“Remember agent, we do what we need to do and we leave. Get in, get out,” Ida whispered, yanking me toward her.

I glanced around. I couldn’t believe this was my first day on the job and I was already getting such a high-stakes assignment.

“What kind of people play here?” I asked nervously. I eyed a shady man in the corner playing blackjack, bowler hat pulled down low over his eyes. A woman opposite him in a plum leather jacket peeked above her cards, eyeing him warily. Hidden inside her hand I caught a glint of metal: a knife.

“Not the good kind.”

Ida continued dragging me through the casino. We weaved between people I could never imagine: a stout man in a tux and a monocle holding bubbling blue champagne; a teenager in a dress and clacking heels, tossing out newspapers and shouting “EXTRA! EXTRA!”; and a pair of twins with short-cropped blonde hair and tight silver bodysuits linked arm in arm, glaring at us.

But all of them were well-dressed, and most were drinking a variety of odd substances, playing their chance at some token or card game.

“Who are all these people?” I whispered to Ida as we shoved past a thin boy that reminded me of a pixie. “They’re not dimension-hoppers like us, right?”

Ida faced me, her hazel eyes reflecting the light of the chandeliers above. “No. Our crew calls them… in-betweeners. Money-makers. Every single one of them’s loaded, but they all got their money by…” she waved her hand. “Shady means. This lot’s as morally gray as it gets. That’s why we never come here, agent, unless we absolutely have to. It’s too risky one of them will recognize us from some interdimensional deal or another.”

She quickly pulled me out of the way, narrowing avoiding a waiter that was precariously balancing five glasses of a steamy green liquid on a tray.

“Poison,” she muttered. “It burns, trust me.”

Before I could ask how she knew that, I was yanked down another corridor, this one dimmer from lack of light. There was less chatter here, and though it was less crowded, somehow that made it more suspicious. We passed some kid in a yellowed tunic with gigantic looping earrings and one eye bandaged, maybe a pirate; and I definitely saw a woman to my right slip powder into one of her friend’s drinks when she wasn’t looking.

My stomach churned. “How much farther?”

Ida noticed my expression and smirked. “God, agent, you’re so innocent. This isn’t half of it. If you’re going to survive this mission, and better yet this job, you’re going to need to toughen up.”

I decided not to point out she still hadn’t answered my question as we continued.

We finally reached a door at the hall’s end, black wood with a golden knocker in the shape of a hound. Ida bravely reached up and knocked three times, its sound like thunder in the now empty hall. Trying to hide how hard my heart was pounding, I scooted closer to Ida.

A clatter from inside.

“What was that?” I whispered.

Ida groaned and banged on the door. “Gertrude! OPEN UP! We know you’re in there!”

“No!” replied a high, squeaky voice. I jumped at the sudden response.

Ida narrowed her eyes. “Open up or I’m banging down this door!”

“I’ll call my guards!” squeaked the voice again, nearer to the door this time. “You don’t have as much authority as you think you do, you foul little rat!”

The door heaved open, and out came a portly middle-aged woman in layers of muted purple and green robes. Long chains of sparkling gold and silver hung loose around her neck. Her frizzy brown hair was up in a high bun, and her frowning mouth showed two front teeth missing.

“Um… are you sure she’s who we’re looking for?” I muttered to Ida. “She doesn’t look like an assassin to me.”

“Assassin?!” The woman cried, shoving herself in between Ida and I. “Who said I was an assassin?! It’s those foul rats up at your agency, isn’t it?” She jabbed a knobby finger at Ida, the end of her sharp red nail digging into Ida’s chest. “Isn’t it?”

“Get your dirty nail off me,” Ida growled, staring her down.

The woman held her gaze, but drew back hesitantly, metal chains clanging.

“Good. Now, How about you let us inside so we can explain?”