Chapter 12
The residents of New York showed their usual cool as a large, gray dog walked off the subway train and started to run down the tunnels. Ky could only hope that he would be in time and that Hal would not have started drinking yet. He had never experienced subway trains before and yet, he thought, underground New York had a smell that he recognized, the smell of optimism and industry, mixed with desperation.
Hal’s building had an underground entrance, presumably his choice for importing the unsavory goods that he had shipped there. Ky listened for a moment at the door; nothing, not a sound. Then he took what he knew would be the biggest risk of the night, changed to his smallest shape, and crawled under the door. To his relief, he was alone in the room, a moth amid piles and piles of cash, dollars, euros, yen. The cash too had a particular stink, as pungent as the New York underground. He was glad to be in his moth’s shape: as a moth, the smell didn’t bother him as much. He flew up to the ceiling where he could get a good vantage point on the room, but as he put his feet down, he felt something soft and unfamiliar. He tried to lift one delicate foot and then another. Nothing. He felt a sudden sickening realization. He was stuck. He couldn’t fly away. He changed quickly to a man, but still he was stuck to the ceiling. His eyes flashed around the room, but he couldn’t see anything that would help. He couldn’t make a whale’s shape in here; the space was so small. Ky’s eyes came to rest on the door as Hal walked through it, smiling.
“You underestimate me,” Hal said cheerfully.
“Probably not,” said Ky coolly.
“I didn’t underestimate you, though,” Hal continued. “You were as easy to snare as I expected; too easy, really. This stuff is my own invention.” He gestured at the ceiling. “It’s based on their glue of course but I made some refinements. There are so many more interesting polymers now than there were when you were last on Earth, so much more raw material. I’ve been waiting for you. I didn’t imagine you would pass up a trip to New York. I didn’t make it a secret.”
Ky winced but didn’t comment. He couldn’t tell what was behind Hal’s eyes. If he knew about Mimi, that would be the end of the plan.
Hal continued, “I don’t like the small shapes, but I thought you probably would have at least one. I even used to have a seal on the door, but I took it off just to let you in.” Hal was smug. Ky hoped he was smug enough to keep talking. “And you crawled in as a moth. Why a moth? No poison, no speed. You make weak choices, Ky Or-ta.”
“A moth can have its advantages.”
“I can’t think of one.” Hal made a charade of tapping his temple.
“A moth usually goes unnoticed.”
“Well, that didn’t work this time, did it?”
Ky didn’t answer.
“Do you like my shop?” Hal gestured to a large still that was sitting in the corner amid the cash. It was off, but the piping still dripped brown drops into a bottle close to Ky. “The world has changed since last you were here, Ky. Did you know, people now hire other people to tell them how to be rich? That’s my job. I’m a financial advisor. And of course, as they say, you have to have money to make money.” Hal beamed at the piles of money that surrounded them on the floor. “Everything has changed,” he continued. “Look at this paper money! Who would have thought that was a good idea? But it does make such a good, hmmm, it makes such a good liquid asset.” He chuckled at his own joke. “I like this new century! People are so optimistic. If you remember back to before you ruined everything, we all had to pretend to be divine and then we could get rich. Now they’ve, shall we say, cut out the middleman? Now you can just pretend to be rich and then get rich!”
“Distilling money, making the power that makes money, clever,” Ky said carefully.
“Money is this wonderful thing. It’s just an invention, but once it exists, it has inexorable magnetism. You might say it’s the human version of magic.”
“The still is off,” said Ky. “Problems with production?”
“It’s a little noisy,” replied Henry. “I wanted to be able to hear you come in. I couldn’t just leave you stuck to the ceiling forever.”
“That was thoughtful,” said Ky.
“Not for your sake. I have another guest coming down. The senator is expecting a tour. But now see, you’re late, and so your body will be lying around during the tour. It’s unfortunate. Or maybe it’s not,” Hal considered. “The senator is easily intimidated. It’s part of why I picked him.”
“That’s a bit grisly, isn’t it?” asked Ky calmly. “Perhaps you’ve been watching too much of their TV. Tell me, does the senator think that you’re human?”
“The senator doesn’t think about anything but his future presidency.”
“That’s encouraging,” Ky said dryly.
“I know!” Hal exclaimed. “All that ambition, but for what? He doesn’t have any real opinions. You’d think you’d want to be president for a reason, but no, he just wants to be president to be president! It’s remarkable.”
“That’s one way of looking at it. I suppose you have enough opinions that you will be willing to share with him.”
“I may have a few pieces of legislation that I’m interested in, a few things in the pipeline, as they say.”
“What are you doing with time, Hal?” Ky opened up a telepathic channel to Oskar so that he could hear the response; it was dangerous, but Ky needed him to hear, just in case. He felt Oskar’s concern hit him hard in the front of his mind. Oskar had always been a clumsy telepath. Quiet now, thought Ky. Listen only. He can’t know you’re here.
