Gods of Manhattan

by Scott Mebus

  “This is your fault, Rory. Jason, are you coming?”

  Toy stood staring at him, not moving. A flash of sadness flickered across Hex’s face.

  “You are still my son. Remember that. As for you, Rory, find me and we can talk about an exchange. You still have the chance to be great; you just have to be strong enough to do what needs to be done.”

  And with that, he flew through the open back door and was gone, still carrying Bridget’s body over one shoulder and the glittering white belt over the other.

  19

  TOBIAS

  Fritz sprang into action.

  “Come on, Rory. We need to get out of here.”

  But before he could move, the front door slammed open and a dozen green Brokers of Tobias rushed in. One of them grabbed Rory, who quickly slipped the bullet into his pocket. Fritz, Toy, and even Clarence were also grabbed by the ugly monsters. The hulking beasts faced them forward as a short, almost completely round man entered behind the last of the guards.

  He was overdressed, with a tie and coat and starched collar and overcoat and even a monocle. His stomach stretched far out over his belt on all sides, testing the strength of each button on his blinding white shirt. He tried to walk with dignity into the vault, but he couldn’t help taking on a slight wobble, like a penguin making its way across the snow. He took off his top hat and jacket and handed them to the tall, painfully thin man behind him.

  “James, do see that this is hung up.”

  James disappeared back through the door. The fat man looked them over, coming to rest on Fritz.

  “Fritz M’Garoth. From the renegade M’Garoth clan. How interesting.”

  Fritz stared back defiantly.

  “Go sit on it, Tobias.”

  Tobias laughed.

  “I think I will,” he snapped. James rushed back in carrying a large chair. He set it on the vault floor with a clang, then stepped back, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. Groaning all the way, Tobias sat his round form down thankfully.

  “That feels good. I need to buy myself new feet. These just aren’t doing the job.”

  “Why don’t you invest in a little liposuction?” Fritz said, uncowed.

  Tobias snorted.

  “Waste of money. It’ll all just grow back.”

  He looked at Rory, then at Toy.

  “You two I don’t know. But I will find out who you are. Knowledge is power, and power is money. And I know money. But first, can anyone tell me where my little belt is? It’s supposed to be sitting in that now-ruined glass case, which I got on sale downtown for only eighteen dollars.”

  James clapped enthusiastically. Tobias waved lazily.

  “Thank you. I’m good, I know. I paid a much bigger price for what was inside it, so you can imagine how I feel right now. I’d be screaming in a blind rage if anger wasn’t such a waste of energy. Never waste energy that could be used to make money, that’s my credo. I bought that from a poet back in 1824 for only ten cents and a piece of bread.”

  James clapped again, whistling a little this time. Tobias stared at Rory intently.

  “So I have two questions, really: how did you get in here, and who has my belt?”

  Rory looked at Fritz. Tobias noticed and gestured with a finger. The guard behind Fritz took a large green finger and pressed it down on Fritz’s tiny head. Fritz gritted his teeth, refusing to cry out. Tobias sighed.

  “I know cockroaches are hard to kill but not impossible. Nothing is impossible. Just expensive. So, my young friend, if you don’t want me to kill this renegade, then you’ll tell me what I want to know. What’s your name?”

  Rory’s mind raced. The last thing he wanted was for this god to know his name.

  “Peter.”

  His father’s name. It popped out before he could think about it. Tobias didn’t blink an eye.

  “Peter what?”

  “Peter Bannen.”

  Bannen was his mother’s maiden name. He had to keep his face blank but not too blank. If ever he needed to lie, now was the time. Tobias gestured again, and the guard relaxed his finger. Fritz let out a gasp and hung there fighting for breath. Tobias crossed his legs.

  “All right, Peter Bannen. How did you get past my traps?”

  Rory thought fast. If he told Tobias about Hex, then he’d go after him. Something told him that Tobias wouldn’t care less about his sister, and who knows what could happen during the struggle. Thankfully, Fritz answered for him.

  “Luck. We just lucked our way through.”

  “Luck? I wouldn’t call getting caught red-handed particularly lucky, would you? Either way, I guess this time I will have to order up a new memory room. James! Take a note! We need new memories! God, the bills just keep piling up! And don’t just buy them from the first guy who comes along! Take competing bids! Shop around a little for goodness’ sake! Now who has my belt?”

