Wen holstered her revolver. The fight was done, the woman saved, and Sayed hadn't skewered the outlaw in the middle of the street. It was good damage control for their crew. At least they hadn't burned the town to the ground.

She hadn't gotten the chance to use her upgraded curse, though. That was a disappointment. However, she couldn't do it just to posture. She needed a real challenge to understand how it worked. She released her hand from her revolver, and her fingers hurt just a little from how tight she had gripped it.

"Now what?" Erin joined them as they looked over the watching crowd.

"We might need to relocate," Jean said. "We do not want news spreading about who we are."

Wen wanted to say there was no chance of that, so long as they had Sayed running around free, or with Jean at all, considering that his robes barely hid his form. It didn't help that their leader was one of the most famous outlaws across the Empyrean either. 'Tin Man' Ortega was no small fry that could be ignored in the Core.

Honestly, she was surprised at how lucky they had been on the trip into the Core. However, the people across the Fringes cared a lot less about bounties. They were harder to cash in, and most people just wanted to survive until the next day.

"We just need to not get involved with whatever is going on here," Wen said. "Wait. Where did they go?"

In the time they had said all that, both Alex and Sayed had already approached the old woman. Sayed was lifting the cart and righting it. Alex had knelt next to the old woman to help her up. It was all exactly the opposite of what they needed to do, which was getting on the ship and escaping.

"It seems fate has other plans." Jean shoved his hands into his sleeves as he walked toward the woman.

"Fate's another word for idiots now?" Erin sighed as she followed with Mari in hand.

Wen sighed at their responses. It looked like they were getting involved after all.

"Thank you," the old woman said as Alex helped her stand. "You're making a young woman's heart flutter."

"I'm sure." Alex smiled as he dusted off his pants.

"Ah, my mask." The old woman moved with a dexterity that belied her wrinkles, and snatched her mask from the ground in one quick motion. "Sorry that you had to see that."

There were no complaints when she bent down. No cracking of old joints as she went through the motions. She picked it up like a young woman, almost courtesying in her robes as she bent down and picked up the mask. It was all too weird.

"About that," Alex asked as the crew circled around the old woman. "What's going on with the masks?"

Clack.

"What about them?" the woman asked as she attached the mask to her face without a strap or hooks to go around her ears.

By all rights, the mask should have fallen off. However, it stuck fast to her face, almost like it was held only glue. Wen frowned. It shouldn't have been possible, especially since the woman's face had no markings from the mask when it was off.

"Why do you wear it?" Jean asked. "It seems so important to you, so there must be a good reason."

The woman tilted her head like it were the oddest question in the world. She blinked behind the mask before hunching forward slightly. The dexterity of the young woman was gone, and she was back in the form of an old woman.

"They're signs of your equality," she said. "In Binvieti, there are no young or old. There is no beauty. We are all equal under the eyes of Count Gavril."

Wen eyed the surrounding crowds out of the corner of her eye. Most had gone back to their normal routines. There was little sign that any incident had happened at all, except for a group of men watching from near a corner.

The entire town made her feel like they had stepped into a Gothic horror film. The buildings were made of gray bricks and tall metal bars topped the few stone walls of the surrounding buildings. With the sky slowly darkening from dark orange to purple, the atmosphere was no different from the start of a Dracula movie.

The people's clothing didn't help. They all dressed as Victorian peasants. Suspenders and vests for the men. Long dresses and sleeves for the women.

"Oh, dear," the old woman said. "I must get going before night. You should get behind a threshold as well. The streets aren't safe at night."

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She started walking away, leaving the cart in the middle of the street. She stayed bent forward and didn't run, but there was a hurry to her steps. They all watched her go, speechless. Other people in the crowd were also shuffling away. Lamplights flicked on with glowstones as the orange light faded more to purple.

They cleared out so quickly, all in response to the coming night. That wasn't normal. It set Wen's teeth on edge to see them all moving away in unison.

"Back to the ship, I guess," Alex said as he looked over the emptying streets.

"You shouldn't do that. A ship doesn't have a proper threshold. You need some place permanent. It has to be tied to the Erth." The old woman stopped and turned back to them. "As thanks for helping me, go to the inn around that corner. You'll be safe until morning there."

Alex shored a look with Wen that said he had the same doubts. Thresholds were something many people on Earth put value in. There was also a lot of lore around it for supernatural creatures—like vampires.

"We'll take the advice," Alex called out before turning to face all of them. "I have no idea what's going on here."

"I don't know if we would find better by going somewhere else," Jean said. "Nightfall is close. We have at most a few minutes."