“Time?” Hal looked at Ky, genuinely confused. And then a smile crept across his face. Ky thought he could have been mistaken, but the smile was one of almost paternal pride. “I’m not doing anything with time. I’m a simple merchant. I only trade in liquor.”
Ky tried again. “Don’t kid me. You know something about it.”
“You’re hardly in a position to ask questions.” Hal gestured toward the sticky ceiling. He smiled and started to search Ky’s eyes. Ky quickly broke the connection to Oskar.
“Not working alone, I see?”
“Saving the world from power-hungry megalomaniacs seems to be a popular cause.”
“Ky Or-ta, in case you didn’t learn the last time you were in this precious world, it has ONLY power-hungry megalomaniacs. I just choose the best ones and liquor them up.”
“Liquor, or distilled power?”
“I go where the market takes me. I may throw you in there when I’m done with you.” Henry opened his arms wide in a pantomime of dropping a large heavy object into the still. “You have a couple of talents my drinkers might be interested in, provided you are dead, that is.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” Ky wriggled helplessly on the ceiling.
“I have other people for that.” Hal smiled.
“You’ve been human for too long, Hal,” Ky said quietly.
“You think I should spend more time as a moth?”
“Start with that. I’m guessing it would improve you.”
“I’m not that easy to trap, Ky Or-Ta. I may not distill you after all. I am thinking when I have your body, I may send it back to Or-Ta. It will be a warning for Ezik. This is my world now. There won’t be any more code, any more fake morality for us to throw at each other.”
“Morality’s not fake, Hal. Look at what power has done to you. You can’t even change. I don’t have to trap you; you’ve built your own trap. Tell me you’re not itching to change. I know you have other shapes, and now you’re afraid of them—now that you’ve built up your human to be anything but human. Tell me, what happens to your other shapes now that you’re drinking all that money? Are they weak? Sick? Slow? But your human, just the opposite, right? It’s too bad that even humans have morals, isn’t it. Your minions? They doubt you. They lie awake at night wondering if they are making a deal with the devil.”
“I’ve never met anything as ridiculous as your newfound morality,” Ha
l thundered. “There wasn’t a single item in that code that you didn’t trespass in your day. You, YOU, Ky! You are their devil. You were responsible for Paris!”
Ky let the word “Paris” wash over him with a wave of sorrow and regret as it always did. His stomach turned but his face was stony. “That’s how I knew we needed the code.”
Hal continued as though he hadn’t heard, “And Ezik. Ezik was even worse than you, playing the hero from far away. Want to do humankind a favor? Stay away! At least I’m playing their game. I’m even using their pieces!” He picked up a wad of cash and shook it at Ky. “This stuff? This is their game. This is what they do for fun. If you want to keep this world organized and peaceful, keep morality out of it.”
“Your distillery is magic they don’t possess.”
“One step, one simple step, that’s all, just a little push. Give them enough inspiration, they could probably come up with it.”
“You agreed to that code. We all did. I paid for my mistakes. I still do.”
“But you can’t undo them, can you? This is a world full of mortals. In fact, what was your plan for tonight? Everyone but me escapes unharmed? They’ve already drunk the poison.” He gestured to the ceiling where they could hear the faint sounds of partygoers a level above. “You can’t get rid of them. I know you won’t kill them. You can’t stop me now regardless. I have already tarnished the innocent. And what are you going to do about it? Nothing! You have your stupid code.”
“The code doesn’t keep us from fighting for what’s right on Earth.”
“Fight? You can’t fight me. Neither you nor Ezik nor any of his silly band of righteous idiots is a match for my new strength.”
“Which only works if you’re human. None of your other shapes would be enhanced by money. That’s why you won’t change. And that’s why you’ve made powerful friends who can get you the money. And you’re so powerful now that you can just lure them right back.”
“True, although after tonight, I won’t even need to lure them back. Tonight, you might say, the cocktail is special.”
Ky looked at the mania behind Hal’s eyes and realized it was much worse than he had thought. Right now Mimi was in terrible, terrible danger. Where was she? Had she gotten out of the car?
“Your blood,” Ky said thickly. “All these powerful people will drink your blood.” How could he warn Mimi to stay away from the party? He tried to open a telepathic channel to Oskar, but the other side was blank.
“You’re smart, Ky. Looks like the Or-Ta would have had a bright future with you.” Hal smiled at him and nonchalantly gestured upstairs. “They’ll think it’s their regular dose. They won’t even know what has happened to them until it’s much too late. They may never know. The senator is not terribly quick on the uptake. His wife is, but, well, sadly for her, she’s here too.”
“So when Senator Ellsworth runs for president?”
“Let’s just say it will be a landslide, my landslide.”
“And all these other powerful people?”
“Will get a bigger and bigger slice of the pie.”
“And you’ll control them. So why pull them back to a feudal system?”
“Easier to manage, it’s the corporate structure. You can think of them as middle management.”
“More like a bunch of out-of-control lunatics.”
“Oh, I don’t think they will be out of control.”
