Chapter 14

»Did you miss me marily?« The Green Woman inhaled the cigarette. She looked at Tivon. »I see you brought me a gift.«

»He's with me.« said Elias coldly.

She put down the cigarette embers. She stood up and walked in front of the table. The Green Woman leaned on it and asked. »Then why are you here for?«

»Is your sister in town?« asked Elias, walking around the room.

»Of course she is.« She inhaled while examining every inch of Elias.

»She still visits you?«

»Of course, marily. I would never leave my dear little sister.« She raised her chin. »What do you want with her?«

Elias turned to her. »I want to talk to her. You know eye to eye.«

The Green Woman laughed. »Eye to eye? Ha! That can't be. Even if she wanted to, I won't allow it.«

»Is she having those two guards even here?«

»Yes.« she said after a minute, her voice rougher and annoyed. »Stop beating around the bush Grímur. What do you want with her?«

Elias' voice was calm, but it peered through the air like thunder. »I want to talk to her.«

»The only ones that can speak to her are my jade boys. You already missed your chance Grímur.« She smiled at him. »Unless you want to join.«

Elias rolled up his coat sleeve, showing her the tattoo on his wrist. »Can't be cursed with two deals.« He rolled down the sleeve.

The Green Woman rolled her eyes. »Sabur…« She put the cigarette in her mouth. »Sorry Grímur, can't arrange a meeting, she'll only talk to my boys.«

She glanced at Tivon, her chin up, eyes narrowed at him. »How old are you boy?«

»N-nineteen.« stuttered Tivon.

She stepped closer to him, walking around him. »Nineteen and that small.« She moved his collar a bit down to see a scar on his neck. »Not ideal, but it'll do.« She walked to her window moving the curtains. »I'll take the boy.«

Elias turned to her. »Excuse me?!«

»You can't come to me empty-handed. And if you want to talk to my sister, marily, that boy is the only way.«

»No. You don't get him.« Elias' voice was full of anger and to Tivon's surprise, panic.

The Green Woman turned around, closing the curtains. »Then forget about talking to my sister.«

Elias wanted to step forward as Tivon said. »I'll do it.«

Elias looked at him. »W-what? No.« He came closer to him, whispering. »No, I won't allow it.«

»It's okay.« He said quietly.

Even though Elias was wearing the mask, Tivon knew that he was panicking. Tivon looked at The Green Woman. »Can we talk somewhere? Alone.«

She studied him for a second and then nodded towards the two men standing behind them. They opened the door and showed them the room on the left. Tivon and Elias went in and in a second that the door closed, Elias put down the mask.

»Tivon, what do you think you're doing?« he said with panic in his voice.

»She said that the only way we can talk to her is if I work here.«

»Yeah, I get that, but do you even understand what it means to work in this kind of place?! To be in this place?!« Tivon could hear the distress in his voice. He looked around. They were in one of the rooms. The coloured walls were covered in paintings, the floor was covered in carpets and pillows.

Tivon looked Elias in the eyes. »If it's the only way, I'll do it.«

Elias grabbed his shoulders. »You are selling yourself away to The Jade Paradise. You are selling yourself away to The Green Woman! And her sister is in the top rank. You'll never get there in time.«

»Then tell Sabur to give us more time.« He lowered his voice and whispered to Elias. »I have a plan. We need to get some money from Sabur, with it you can bribe people to see me. If we pay them enough, they will leave me alone. Your position changes with ranking. Every customer gets to rank the boy at the end. If the rankings are high your position changes. We just need to bribe some people.«

Elias started walking around the room. »It may work, but I can't just leave you here.«

»We can still see each other every day. I saw the rankings and the schedule in The Green Woman's office. An hour a day belongs to each boy.«

Elias didn't want to look at him. »You can't just end the contract once you've signed it.«

»Don't worry about it for now.« Tivon grabbed his hand. »Elias, do you trust me?« Elias looked at him, his eyes were filled with discomfort and worry, but he still nodded.

»I'm going to be okay.« Said Tivon, releasing his hand, wanting to leave. Elias quickly grabbed him and hugged him.

»Be careful, please.«

»I will.«

Elias put his mask back on and they returned to the office.

