Nicole POV
The directions in Nadia's note weren't complicated, but they were specific enough to keep us weaving through half-collapsed storefronts and dusty, gutted corridors. The deeper we went into the back of the mall, the quieter it got. No goblin chitter, no echo of survivors. Even the usual stink of rot and stagnant air seemed to fade.
The floors here were cleaner; swept, even. The occasional bloodstain had been scrubbed until it was just a dark shadow in the tile. I didn't like it. Goblins didn't clean. Which could only mean humans—ones with the time, resources, and control to force this place into looking almost normal.
Jasmine's eyes swept the hall as we approached a small coffee shop tucked into a corner, its once-glass front replaced with a curtain of heavy black cloth. Light leaked through the seams.
She met my gaze, and we both knew without words: this was it. Before we entered, our radios beeped, and Logan notified us that Wei Shen and his people had joined our camp. I know it was a hard decision for him, but I'm glad he decided to join us. We could use all the bodies we could get.
Jasmine pushed the curtain aside first, and we stepped into a different world.
The air inside smelled faintly of roasted coffee and something sweet, cinnamon maybe. The floor had been mopped. The tables were wiped clean. A camping lantern on the counter cast everything in a soft, amber glow. For a second, I could almost pretend this was before the world fell apart.
And then she looked up.
Nadia.
She stood behind the counter, a battered French press in one hand, steam curling up from it. Her blonde hair was pulled into a sleek knot, her skin unblemished, her clothes too clean, too perfect to be the result of scavenging. Red lipstick, like she'd just applied it, and eyes that held steady even when they landed on me.
"Well," she said, voice smooth as poured honey, "you actually came."
Her smile widened, and she gestured toward two mugs already set out on the counter. "Coffee? It's good. Well, good enough."
I didn't move. Didn't smile. Didn't drink. Jasmine, though, stepped forward with that careful calm of hers, the kind that said she'd already mapped every exit and marked every shadow that could hide a weapon.
Nadia leaned one hip against the counter. "No traps. No tricks. I thought it might be nice to talk somewhere civilized. You can relax."
I kept my voice flat. "You know what your version of civilized looks like to me? Controlled."
Her lips curved, not denying it. "Of course it does. Control is the only way you survive."
She slid one mug across the counter toward Jasmine. "Go on. Sit. We've got plenty to discuss."
Jasmine didn't sit right away. She stood there, that unreadable stillness she wore like armor, and set something small and metallic on the counter between them.
Jasper's badge.
"He's dead," Jasmine said, voice level but edged. "First floor. Tried to make it back but didn't. Thought you should have this."
For a moment, I watched Nadia's eyes flick down to the badge… and then back up, the slightest arch of her brow. No real emotion. No surprise.
"I don't want it," she said, dismissing it with a light push of her fingertips. "Jasper and I… our arrangement was strictly professional. I was keeping an eye on him, making sure he didn't do anything stupid. He had a habit of being a liability."
I felt my jaw tighten.
Nadia's gaze slid to me, all cool politeness. "Nicole, I am sorry, of course, for how our… entanglement might have complicated things between you. But you should know—he was already cheating before I ever came along."
The words were delivered like a courtesy, as if she were doing me a favor.
I didn't give her the satisfaction of reacting, though every muscle in my shoulders wanted to coil. I tightened my fist before breathing out slowly. I didn't come here for this. Stay focused.
Jasmine's eyes cut to me for the briefest second, a silent question, before she turned back to Nadia.
"You asked for this meeting," Jasmine said. "So talk. What do you want?"
Nadia tilted her head slightly, her faint smile returning. "The same thing you do, I imagine—an end to the goblins holding this place. But unlike most of the survivors here, I understand what we're dealing with."
She leaned forward just enough to make the space feel smaller, more intimate. "They're not mindless monsters. They have organization, a chain of command, and a working society. Break the right links, and the whole chain falls apart."
Her eyes flicked between the two of us. "I can tell you where to start. But it's going to require cooperation."
I kept my arms crossed, reading her tone as much as her words. Cooperation, in Nadia's mouth, didn't sound like "working together." It sounded like playing by her rules.
Jasmine didn't move. "Cooperation in exchange for what?"