“It is forbidden!” Ky threw the power of his voice against Hal. He knew at best it would rattle Hal. Hal was too powerful to submit to the command of Ky’s voice, but here, on the ceiling, Ky had nothing else. His voice was still strong.
“Forbidden by whom?” Hal shouted. “You already know I’m in charge. None of the Or-ta are close to this powerful!”
Ky realized he was right. And he realized that he had only one chance to live; that chance depended on Mimi not yet having had the scotch.
They heard footsteps on the stairs and a tentative voice in the next room. “Henry?”
“Ah, the senator is here,” sighed Hal. He called out, “Just a moment. I’m almost done here, Eric!”
His eyes were glued on Ky. “Much as I’d love to stay and chat, I can’t have you ruining my party.” He picked up a wad of hundred dollar bills, turned it into a knife, and threw it hard at Ky.
As the knife struck, Ky made a last-ditch effort and changed.
Oskar pulled up in front of the small sign. The street was busy. For a moment Mimi imagined melting into the crowd, hailing a taxi, going to see something on Broadway. What was she doing here in this crazy version of New York? Oskar turned to Mimi and said something in Or-Ta. It sent shivers down her spine. “Good luck,” he translated. “I will see you on your return. Oh, and you’ll need this.” He handed her a package wrapped in brown paper.
“Thanks,” she said and slipped it into her oversize couture bag. Purses really are good for something, she thought.
She stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of Henry’s shop. The large wooden door was original to the building, but had been refinished. A young man, sharply dressed, opened it for her. The door swung open heavily, like a bank vault. As she stepped across the threshold, she tried to breathe in confidence, like they do in acting classes. She had never needed that for TV, but she needed it now. Breathe in confidence, breathe out confidence. You are the heiress in the red dress, she thought. The party was private, small. She looked around. She was embarrassed to recognize so many politicians. This was not her usual crowd. She walked up to the bar where a tall, beautiful young woman in a tuxedo was pouring snifters of scotch.
“Scotch is all you have?” Mimi asked.
The woman gave her a patronizing smile. “This is a party for a store that sells scotch.”
“That’s a very good point,” said Mimi, and smiled at her own private joke; hers would turn into a shameless daiquiri as it touched her lips. She turned away with her glass, sipped it, and then spit it back into the glass. That is no daiquiri, she thought, alarmed. She wasn’t sure what the rules were on Ky’s drink trick, but she guessed that either meant that there was something very wrong with the scotch or that Ky was somehow…she didn’t want to think about that, but her senses went into high alert. She sidled over to the large display window trying to plan her escape. She couldn’t see Oskar’s car. Should she try to finish their plan, or run for it? She tipped out her glass onto a potted plant and gasped in horror. The ivy seemed to shudder; the leaves became brittle, dried up, curling, crackling in front of her eyes. The stem went soft and drooped. Mimi instinctively stepped in front of it, but she was too late. A well-dressed woman in her fifties came up next to her.
“What did you just do?”
Mimi looked at her, mouth agape. For once she had nothing to say. She tried to stand between the woman and the plant. She looked around her at all the people. They were all drinking, but they didn’t seem to be dying just yet.
The woman looked at Mimi’s empty glass. “Good God,” she said. “That was the scotch?”
“I know what you’re thinking.” Mimi searched the woman’s terrified eyes. “You’re not going to die.” Mimi tried to sound convincing although she felt like rinsing out her own mouth with soap.
Sarah looked from Mimi to the shrunken ivy. “That couldn’t- that’s not- was that real?”
“I need maybe ten minutes before you say anything about this, please,” Mimi begged.
“What is going on here?” The woman started to raise her voice.
“I know this looks very strange-” Mimi dropped her voice to a whisper.
“It looked very strange long before we got into this situation.” Sarah’s voice was rolling up in pitch and intensity. “Now it looks downright terrifying.”
“I know, I know how it looks, but you’ll be okay; I—we—I have a plan for this.”
“You have a plan for that?” Sarah gestured toward the ivy. “We need help! We need to get out of here! We need to get these people out of here!”
/> Curious faces were starting to turn toward them. “Look, if you shout right now, it’s over for everybody, and I’m not talking about just this everybody.” Mimi gestured around her. Her voice was a hiss.
The woman must have believed her because she returned in a whisper, “I am leaving. Where’s my husband?”
“What?”
“Senator Ellsworth. I’m Sarah Ellsworth.” She finished the thought in her head, and I’m the senator’s wife. Mimi didn’t follow politics, but she knew about the senator’s presidential campaign and that his wife was the big liability. She could see why. Sarah Ellsworth’s eyebrows were disappearing up her forehead and she was clearly frightened, yet her power and ingenuity were unmistakable. She didn’t come across as someone you could placate. If Mimi were older, political, and not in the situation she was in, she could imagine them being friends. Sarah was speaking quickly in a no-nonsense tone of voice.
“I know you’re Mimi Parks, I know you’re Henry’s girlfriend, and I want to know where Henry Halstead got all his money, what we’re all doing here, and what’s in the scotch.” Sarah wasn’t much taller than Mimi, but her anger changed her posture so that she was a towering figure.