"Night is dangerous." Sayed rubbed at his beard. "But would it be too dangerous for us?"

Sayed had a point. They shouldn't have anything to fear from its being dark outside. Unless there was something truly strange going on, there was no reason to worry. However, the townspeople's actions, that they all had retreated to their homes, spoke to something greater going on.

"It's one night in an inn," Alex said, raising a hand to stay any arguments. "Even if someone comes after us, I don't think they'd take us if we're on the ship or in a room."

"Staying at the inn would be less suspicious," Erin offered. "I still don't like the masks though."

"The masks are something else." Alex sighed. "At least I'm not sensing the same thing in them as what we saw on Cragg Hollow."

"That's great." Erin sighed. "Maybe they'll be different masked murder monsters."

"I doubt that." Sayed pursed his lips. "The same thing a second time would not make a good story."

Wen shook her head and walked toward the corner the woman had pointed at. Whether it was clear to everyone else, she realized they were going to the inn. The last vestiges of orange were fading on the horizon as the island's 'sun' set against the sky.

Islands in the Core didn't have true suns. There was merely a projection of light from the sky that varied throughout the day. They had no moons either, and the coming purple tinge had no stars. It was like when creating the massive structures, that the creators didn't have a desire beyond the necessities. Light during the day. Dark at night.

It was an odd existence, but no person on those islands would question it. Islands across the nightsea outside the Core were different, and Wen had grown up with a night sky full of stars back on Earth. It wasn't too different from the masks, if those had been in the area long enough.

Ding.

A bell rang as Wen entered the inn, and the rest of the crew came in after her. There wasn't much of a crowd. With the docks empty, the only people in the inn would be foot traffic from nearby villages coming into town to do business. Five of the tables in the entrance were occupied, with five more available for people to sit at. A fire burned brightly in the hearth on the far side of the room, and a man stood behind a bar, cleaning a glass with a cloth as he eyed the approaching outlaws.

Clack.

"Got a few more tonight, I see." The man sat down his glass and straightened his vest. "You folks want a room, or two?"

He didn't wear a mask. A thin mustache rolled off of his face, and a single line of a goatee was stuck to his chin. The other people in the inn didn't have masks either, but that was a bit more reasonable. Ideally, they would be travelers.

"You don't have a mask," Alex said as he approached the bar, pulling out and sitting on one of the available stools.

"I do." The man drew a white mask from beneath the bar. "But that's just for the locals when I'm outside. They don't wear those masks indoors. That would just be ridiculous."

Wen snorted. No more ridiculous than wearing the masks every waking moment outside. She had trouble imagining a farmer wearing one while working a field, or a builder using one while laying bricks for a home. However, there was at least some normality hidden in the statement. They didn't have to ear the masks all the time.

"I just don't get why," Alex said. "Someone told us it was about equality."

"Hah." The man snorted. "That'd be the locals. I'm not from here myself, only moved in a few years ago and opened up this inn. Saw a need in the market and met it."

"And you are?"

"Edward." The man reached out a hand, and Alex shook it.

"Alex."

"Good to meet you, and your fellows." Edward looked over them all.

"Is there no other reason for the masks, then?" Jean asked, keeping his hands concealed in his robes still.

"Aside from the equality thing?" Edward grinned, leaning forward like he were telling a secret. "There are some rumors about them I've heard over the years. Never went out to test them myself though."

"Rumors?" Sayed leaned against the bar, his massive shoulders covering two seats length.

"I can tell you," Edward said. "But first we need to settle business. Information should only flow once coins have changed hands. How many rooms can I get for you folks?"

"Two," Alex said, dropping a few silver dolers on the table.

"Oh, big spender," Edward said, eyeing the coins. "You won't get better service for it. We serve the same slop to everyone!"

"Not for service, but for information on the masks," Alex said. "What rumors have you heard?"

"Ah, that." Edward sighed, taking the coins from the table and setting them behind the bar. "There's one more reason to wear the masks, aside from the whole 'we're all equal' thing."

He paused, nodding toward the windows near the door.

"They say that dark things wander the streets at night, and the masks can protect you from that. If you walk outside, the mask may save you from being taken by a Collector."

"A Collector?" Alex asked as Wen's eyes strayed into the darkness.

"They exist to collect Count Gavril's debts, according to the stories," Edward said, pulling out two keys from behind the bar and depositing them in front of Alex. "Those kinds of things won't trouble you in here though. They say you're always safe behind a door."

A chill ran down Wen's spine as he laughed at that. She had seen far too many things in her travels to dismiss the idea that something might hide out in the dark. Maybe the masks existed for good reason.

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