A Debt of Foxes

The story so far

A Surety of No Line (chapters 1-10)

In the Bureau of the Unrecorded, the afterlife runs on paperwork, and Lin Ming is the only clerk with a shadow. Three years ago, on her first page, she struck her own father's death from the Register of Life and Death. He lived. The Bureau entered a debt of fourteen lines against her, and now it has sent her a surety: Nine, a fox spirit with amber eyes, flawless manners, three hundred and twelve rules of etiquette and strong opinions about her handwriting. He cannot stray more than a hundred paces from her, and every case she closes pays off one line. Their first case is a fox wedding at midnight and a missing gold cup. Then, as the debt drops to thirteen, Ming sees the grain of her desk through Nine's hand.

The Hand Under the Date (chapters 11-20)

The Code is plain: when the debt is paid, a surety with no line fades. And if the debt still stands at the spring equinox, it will be called against her father. Ming wants another way, and her superior, Registrar Han, begs her to stop asking. A visit to her father's paper shop on Lantern Lane shows her what she stands to lose, and how gentle Nine can be. Then she looks closely at her father's line and finds a second handwriting under the date, and a Magistrate's seal where no seal should be. A smiling Magistrate named Wen comes to her desk. Nine is not in the fox register at all. So Ming makes a list of other ways, and at the bottom she writes: find his name.

What the Paper Missed (chapters 21-34)

Two fox sisters with the same face each swear the other has killed three men, and Ming and Nine have their first real fight over whom to believe. Ming learns that a record can be correct in every line and still be wrong, and a word from Nine's past slips out over wine.

A Rule Worth Breaking (chapters 35-45)

A fox girl who laughs at everything has broken no rule, and the Code says to file her anyway. Ming has to decide what her own rules are worth, an inspector who has never been wrong comes to her desk, and the search for Nine's name draws closer.

The Cases in the Drawer (chapters 46-55)

One question no one else has dared to ask changes the way Ming works, because every case she closes takes a little more of Nine. A healer, a thunder calamity and a confession Registrar Han has carried for three years bring her nearer the truth, and nearer an inspection.

A Line for a Line (chapters 56-67)

One line left on the debt, and the books must balance. Ming has done the sum again and again, Nine refuses her answer, and a bell nobody has rung in ninety years waits outside the Hearing Hall.

Chapters 21+ unlock with coins or Unlimited.