At that moment, they heard a boom from the basement and the building shook slightly. The guests looked at each other, but quickly shrugged and resumed their conversations. Mimi looked around for the top of the stairs. The bang was Mimi’s cue. It meant the plan was still on, she hoped. She saw the top of the banister behind the bar, charmingly decorated with golden party ribbons. The stairs down were unlit. She pulled out the package and stuffed her oversized purse behind the flowerpot.
“Come with me,” she said, grabbing Sarah’s arm. “But quietly and say nothing, nothing.”
Ky felt a tearing sensation as his fur ripped out of his skin and he fell to the ground, Hal’s knife in his side. The knife turned into a scattered pile of bloody money as it hit the floor. As he fell, Ky created the thunderclap. It was weaker than he intended. He hoped it was enough for Mimi to hear upstairs. Then Ky lay limp.
Hal approached him and stood over him, readying a final blow.
“You’re really going to die in your dog shape?”
Ky said nothing; he didn’t move.
“Let’s just hope this is enough of a message for Ezik.” Hal held up another wad of money and changed it slowly, menacingly, into a sword.
As he was about to strike, he heard Mimi’s voice in the next room.
“Oh hello, senator!” she laughed loudly. “Oh my goodness! I didn’t know the real party was down here!” she squealed. “I was looking for the bathroom.”
Hal closed his eyes to try to test his new powers, but they didn’t work on Mimi. She must not have had a drink yet. She didn’t leave. He would have to make her leave the room the old-fashioned way. Why had he invited a party girl? He was a sucker for beautiful women. Hal looked down.
Ky was still motionless on the floor, making no move to fight.
Hal strode quickly through the narrow basement doorway into the next storage room where Mimi stood next to the senator who was seated on a cardboard shipping box. Mimi cast a quick glance over Henry’s shoulder, but she couldn’t see behind him.
“Henry! Why are you keeping everybody important down here with you?” She smiled at him. She was holding a pint bottle of scotch in one hand. “Shall we toast your new business venture?”
Henry smiled. There was no reason not to have Mimi here when she took that first sip. Then he could get rid of her if he wanted to, or keep her, or keep her quiet. She wouldn’t be as interesting when she was under his control, but there were other women in the world.
She poured her scotch into their glasses.
Sarah Ellsworth watched them from the dark landing at the bottom of the stairs. She and Mimi had come down the stairs together, but Mimi had warned her not to come further into the basement and not to make a sound. Sarah strained her eyes at the scene. Unlike the upstairs, which looked party perfect, nothing had been remodeled down here for many years. The low ceilings were hung with fluorescent lights. Shipping crates and cardboard boxes were scattered around. It was strange for Sarah to see Mimi’s face, the face that she recognized from magazines, framed by this damp and ugly basement. Mimi appeared not to notice the surroundings. She was swaying slightly, and smiling, holding a pint bottle and a glass, nothing like the determined woman she had been a moment ago, upstairs. Contrary to popular belief, Mimi was a good actress, thought Sarah. She remembered the dead plant and felt sick. She bit her lip and pressed herself back into the darkness. Henry stood to the side of Mimi in a second narrow doorway, his large frame blocking the light from another storage room behind him. His face looked agitated, flushed. Behind Henry, Sarah caught a glimpse of stacks and stacks of money, and was that blood? Were they about to drink the scotch again? She saw her husband sitting there on a cardboard box, next to Mimi, glass in hand. She felt her fists tightening. She had no idea what this crazy cover girl was up to, but it didn’t seem worth the risk.
Mimi raised her glass.
Sarah couldn’t contain herself. She pushed off the wall and came charging into the room, her eyes casting violently side to side as though looking for a clue that she had missed. “What the hell is going on here?”
Eric looked up, aghast.
Mimi muttered some nasty curses silently.
Henry closed his eyes.
Sarah’s face softened. Her tone changed dramatically, instantly. “I’m glad I finally found you, darling!” she said.
Mimi stared at her in disbelief. She tried to catch Sarah’s eye, but Sarah looked back unseeing, vacant.
Eric looked at Henry, “What have you done to her?” he asked.
Henry hoped the senator had already had a drink. “Why don’t you pour a glass for your wife?” he said.
“I’ve got it!” cried Mimi. Could Henry really think she was that ditzy? She hoped so. She poured from her bottle for Sarah.
“To Henry!” Mimi said, and knocked it back.
Henry and Sarah knocked theirs back as well. The senator looked at the scotch hungrily but warily. He drank, his eyes darting back and forth between Henry and his wife. Mimi watched them all. There seemed to be no change. Sarah was still vacantly smiling at Eric. Henry stood tall and arrogant. Mimi had followed the plan, but it must have failed. Henry shifted position slightly, and again she tried to peer around him and the piles of money. Ky must be in there. She tried to think of a way to get to him. Even if he was dead, she couldn’t leave him here.
