground it into the cement. “Now, James, I want you to promise me something. I want you to promise me that no matter what you see tonight, no matter how... weird... it may be, I want you to remember that I'm trying to help you. It's in the cards.”

“You know, usually, those cards just tell me that I'll have good luck with money or something like that. It usually doesn't involve any travel.” She didn't smile, so he let it drop. “I promise.”

“Good.” She took a deep breath and held her hand out over the railing. “I've been here so many times before,” she said, as if reciting an old nursery rhyme. “Show me, show me, the Market door!”

And then a door appeared over the water.

God help him, a door had suddenly manifested over the waters of the Hudson River, just a few feet away from the dock. It was an old wooden door, the type you see in castles and luxurious European estates, not hovering over a large body of water as if suspended by wires. There was a door over the water.

And, yet, all he could manage to say was, “Hm. That's new.”

“It's always been there. You just have to know what to say, where to look. Anyone can enter the Market, but you can only find it if you know where it is.” She swung her legs over the railing, sitting on it, and looked over at him expectantly. “Well? Are you coming?”

He had a bit of trouble managing the railing, mostly due to a crippling fear of falling off and drowning in the freezing water, but he managed to awkwardly straddle the bar next to her. “How, exactly, are we supposed to get from here,” he gestured to the railing, “to there,” he gestured to the magic floating door.

“Just walk. It's really easy. The trick is forgetting to fall.” She jumped off, and, in his defense, he only let out a slightly strangled scream before he realized that, no, she wasn't plunging to her death in a frozen, subarctic aquatic world, but rather was standing quite calmly above the water, on an invisible little pathway. “See? Easy.”

She did make it look easy. Feeling a bit more confident, James decided to jump off as well, before he lost all of his nerve.

He was in the water up to his knees before Natalya caught him, pulling him up to lean on her shoulders. “Yeah... Maybe you're just not ready for that yet. I'm sure you'll get it, some day.” James dearly hoped that some day would never come.