Garrett pushed through the doors of the Verant guild hall and stopped just inside. The place was packed. More crowded than he'd seen it in months.

  Adventurers clustered around the notice boards.

  He moved straight toward the priority board without stopping to talk to anyone.

  The board was against the far wall. Separate from the regular postings. Reserved for urgent contracts that needed immediate attention. Right now there was only one parchment pinned there with a heavy iron nail.

  Garrett stopped in front of it and read.

  PRIORITY CONTRACT – SILVER RANK MINIMUM

  Locate and recover missing youths from border villages near Blackwood Forest. Total missing: twelve over a month.

  Party size: Maximum five members.

  Payment: Fifty-Thousand base. Five-Thousand bonus per survivor returned alive.

  Immediate departure encouraged.

  Guild Master seal: Veyra Thornwood

  The wax seal at the bottom was still warm when Garrett touched it with his thumb. Fresh posting. Probably put up within the last hour.

  Twelve missing people? He thought.

  He read the line about payment again. That meant the guild expected most of them to be dead already. They were paying extra just to recover corpses.

  Or they expected the party to encounter some unexpected danger.

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  Garrett didn't move for a long moment. He just stood there staring at the numbers. Trying to measure the risk and the reward. Which costed him good money previously.

  His left hand slipped into his coat pocket. His fingers closed around the thin braided cord bracelet he kept there. It was frayed at one end where it had started to come apart. He'd never fixed it.

  His sister's bracelet. Taken from her room the day she vanished four year's ago.

  He didn't pull it out. Just held it in his pocket and felt the weight of it against his palm.

  Four year's without a single lead. Four year's of searching every rumor and coming up empty. Four year's of his parents asking if he'd found anything and having to say no.

  Now this contract was sitting in front of him. Same area his sister had been traveling through when she disappeared.

  He exhaled slowly.

  Then he reached up and unpinned the contract from the board.

  ---

  The contract desk was near the entrance. A clerk sat behind it looking bored. He perked up slightly when Garrett approached.

  "Signing for priority?" the clerk asked.

  "Yes."

  The clerk pulled out a small knife and a blank ledger. "Just you or full party?"

  "Just me for now."

  "Silver rank confirmed?"

  Garrett showed his guild medallion. Silver emblem stamped in the center.

  The clerk nodded and pushed the contract across the desk. "Press your thumb to the bottom line. Standard terms apply."

  Garrett pressed his thumb to the indicated spot. The clerk pricked it quickly with the knife point. A single drop of blood welled up and touched the parchment.

  The contract glowed briefly. Silver light spread from the blood drop across the entire page. The text shifted slightly, rearranging itself to include his name and rank. Then the light faded.

  The parchment folded itself once and sealed shut. The wax seal at the bottom melted and reformed with Garrett's thumbprint pressed into it.

  A faint chime echoed in his ears. Only he could hear it. Contract accepted.

  The clerk took the folded parchment and placed it in a locked box behind the desk. "Departure timeline?"

  "Immediately."

  "Supply requisition?"

  "Basic tracking kit. Anti-scrying charms if you have them."

  The clerk wrote it down. "Priority contracts get full supply coverage. Pick up at the equipment counter on your way out."

  Garrett nodded and turned to leave.

  "One more thing," the clerk said. "Guild master wants to see anyone who takes this contract before they leave. Office is upstairs, third door on the right."

  Garrett stopped. "Now?"

  "Preferably."

  He cursed under his breath but headed for the stairs.