Then the senator made a surprising jerking movement and everyone looked at him. He fell off the cardboard boxes. He started to choke. At first it was silent; he shook, and then the coughing started. Sarah started to choke as well. Tears ran from her eyes as she grabbed at her throat.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Sarah,” the senator gasped.
“What, what have you done?” Sarah asked thinly, and then she turned. “Mimi?”
Mimi could only stare back, still holding the neck of the pint bottle. What had she done? Had she killed them?
She turned to Hal. He was confused and then, he was reaching for his own throat. He looked at Mimi too. She knew she couldn’t hide her betrayal, and his eyes flashed violence. For a moment she was frozen to the spot. All she could think was, he’s going to kill me before he dies, but she still couldn’t move. She held the bottle tightly. He reached his hand up, and a blast of wind threw her into the wall. The impact knocked the air out of her lungs, her ribs made an alarming cracking sound, her head forced backwards. She dropped the bottle, and it shattered on the floor. Then his hold released; she stumbled but landed on her feet as she watched him fall to the floor. The room was spinning. She had drunk from the same bottle. She couldn’t tell for a moment if she was choking or just winded from impact. She struggled to get her breath.
Hal lay on the floor sputtering. Had she poisoned him? How? He saw above him the flash of a red dress as Mimi regained her bre
ath and balance and rushed past him. She jumped over the pile of bloody money.
She got to Ky’s side as he was getting off the floor. He was holding another gruesome wound.
“Similar injury to last time, but on the other side,” she said, her voice still weak. “Parties are not good for you.”
“Is he down?”
“I think so.”
“Are you okay?”
“I don’t know. Am I?”
“Yes.” He touched the side of her face tenderly with his free hand and breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes, you are. Look at you.”
She gave a small laugh. “I’ll have to take your word for it.”
Ky got up, slipping on loose hundred dollar bills strewn about the floor. He stumbled to Hal’s side. Mimi followed, but kept a wide distance from Hal, who was clearly still conscious. She knelt by Sarah’s limp body, and with a shaking hand, found that Sarah had a pulse, weak but steady.
“I’m so sorry about that,” Mimi whispered to her. She checked the senator’s pulse. It was the same. He was alive, but out cold.
“What did you put in it?” Hal spluttered.
“Something much tastier than your formula. I believe I’m now in possession of your powers, yes?”
Hal mumbled something inaudible.
“Mimi, would you go upstairs and get rid of the guests.”
“Gladly. Are they okay? Can they just go home?”
Ky looked at her thoughtfully. “Where else do you propose they go?”
“The hospital?”
“There’s no treatment for this at one of your hospitals. We can only hope they didn’t have very much scotch.”
“What if they did?”
“There’s no treatment for that either.”
“Will they die? Get sick?”
“No, not exactly.”
“I’ll send them home then. What do I do with the scotch?”
“It’s more of a hazard than I thought. Don’t touch it. I’ll have to return to clean up. The power I have over Hal is temporary, so we need to get him safely back to Or-ta. Just make sure you lock the door behind you when the guests leave.”
“Done,” she said. Mimi climbed back up the narrow stairs. Walking back into the party was like entering a dream. Up here nothing had happened. Politicians were still hobnobbing around. Streamers still hung from the ceiling. She went to the center of the room and waved her arms, which caused her ribs to smart. She lowered them and shouted, “Okay, party’s over! Time to go home!” and then for embellishment, “Henry got arrested!” A moment of absolute silence hung over the crowd. They looked at her as though, for a moment, trying to maintain their poise.
“Arrested,” she repeated. “Everybody can leave now.” She gestured to the young man manning the door, and he opened it with a flourish. There was almost a collective sigh, and then Mimi shooed people out the door. After some chaos, most of the politicians just disappeared. I must have said the magic word when I said “arrested,” she thought.
She held the door as the young man and the pretty bartender in the tuxedo looked at her.
“Just leave,” Mimi said. “Wait. Out of curiosity, did you drink the scotch?”
“No,” said the woman. “We were told we couldn’t. It seemed like a big deal. Do you know why?”
Mimi met her big, innocent, slightly haughty brown eyes. “I do.” She offered nothing more.
The woman hesitated for a moment and then walked out into the fading light, pulling off her bow tie.
Mimi looked around the room. She pitied Ky the cleanup, but since she wasn’t allowed to touch the scotch, she went out and pulled the great heavy door shut behind her. Oskar drove up to where she was standing on the sidewalk before she even had time to look for him or call for him; his dark eyes looked intently at the building as though he could see what was happening inside.
She sat next to him on the edge of the seat. “Drive around the side,” she said, “to the basement delivery entrance.”
“Did it go well, Miss Parks?” he asked. With his tone of voice, he could have been asking about a tennis match.
“Everyone is still alive.”
He nodded his approval. That clearly met Oskar’s definition of going well.
As they rounded the corner, Ky was coming up from a door in the sidewalk. He had a glowering Hal in front of him.
“Where are the senator and his wife?” asked Mimi.
