17 · Being Followed

As dusk fell, Gallo bought a Madeleine Cake from the café, carefully wrapped in waxed paper. He and Lily had agreed on it the night before.

After Stur left that afternoon, Gallo served several more customers.

Now, hearing the Campus Clock Tower at the Imperial Industrial University ring out six o'clock, he gathered up his cardboard sign and prepared to head home.

With his pockets weighed down by the fortune he'd earned—a total of forty-three Copper Nils and two Fensos—he set off for Valen Street.

But as soon as he left bustling Lubo Lane and turned onto a quieter street, an uncomfortable sensation crept over him, as if something were prickling the back of his neck.

He couldn't shake the feeling that a gaze was clinging to his back, faint but persistent.

"Is it just my imagination?"

Gallo slowed down and quickly scanned behind him from the corner of his eye as he pretended to adjust his collar.

Passersby hurried along, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Everything around him looked normal, but the feeling that someone was watching him from the shadows wouldn't go away.

He casually slipped a hand into his pocket and grasped the greasy, blackened one-Fenso coin.

Ever since using it for divination, Gallo had kept it separate from the other Fenso coins he carried, storing it alone in the left pocket of his coat.

Taking out the coin, he walked slowly and braced it with his thumb.

Is someone watching me from the shadows and following me right now?

He silently asked himself, flicked the coin with his fingertip, and sent it spinning into the air, level with his eyes. It fell soundlessly into his palm, and he covered it with his other hand.

In an instant, that familiar, icy feeling of being cut off from the world descended again. Gallo fought to endure the discomfort.

He quickly lifted his hand... the coin was heads up.

The divination had given him an affirmative answer!

Someone really was following him! The feeling that someone had been watching him from the shadows all this time had been right.

Did that mean the person had been following him ever since he left Lubo Lane?

Gallo's heart sank, but why?

Including today, he'd only spent three days on Lubo Lane, and he'd never gotten into an argument with anyone.

Gallo thought it over. Was someone after the money he'd earned today?

He tightened his grip on the coin again.

Is the person after the money I earned today?

The coin fell. He held his breath and looked... tails up.

So it wasn't about money? The result only left Gallo more confused.

A frail-looking boy carrying nearly fifty Copper Nils was an easy target for any crook.

Gallo couldn't make sense of it, but at least he could rule out the possibility of being robbed for now. That eased his mind a little.

But being followed by someone whose motives he didn't know was more unsettling than a simple robbery.

He quickened his pace, sticking to busy main roads and making sudden turns now and then in an attempt to shake off whoever might be following him.

The sensation of being watched waxed and waned, but never disappeared completely.

Could it have something to do with what he'd been doing on Lubo Lane? As Stur had said, he'd become something of a celebrity there.

Maybe he was being followed because of his extraordinary abilities: his photographic memory, his speed-reading, and his knack for analyzing a book's contents in a very short time.

Gallo flipped the coin again. The result was still tails.

"Damn it!"

He paused to think for a moment, then headed toward the market instead.

The person following me might put me in danger.

He'd make one final prediction. If the answer was yes, he absolutely wouldn't bring that danger home with him.

If the result was no, he'd buy meat and vegetables for dinner, then go home.

It was tails again. There was no danger, which meant the person following him meant no harm.

He couldn't figure it out. Forcing himself to stay calm, he picked up his pace and stopped trying to spot the person following him.

At the market not far from home, he bought some fresh mutton from a butcher, then picked up vegetables for a stew from a greengrocer. Fighting off his unease, he headed home.

When he finally turned onto familiar Valen Street and climbed the narrow wooden stairs to the attic, the feeling of being watched vanished, strangely enough.

Gallo breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps the closely packed buildings had blocked the other person's view. Or perhaps they'd seen him reach his door and decided there was no need to follow him any farther, then left.

Either way, someone with questionable intentions now knew where he lived. Until he understood what was going on, Gallo knew he'd be too worried to eat or sleep in peace.

After steadying himself, he opened the door. His little sister Lily rushed over like a happy little bird.

"Gallo! You're home!" She came close, then sniffed and cried out in delight, "I smell cake!"

"What a good nose." Gallo smiled and handed her the waxed-paper package with the Madeleine Cake inside, then looked toward his mother, Aisha, who had sat up on the bed.

"Why are you so late today?" Aisha asked with concern. She seemed to have a little more color than yesterday.

"The shopkeeper wanted to discuss my pay again." Gallo had already prepared this explanation. He took out the eight Copper Nils he'd counted earlier and set them beside the bed.

"The shopkeeper said he's very pleased with my work, so starting today, my daily wage is eight Copper Nils."

"Eight Copper Nils!" Aisha and Lily exclaimed together, their faces alight with disbelief and joy.

"Yes, and that's just my base pay. Since I'm the only employee besides the shopkeeper, I also get a small commission on any books I recommend that are sold.

That'll bring my daily pay up a little more."

He continued, "I also got the next two days' wages in advance today, sixteen Copper Nils in all. I used some of it at the market to buy mutton and vegetables."

After hearing Gallo's explanation, Aisha was surprised and overjoyed. She kept exclaiming about what a kind shopkeeper he was.

But neither of them knew that this so-called kind shopkeeper existed only in Gallo's imagination. Even with a daily wage of eight Copper Nils, after deducting the monthly rent of one Nalang and fifty Copper Nils,

Gallo would be left with only ninety Copper Nils for wages. That was barely enough to live on. They could afford only the cheapest black bread and vegetables, yet his mother, Aisha, saw it all as good fortune for their family.

She and Lily could still earn a little money from sewing dolls, so the family could just barely scrape by in Tin City.

All Aisha hoped for was to get well soon and ease Gallo's burden, and, better yet, save enough money to send him back to school.

Gallo felt a pang of bitterness, but he kept smiling.

Then he took out the mutton he'd bought at the market and said to Lily, "We're having mutton stew tonight. Come help me."

Lily held the waxed-paper package containing the Madeleine Cake and breathed in its sweet aroma, but she couldn't bring herself to unwrap it. It all felt like a dream.

When she heard Gallo, she said, "But I've already made stew."

"That's fine. We'll add the mutton and fresh vegetables to it and cook a whole potful!"

"Great! It'll be delicious. I haven't had meat in ages!"

The little balcony kitchen was soon filled with the warmth of home.

The mutton simmered in the pot, sending out a tempting aroma. The warmth of this little family before him drove away the chill of the attic and the unease Gallo had felt on his way home.

Lily excitedly helped out, chattering away beside him.

In the soft lamplight at home, with his family by his side, Gallo temporarily pushed his misgivings about being watched to the back of his mind.