The Green Woman turned around. »So?« Elias slowly nodded. Her smile turned into a big grin. »Great!« She walked behind her desk and pulled out a piece of paper from the drawer.

She gave it to Tivon. »Sign there.« She pointed at the bottom of the page with her quellazaire.

Tivon took the pen and signed the paper. The Green Woman took it. »Ah, Tivon. A peculiar name.« She looked at him. »Welcome to The Jade Paradise.« She pointed at the man. »Walk the new jade boy downstairs.«

Tivon looked at Elias and gave him a reassuring smile, then he left with the man.

The Green Woman looked at Elias. »Anything else marily?«

"Can you promise me something?"

She puffed out a laugh. "My promises are not free. Try me."

Elias turned around to leave the office. »If anyone by the name Pit comes here. Don't let him see Tivon.«

After a minute of thought, she said. »You have my promise.«

Tivon silently followed the man down the stairs. As they ended, the room opened into a bigger hallway lightened up with candles. On each side was a small cell with a bed. They walked down the hallway and then the man stopped by an empty cell.

»Your clothes and the bracelet. When you change, come back to The Green Woman's office.« Then he left.

Tivon looked at the blue bracelet - Blue rank, the lowest. There were five ranks. Blue, red, purple, yellow and green. If he wanted for this job to go as planned he needed to get to the green bracelet. I hope Elias can convince Sabur to stay here a bit longer and to give him money, thought Tivon as he was dressing up in his green dress.

He looked in the mirror on the wall. Almost all of his upper body was visible through the chiffon. He turned around to see that his whole scar could be seen. I really hope this plan works out.

When he got ready, he went straight to The Green Woman's office.

»Ah, you're here.« Said The Green Woman with a smile. »Let's get over some rules.« She crossed her hands and leaned her head on them.

"You probably already know about the rankings," Tivon said, nodding. "When a customer wants to see you, I'll notify you. If they pay for two hours, you two will have a room for one hour. The customer isn't allowed to touch or do anything to you for the first ten minutes. I've had too many issues with that in the past; it has cost me some of the boys' lives. Pity."

"After ten minutes, the client can do whatever they wish. You are not permitted to bring anything into the room, and the same applies to the customer. Everything needed will be provided in the room."

"Every day, you have an hour for yourself. You still need to behave, as I prefer to maintain a good reputation. Whatever happens to you on the street isn't my concern, so don't get into trouble. Also, you need to stay within the radius of the pleasure house; I don't want you running away. If I find out you've been out there for more than one hour..." She shrugged, took a cigarette, and lit it. "Here, you're provided with three meals a day. If you don't have work, you stay in your cell. I don't want you wandering around the house." She stood up and walked toward Tivon. "Any questions?"

»So the client can do anything to me?« asked Tivon nervously.

The Green Woman stroked him over his cheek. »Don't worry, they won't hurt you. At least they won't do anything that could kill you.« She smiled, causing Tivon's body to shiver. »You may go now.«

Tivon moved quickly to the door.

»Oh only one thing Tivon.« He turned around. She was smiling. »If you get any unnecessary ideas, there will be consequences. And you don't want to know what those consequences are.«

Tivon nodded and closed the door behind him. No, I really don't want to know about the consequences.

Elias was standing in the darkness of the captain's cabin, explaining to Sabur the plan.

»We'll need more time.« said Elias. »And money.«

»You have some guts to come to me and ask me for money.«

»Tivon just sacrificed himself, for your stupid job.« replied Elias angry.

Sabur leaned back in his chair and smiled. » The boy is your problem. Remember?«

Elias had enough of him. He raised his voice. »Do you want that necklace or not, Sabur?« He tried to steady his shaking voice. He continued, his voice quiet. "You've already broken the promise. You said I'll never have to see her again."

Sabur went silent for a bit and then he grabbed a sack of money from his drawer and put it on the table. »I give you two weeks.«

Elias tried to grab the sack, but Sabur stopped him. He looked him dead in the eyes. »If I don't get that necklace in time, the boy won't be your problem anymore. I'll make sure of it.«

He released the sack. Elias grabbed it, put his mask on and left.

»If you fail, I will kill the boy.« He leaned back. »If you even manage to get him back from The Green Woman.«