“They passed out. They’ll sleep it off. I’ll return tonight to clean up Henry’s blood. Then I’ll call the police about the money. Maybe they’ll take pity on the senator and get him out quietly. Maybe not. If he’s found in a New York basement with a lot of money of unknown origin, I can’t imagine that will be good for his career, but it will probably be good for the political process. And anyway, the senator won’t suffer the terrible fate he was about to suffer, at least not completely. Some of the damage cannot be undone.”
“Should we leave them a note or something?”
“They won’t wake up soon, Mimi.”
Mimi glanced back worriedly at where Sarah and Eric were unconscious in the basement. Sarah had almost ruined everything, and yet Mimi liked her.
“It’s not entirely their fault, you know,” she said. “I think they’re probably pretty normal people, or they could be.”
“I know,” said Ky. “Would you like me to get them out without the help of your police?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Mimi. “I don’t think, well, he probably shouldn’t be president, you know, now, after this.”
Hal gave a sinister laugh and said under his breath, “Find me someone who should.”
Hal got into the back seat of the car of his own accord.
“Oskar,” said Hal, “it’s been quite some time.”
“Hal Or-ta,” said Oskar, and then something in Or-ta that Mimi didn’t understand.
“It’s okay, I don’t blame you,” said Henry.
“Likewise,” said Oskar, “I do not blame you. The temptations of this world are great.”
“Yes they are,” said Hal, gazing straight at Mimi. She squirmed in her seat. She didn’t like the way he was looking at her, as if he was looking for a weakness and had found one.
“What did you do to Henry?” she asked Ky.
“A trickster forfeits his power to you if you can make him fall into his own trap. It’s an old kind of magic, one of the oldest. I think it shows up in some of your fairy tales. It’s the equivalent of casting a spell into a mirror. His plan was to control people with the scotch. It was a trick. But instead he drank ours and didn’t know it, double-trick, so we have control over him. I have to admit, having Henry’s power is giving me a little indigestion.” Ky frowned and looked at his hands. “I feel like picking up a skyscraper and throwing it in the river.”
Mimi looked at him, alarmed.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to do it.”
“But you could?”
“I don’t think so. But that was a lot of human power he was consuming. We’ll try not to find out.”
“Does he have to ride with us?”
“Just back to the hotel.”
“What did we drink?” she asked. “I don’t understand why it incapacitated everyone but me.”
“That was dicey, actually.” Ky smiled. “Not everyone can digest a good thing. But I had high hopes for you.”
Mimi again looked alarmed.
“It wouldn’t have killed you. It could have made you a little queasy. It was a copy of the Magna Carta.”
“The what?”
“A thirteenth-century English document; it gave power to the people, the proletariat, back in the day. Arguably, it ended the feudal system and the absolute power of monarchy in England and, by influence, much of the world. You should read some history.”
“I didn’t know it could be so useful. How did you get the copy here?”
“Oskar took it from his local high school.”
“I’ll get them ano
ther one,” said Oskar ruefully. “I needed it quickly.”
“So it wasn’t a real one?”
“That wouldn’t have been necessary. In fact, the high school copy was better, provided any students had ever read it.”
“I can’t promise that.” Oskar cracked a slight smile.
“As soon as I realized what Hal was doing, I realized the solution was so elegant. Hal was distilling money, that and some other ghastly things. But his distillery was condensing the feeling of the item; simple magic, the simplest, really. He was putting in money. Money has so much power for people. It was giving the drinkers a huge rush of power, charisma, influence. But anything could have been distilled in there. Everything has an essence, energy that could be drunk that way. Remember when I was so confused about the books turning into spears? I was only looking at the energy of the matter. Hal was dealing with the energy of the content of the books. Presumably he has quite a few books in his library about weapons, violence, fear. Those are the ones he would have used. Or-ta—and people—sense inner energy. Henry just used a little magic to make the energy of the money liquid. I don’t know if anyone has ever thought of it before, but it isn’t difficult magic, just ingenious.”
Mimi looked at Henry. A flicker of a smile crossed his cold expression.
“All we had to do was take something imbued with the opposite of his intention, put it through the still, and the power disappeared: more than disappeared, it backfired. You may have noticed the still was designed for paper, so the Magna Carta was easy to get all the way through the process into a bottle of very different scotch. Oskar came here two days ago, as soon as you told me we were going to New York. He broke into the shop, distilled the document, stole an empty bottle. Then the only trick was to get Hal to drink it too. You did that.”
“That’s why Oskar was already here, why you asked him if it had gone well.”
“Yes.”
“What happened, Oskar?”
“Miss?”
“When you got injured, when you stole the bottle?”
Oskar paused for a moment, then said in a matter-of-fact tone, “Hal had to believe that the first attempt on the building was Ky’s. I couldn’t risk that it be discovered that I had been there. But I needed a few hours alone in the building, which was heavily guarded until Hal arranged to let Ky believe he was breaking in.”
“He had to disable three of Hal’s guards,” said Ky, “without the other ones noticing, and then administer a light sedative so that when they awoke they would think they had fallen asleep.”
