Free Immortal at the Edge of the World by Gene Doucette

truth is I believe that to be the case. However, I would rather be over-prepared for an imaginary monster than underprepared for a real one.”
    “That depends. If I’m what you consider preparation you should expect to be disappointed. I’ve found the best recourse when facing something monstrous is to run faster than it can. And I still haven’t heard a good reason to agree to any of this.”
    “Hmm. Can I appeal to your sense of adventure?”
    He could, because I actually was intrigued. Hsu was turning out to be the most interesting person I had met in a very long time. But he wasn’t telling me anything close to the entire story yet. “I have no sense of adventure,” I lied. “That sort of thing can get a man killed, and you may have noticed I excel at not getting killed.”
    He sighed, although it felt like he was expecting to reach this point in our conversation anyway.
    “Very well, but I warn you now that you will likely not believe me. You may even send me on my way for fear that I’m mad, and the only way I can prove to you that I am not mad is by catching up with the Jew.”
    “I can believe a wider range of things than most men.”
    “I hope so. Because the reason I am in my twenties while a century has passed since my childhood is that I didn’t spend all of my life in this world.”
    I blinked. About five or six times, I think. “Are there other options I’m unaware of?”
    “I walked the shadow world for a time.”
    “I’m afraid I still don’t follow. Do you mean death?”
    “No. No, no. Not the land of the dead. I met a man when I was younger. A special man, who was in truth no man at all, much as I am in truth no man.”
    “Another goblin?”
    “Something different. He had many names for himself and his people, but the one used most often was faery. The realm I speak of is the faery kingdom. And the thing I need your help to reacquire is a way to return to that kingdom and to the faery that first brought me to that place.”
    “Well,” I said. “You’re correct. I don’t believe you.”
    “You understand my reluctance, then.”
    “But it’s a good story, and I have chased plenty of imaginary objects based on far worse stories. So why not?”

Chapter Five
    I was with Hsu one time when I saw her. We were in a busy marketplace near Angora and having a heated discussion regarding the value of a number of furs we wished to obtain to keep us from freezing to death while en route to India and China.
    The merchant was a gifted haggler, and we were impatient, which was a terrible combination. With patience we could have reached a number we were all happy with after an hour. Our impatience would get us a number that was more beneficial to the seller, but take less time.
    I saw her red hair from half a market away, and only because the road was uneven and we were standing on a slight rise. I couldn’t tell what she was shopping for, but she was standing still and I was seeing the back of her head. This was a fortuitous thing, because most other times when I saw her, she also saw me, and when that happened she tended to disappear on me. I didn’t know why.
    Hsu was a little shocked when I shoved the fur I was holding into his hands and ran off, unkindly forcing my way through an already tight knot of people. I soon lost sight of the red hair, but since the market was essentially one long corridor I felt confident that so long as she didn’t move I would catch up to her.
    I was wrong, as always. I managed to reach the space where I swore she’d last stood, and then past it and around it and behind it, looking quite mad to a large number of people. She was gone.
    Hsu found me after a while, sitting at the edge of the market and no doubt looking forlorn.
    “I have our furs,” he said. “It became easier to negotiate once it was clear I was partnered with a madman. Do you wish to tell me why you went mad, or was that merely a show to get us a better price?”
    “We all have our own