Under the moonlight Percy and Lyro were digging the ground with their hands. Progress was slow enough that Lyro eventually pulled out his pendant and started using it instead.
Percy glanced over. "Is that alright?"
"It's sturdy," Lyro said, already digging with it.
Percy thought through what he had on him that might work better. A revolver with five bullets. A pocket watch . A self-made pouch. He pulled the revolver out and considered it.
Lyro looked over and shook his head. "You better not. It'll jam, and fixing that later is a pain."
Percy nodded and stood, looking around for the broken wine bottle he'd picked up earlier. His observation found it quickly enough, and he got back to digging alongside Lyro.
A few minutes in, Percy stopped Lyro.
The sensation had gotten close. He slowed down, scooping the dirt away by hand now, careful, until a dull red glow peeked out from the soil.
Lyro had the metal case out before Percy could say anything, lifting the Lemon into it and handing it over.
Percy looked at it for a second, then tucked it into his holster. The revolver went into his coat pocket instead. The shape stuck out a little but it wasn't a problem.
Lyro grabbed a few pieces of trash, wrapped the finger and put it in the Lemon's container.
Percy started filling the hole back in. Neither of them put much care into it and made no attempt to disguise the disturbed ground the way the two strangers from earlier had clearly tried to. They just covered it and moved on.
Once it was done they climbed the wall again. Percy still couldn't manage it on his own, so Lyro hauled him up same as before.
They headed for the Union Law Syndicate, stopping briefly at a riverbank to rinse the dirt off their hands and clothes. Neither of them was thorough about it , since they were in a hurry.
Once they reached the main road, Lyro flagged down a carriage and told the driver to go straight to the Syndicate building. The driver didn't ask questions and got moving immediately.
On the way, Percy found himself staring at Lyro's pendant.
Lyro noticed eventually. "What?"
Percy looked at the pendant, then back at him.
Lyro sighed and pulled it out to show him properly. "This is called an Anchor."
He kept going, and Percy listened closely. Neither of them worried about the driver overhearing he was outside handling the zebra's reins, and the noise of hooves and the carriage frame swallowed most of their voices.
"An Anchor is something a spirit has imprinted itself onto something non-living.
It happens when..." Lyro stopped himself. "You know what, you can read about it back at the Syndicate. I don't want to get into the details. Not that I could explain it well anyway."
He turned the pendant over once in his hand.
"All you need to know is this Anchors give you abilities you can use if you pour your life force into them.
This one hides sound and presence. Shade spirits can sense presence nearby, so I use it to get around that. That's the whole story."
Percy nodded. He thought of the wooden music box he had .
"An Anchor, huh."
"I should read up on that once we're back at the syndicate."
After a while they reached Marco Street.
Percy looked down at the Lemon sitting in his holster and asked.
"So what's this for?"
Lyro glanced at it. "Ah, that. That's a regular Lemon."
"Then what's it even for?"
"Just to restrain a spirit in, if we ever run into one," Lyro said, nonchalant. "We could sell it to the Syndicate too."
That got Percy's attention.
"How much do you get for selling a Lemon with a spirit in it?" He paused. "Wait how much did the one I used cost? Isn't it supposed to be rare?"
Lyro waved a hand. "The first Lemon you integrate is given by the Syndicate. You don't pay for that one. As for selling one with a spirit already inside , it depends on the spirit itself.
But the lowest you'd get is a hundred silver. Sometimes a full gold."
Percy stared at him.
A whole gold. For a Lemon.
He thought about what Charles had said about how rare some of them were to even form. Somewhere in the back of his mind a number settled in that he hadn't considered before, the value of what he'd just gone through to integrate.
He'd used up something worth that much without ever realising it. Something he never would have dreamed of having, let alone spending, back when he was just trying to make rent as a tailor.
Percy jolted as a sensation hit him, sharp enough that he started to rise inside the moving carriage. Lyro grabbed him immediately and held him down.
His eyes went hazy as he scanned through the window, then flicked to the driver whowas focused entirely on the reins, oblivious to everything. He closed his eyes and went hazy completely.
"Nothing," he thought, opening them again.
About twenty seconds passed before Percy got his composure back. Lyro was still holding him down with one arm.
"It's fine now," percy spoke , Lyro looked at him in the eye and let go.
The carriage hadn't stopped, so the sensation was already fading behind them, but Percy held onto what he'd felt.
"I sensed two no, three." He paused. "One of them felt the same as your pendant and the finger while the other two are probably haunted ."
Lyro nodded slowly and patted the metal case at his side the one now holding the finger they'd just dug up.
"Something is definitely going on here," he thought.
The carriage rolled on for a few more minutes before finally stopping outside the Syndicate building. Lyro got down first, paid the driver, and waited for Percy to follow.
Percy patted his pouch out of habit and went still.
"I'm out of money. I'm officially broke."
He hadn't been to the tailor shop in days. No work meant no pay, and between everything happening he'd completely forgotten that fact had consequences.
Inside, Fiona crossed their path near the entrance. Lyro greeted her with a quick "good night" and walked straight past without slowing down. She turned, confused, and looked at Percy.
"It's kind of urgent," Percy said, and hurried after Lyro before she could ask anything else.