"Kid. Hey, kid:." A voice was calling from far away. She looked up to see the bouncer standing over her with a concerned expression on his ugly face. Kellan saw him as if at the end of a long, dark tunnel. Her vision started to swim.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked. Then everything went dim, and Kellan passed out.

When Kellan came to, she was lying on a cot in a small, dim room, with a scratchy old UCAS army-issue blanket thrown over her. She flipped it off and swung her feet onto the floor. She immediately regretted moving, as a dull ache began pounding behind her eyes, emphasizing the bass beat of the music coming through the walls. She leaned forward against her knees, massaging her temples to try to make the pain go away.

Then she did a reflexive pat-down of her gear, to make sure it was all there. She sighed in relief. Nothing had been touched, as far as she could tell. Even her jacket was draped over a nearby chair. She rested her hands on the edge of the cot, allowing her eyes to grow accustomed to the dimness and the throbbing in her head to ease somewhat.

Multicolored light flooded into the room as the door opened enough to admit a shadowy figure. Kellan jumped to her feet, immediately reaching for her stun baton.

"Hey, hey!" the gravelly voice said. "Chill! It's frosty, kid. It's just me." When he took a step forward, Kellan could make out the features of the ork bouncer. She slumped back down onto the cot as he made his way over.

"How're you feeling?" he asked, flipping a chair around and straddling it so he could lean on the back of it.

"Like I got run over," Kellan said. "How long have I:?"

"About an hour," the ork replied. "It's a little after 2300."

Kellan shook her head slowly and massaged her forehead with one hand.

"Coulda been a lot worse," the ork told her.

"Yeah," she said slowly glancing up at him. "Thanks. I appreciate the help."

"Null sheen," the ork said with a tilt of his head. "But I wouldn't have been so fast on the draw if I'd known you were packin' mojo."

"What-what do you mean?"

"That trick where you turned ol' Horse into a matchstick," he said. "Nasty."

"But I-I didn't do that," Kellan said. Had she? She recalled the sensation of heat right before the troll caught fire.

"No? Well, it sure wasn't me," the ork retorted. "The way I saw that fancy necklace of yours kind of glimmer, and the way you were so tired out, I figured for sure it was you. So you're not a spell-slinger?"

"Me? No, I mean, I've never: I've never been able to before:." Kellan's hand went almost involuntarily to the amulet, recalling how it had almost burned with cold against her skin. Now it was comfortably warm. Then she remembered her hand, glowing red-hot, and the shadows of the bones showing through the skin. She held it in her other hand, but both looked completely normal now. She glanced up at the bouncer and touched the amulet.

"You said that this: glowed?"

The ork shrugged. "Well, not exactly glowed, but kinda shimmered a bit. I've seen stuff like that around magic types before an' figured you must be one of them, too. Is that thing magical?"

"I don't know," Kellan said. "I just got it recently. It belonged to my mother."

"Well, maybe that's got something to do with it," he said, scratching the back of his head with a couple of blunt fingers. "I dunno. I know magic when I see it, but I don't know much about how it works." Then he looked at Kellan again, this time like he was seeing something new.

"You know, if you're not a magician, then it wasn't a real smart thing you did, going up against those three Spikes. Horse and his chummers, they're bad news. No place for a newbie to be messing around."

"Who says I'm a newbie?" Kellan bristled.

"Well, I haven't seen you around here," he countered, "and you didn't know to leave well enough alone, or at least make sure that Horse stayed down for the count the first time you tangled with him."

"He decided to mess with me," Kellan shot back. "And I handled myself just fine."

"Well, yeah, until you ran into that alley."

Kellan bit back a retort, letting it out as a sigh. "I guess you're right. Sorry. I do appreciate your help."

"Like I said, null sheen. Gave me an excuse for some roughhouse, and I've been looking for some of that all day." He gave her a broad grin that showed off his tusks, and Kellan couldn't help but laugh.

"You are new in town, though, aren't you?" he asked pointedly. "What's your name?"

"Kellan Colt," she said. She stopped short for a second, realizing that she had given the ork her real name instead of the fake name on her credstick. If he noticed, he didn't show it.

"Where are you from, Kellan?"

"Kansas City," Kellan replied. "I just got here yesterday. I'm working on making some connections to find work."

"How long were you working the shadows in KC?" he asked.

"Two years."

"That's a pretty long time, but Kansas City isn't Seattle, kid. Things are different around here."

"Yeah, I'm getting that idea," Kellan said.

The door opened and the elf bartender stepped in. He handed Kellan a plastic cup of water and a small slap-patch.

"Here," he said. "This should help fix you up." He nodded toward the patch when Kellan just looked at it. "It's for your head." Kellan read the label, then peeled the patch off its backing and stuck it on the side of her neck over the artery, where the pain relievers could work their way quickly into her bloodstream. Then she took a long sip of the cool water.

"Thanks," she said, and the elf nodded.

"Yeah, thanks, Leif," the ork echoed as the bartender headed for the door.

"Anytime, G," he said, closing the door behind him.

Kellan's head whipped around so fast she almost dislodged the slap-patch.

"You're G-Dogg!" she said to the bouncer, who just nodded.

"Yup."

"Why the frag didn't you say so?"

"Because I didn't know you from any other wannabe off the streets, kid, and because you obviously didn't know me or you wouldn't have been asking me. I told you, this ain't Kansas no more. You're in Seattle now, and things are different here in the plex. If you don't get introduced by somebody, then you're nobody. That's the way it is."

"Why didn't anyone else say anything?"

"Because they know me here and they know well enough to keep quiet. Leif knew that you must have walked right past me when you came in, but obviously you didn't know who I was. He figured that if I didn't speak up, I had a good reason, and I did."

"So you were just playing me," Kellan said, her eyes hard.

"No, I was watching you. I wanted to see how you handled yourself, what your angle was, before I decided to talk to you."

"And?" Kellan asked.

"From what I saw, you handle yourself pretty well, kid. You need to learn a few things about life and the shadows in Seattle, but I think you can do okay for yourself. 'Sides, spell-slingers aren't that easy to come by, even around here."

"I told you-"

"Yeah, I know, you're not, and you don't know what that thing does. Tell you what. If you're interested, I think I know somebody who might be able to come up with answers to both. I don't know much about magic, but Lothan, he knows everything there is to know; and he'll probably tell you so. That is, if you're up for it."

When G-Dogg grinned again Kellan gave him a tight-lipped smile in return.

"What the hell?" she said. "Let's go."