“One of them was a good fighter,” said Oskar calmly. “Not enough training, though.”
“With the drug we could count on them not remembering clearly as long as they didn’t have any serious injuries, so Oskar had to disable them without really hurting them. No small endeavor.”
“And we had to count on them being embarrassed enough that they wouldn’t tell the others.”
“Which worked.”
“Thank goodness for professional pride.”
“Then Oskar went to the distilling equipment, distilled the Magna Carta, and gave the bottle to you.”
“Wow,” said Mimi. “I’m glad I didn’t know about that part.”
“See,” said Ky. “I told you not knowing the plan was for your safety.”
“More like for my sanity.”
“Oskar hasn’t lost a fight in a thousand years,” said Ky. Mimi could hear gentle chiding in his voice.
“That’s not true,” said Oskar. “I lost a fight with Hal seven hundred years ago.” He nodded respectfully toward Hal.
“All right. Oskar hasn’t lost a fight with another human in a thousand years.”
“More accurate, unless you count myself.”
“I do not count that,” said Ky.
“Whoa.” Mimi looked at Oskar. “If you become your parents, there’s more than one of you alive at once! I didn’t even think about that.”
“That means I usually have a very able opponent,” said Oskar.
“See, he’s not always humble.” Ky laughed. “But that is the truth. Oskar is the best. That’s why I asked for him.”
A glance passed between them that Mimi did not understand.
It was almost seven o’clock. The sun had started to sink and make the beautiful autumn day cold. Oskar made his way deftly through the New York evening traffic.
“The Magna Carta,” said Mimi, amused. She was still slightly buzzed. “I’ll look it up.”
“There’s a lot of good stuff in that document, but the trap, of course, the trap was that it was the opposite of Hal’s intention.”
“I was worried about drinking it, but I feel great, kind of good-drunk.”
“That’s a good sign about your morals.” Ky laughed.
“So all those poor people drank Henry’s formula.”
“We thought it was just money and power. Even though those are not to be trifled with, they do wear off. We didn’t know about the blood,” said Ky sadly. “We didn’t think he would be so brash.”
Henry had been listening to them, not speaking, but now he spoke up, his voice low, menacing. He addressed Mimi. “You were working with him the whole time?”
“Not the whole time,” said Mimi. “we met very recently. Plus, you don’t get to be mad. I get to be mad. You’re the one who was just using me.”
Hal smirked. “And what was he doing?” He gestured toward Ky.
Mimi thought for a moment. “Using me for good instead of evil?” She glanced at Ky. He nodded and shrugged. He was amused by her answer.
Hal continued, “You may find that those two things are not as different as you’d like them to be. Ky has not always been a knight in shining armor, you know.”
“You’re in an awkward position to say that to the lady,” said Ky.
“Now you’ve put the lady in an awkward position, haven’t you?” said Henry.
“Well, right now you’re harmless, and I hardly think you’ll be allowed to leave Or-ta in her lifetime,” Ky replied.
“That’s not what I’m talking about, Ky.”
“Then what are you talking about?”
A twinkle played behind Hal’s eyes. “You don’t know yet, do you?”
“Know what, Hal?” Ky was stern.
“Oh, I don’t think I’m going to tell you. But I’ll be very happy when you find out.”
“Don’t test me, Hal. I am in control of your powers, which maybe you should have thought about before you drank all that money.” Ky’s voice filled the car. Mimi could almost feel the tires start to rise away from the road. She could see Oskar’s eyes squinting in the front seat as he tried to concentrate on driving.
“He’s just trying to make me upset,” said Mimi. “Did I mention he was a bad boyfriend?”
Ky laughed indulgently. “Okay,” he said. His voice returned to its regular tones. “Let’s get Hal back to Or-ta, shall we?”
The tall buildings passed by. Hal glowered.
Oskar pulled up in front of the hotel. They got out and took the elevator to the top floor, and then the stairs up the last flight to the flat gravel roof. The sharply angled light of the early evening shone on them.
“Why the roof?” asked Mimi.
“Travel between worlds takes time. It’s better to be somewhere private. Mostly, no one is looking up to see if there’s something weird going on. Also it’s easier the higher up you go. From this world I usually travel as a crow. But Hal can’t change right now, so-”
Hal gave Ky a withering look.
“You mean you don’t just teleport there?” asked Mimi.
“No, Or-ta can’t teleport; what made you think we could? We are much faster than people, especially on our own world, which is nice because then it doesn’t matter where we land, and I haven’t looked at the stars recently so I’m not sure where the overlaps are.”
“Overlaps?”
“It’s okay,” said Ky reassuringly. “Or-ta isn’t close, but it
is smaller than Earth. I should be back by midnight.”
Before Mimi could get out her next question, Ky took Hal by the forearm and to her surprise they started to disappear, slowly, as if they were fading away. She could see the city skyscrapers behind them more and more clearly. Before they completely faded away, Henry turned his face toward her. She thought he gave her an evil wink.
