Chapter One: The Best Door on the Worst Day

“You don't have to believe me.” He placed the coin on her soaked termination notice. “But you'll need this before eight.” A bus passed, throwing up a wall of water. Wanxing closed her eyes. When she opened them, the man was gone. Two tiny characters were engraved on the coin's rim: Obsidian. At 7:57, following the collector's address, she arrived at an unmarked black tower on 44 Riverside Road. There was no creditor in the lobby. Twelve impeccably dressed people sat behind a long table, as though a funeral had begun recruiting its corpse. “Candidate thirteen?” asked the woman in the center. “Your token.” Wanxing put down the coin. “I'm here about a debt.”