She shuddered. She was standing on the rooftop alone, gravel under her heels, the darkness starting to drape itself around her and the buildings. Suddenly, and quite irrationally, she felt afraid of the dark. She turned and walked toward the rooftop door; her hand shook a little as she turned the handle. She walked down a flight and then took the elevator down to their suite. She was glad to see that Oskar was there. His face was calm, quiet. She could imagine him living through a thousand years of battles. She felt shaky still in her hands, her legs.
“Miss Parks, do you want me to go out and get pizza? Or Chinese food?” he asked.
Mimi burst out laughing. She hadn’t noticed that she was starving, and it seemed so normal to her, pizza or Chinese. “That’s a great idea,” she said, still laughing. “Which would you rather?”
Oskar thought for a moment. “There is no Chinese food in my small town. I’m partial to Chinese.”
“Excellent,” she said. “Even the thought of lo mein makes my creepy ex-boyfriend problems melt away.”
“Give me twenty minutes.” He walked out the door.
Ky returned to the hotel late in the evening. Mimi was waiting for him, sitting by the window wrapped up in her pajamas and the hotel bathrobe, sipping tea. She had taken both a bath and a shower.
“There’s cold Chinese food.”
“That’s a way in which Earth is much better than any of the other worlds. I’m glad I didn’t eat on Or-ta,” Ky said, picking up a package of chopsticks.
“What did you do with the Ellsworths?”
“I talked to them. They left before the police got there. I let them leave. They seem to have enough problems.”
“Eric Ellsworth for president?”
“I doubt it.” He paused. “But I wouldn’t intervene. I don’t like human politics much. Can’t you sleep?”
“Not quite yet. I’m so tired. This is chamomile tea. It’s supposed to help you sleep. I’m not sure the stuff works, though.”
“It probably depends on why you’re awake,” said Ky.
“You took Henry to Or-Ta?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He will face judgment, certainly banishment from Earth. I’m sorry he was cruel to you in the car. He can’t come back, Mimi, despite his threats.” There was only one lamp on in the room and just the bare outline of their faces was reflected in the hotel window. Mimi looked past their reflections into the city night.
“I’m not…I don’t think I’m afraid. I’m just sort of amped up, keyed up. I wish I could have gone with you.”
“To Or-ta?”
“Yes. I would have liked to see Hal placed into custody, the custody of whoever it is that will deal with him; Ezik?”
“The council will meet. Yes, Ezik is on it. He assigned me to Earth. He has taken an interest in Earth lately. All the elder Or-ta have. They seem to think it needs extra protection just now.”
“Clearly it did.”
“Yes, but I wonder why,” said Ky.
“You don’t know?”
“I think the Or-ta elders…I think they suspect something, but aren’t willing to say it yet.”
“Suspect what?”
“I don’t know. They’ve been very secretive. Perhaps that Earth is vulnerable, that we made the wrong choice when we left. I shouldn’t be talking to you about this. It’s conjecture. There’s no use being scared about something that might not be happening.”
“I’m not scared, Ky.”
“No, you’re not, are you? You performed admirably today.”
“Today I was scared.”
“That’s only reasonable.”
“But scared of the Earth being vulnerable? That just seems to make sense. It certainly feels vulnerable.”
“Did it before you met me?”
“I think so, yes.”
They sat in silence together staring out into the cool New York evening. They were high enough up that the people on the streets looked remote, inaccessible. They were floating above day-to-day life.
“What will you do now? Are you-” Mimi suddenly felt on uncertain ground. She hadn’t actually thought about the future past tonight. “Will you come back to California?”
“I’ll fly back with you, then I need to go meet with an elder in Oskar’s village.”
“Oskar said he remembers when you were born.”
“He probably does.” Ky smiled. “I don’t.”
“Their lives are so strange, that they become their parents.”
“For centuries they lived close with us, in harmony with our immortal lives. I can’t say I’m sorry to be going up there to that cold country where they live. I have many friends there that I haven’t seen in a long time, friends who are now their great-great-grandchildren. I look forward to seeing who they’ve become.”
“I had no idea there were people who lived like that.”
“They are quiet about it, for obvious reasons. They don’t want to end up the subject of a documentary film. A woman in his village, she has noticed something that I did not. I may have another project sooner than I thought.”
Mimi looked out the window and frowned. She didn’t want to go back to her life, her life of being sick. She knew she didn’t need Ky. She should be thinking about another project of her own. She wasn’t ready. She hadn’t been ready for anything that had happened yet.
Ky continued, “But before that, I’ll come back and close this project with Dennis, and with you, Mimi. You fought hard and, well, you deserve closure, and my deepest regards.”
“So I lose my dog and my driver?”
“Dennis might stay with you. I don’t know what his plans are. I think he enjoys LA. And when I leave, you can get a real dog, one that helps you stay out of trouble.” He tried to sound optimistic, but his voice faltered ever so slightly. He had enjoyed working with Mimi, her intrepid smile, her joy. But he reminded himself that she was a person. She needed to live as one.