  Before Rory could answer him, Toy made a break for it. He threw himself to the ground violently, a ripping sound cutting through the air. The guard was left holding on to a small paper hand as Toy escaped through the back door. Tobias struggled to get up, then settled for shouting from his seat.

  “Get him! Stop him before he gets away! A bonus of…a shiny quarter to the one who catches him!”

  Six of the green monsters raced through the back door in hot pursuit. Tobias turned back to Rory and Fritz.

  “I don’t have time for this. Between that damn sandhog and this nonsense, this has been quite an expensive week. I think I might be growing a bit peevish. Guards! Take them down to the dungeons. I will have the truth. Try not to make it too messy. The carpet in the dungeon is so expensive to shampoo.”

  Rory’s face went white.

  “Please, no.”

  “Guards, tell the torturer that I’d especially like to know how they defeated my snow beetle. I borrowed it from Kieft on loan. And it’s gone. So now I’m going to have to pay good money to settle the debt, and it vexes me. I’m a man who hates vexation. Somebody owes me some cash.”

  Rory’s head shot up as a ray of hope shone in his heart.

  “That was your debt?”

  Tobias looked at him sharply.

  “What do you know about my debt?”

  Rory answered back with a bravado he did not feel. “How do you think I beat your beetle?”

  “How did you do it?” Tobias frowned. “It’s killed hundreds of men far taller than you.”

  “I paid the debt. Four dollars and twenty-six, no, that’s right, twenty-seven cents it was.”

  For the first time since he’d walked in the room, Tobias lost his composure. His face blanched before he could pretend not to care.

  “So what? So you paid a little debt.” Tobias was not convincing.

  “I paid your debt. And now you owe me.”

  Fritz looked over at Rory with admiration. Tobias snapped.

  “James! My accounts book.”

  James ran out and came back with a huge book, larger by far than he. Tobias tapped the ground with his foot. James got down on all fours and placed the book on his back. Tobias leaned over him, leafing through the gigantic pages. Finally, he stopped.

  “Somebody did assume that debt tonight. Still, you can’t just say you took it over. Without the paper, it could have been anyone—”

  “It’s in my pocket.”

  Tobias stared him down for a moment before nodding to the guard holding Rory to free one of Rory’s hands. Rory pulled the folded piece of paper from his pocket and flicked it open, showing it to Tobias.

  “Recognize this?”

  Tobias’s eyes burned through him.

  “All right, let me get you the money. A lot of good it will do you down in the dungeon.”

  “I don’t want the money. I want you to repay the debt in another way.”

  Tobias glared at him from behind the book. James’s arms and legs shook as he struggled with the immense weight. Tobias placed his arms on the open page, adding to James’s bur
den.

  “It’s only four dollars and twenty-seven cents. That won’t buy you much.”

  “Don’t forget inflation! Anyway, I don’t need much. I want a half an hour for me and my friends to run.”

  Tobias slammed a fist down on the book, forcing a girlish scream out of poor James.

  “That’s robbery! Highway robbery! I will not be bamboozled inside my own bank!”

  Tobias leaned forward, his face red.

  “I’ll give you ten minutes. And not a second more.”

  Rory looked back at him, his gaze never wavering, though inside he was crying like a baby.

  “Twenty minutes. And not a second less.”

  Tobias leaned forward even farther. James’s face changed from red to blue.

  “Fifteen.”

  Rory looked at Fritz, who nodded.

  “Done,” Rory said.

  “Release them!”

  The guards stepped back. Fritz fell to the floor, and then immediately raced over to Clarence. Hopping on, he waved at Rory.

  “Come on!”

  Rory turned to follow him. Tobias leaned even farther forward. James’s arms and legs shook like trees in a hurricane. Even the dimwitted guards could see where this was going and they stepped back out of the way.

  Tobias shouted after the fleeing fugitives, “Fifteen minutes isn’t a lot of time. I’ll be seeing you again in a half hour at the most, up on the rack!”

  By that point, Rory and Fritz had already made it through the open door. Tobias watched them go, sputtering with fury.

  “Blast it!”

  He brought his fist down hard on the book. Unable to take it anymore, James crumpled, bringing the humongous book and the even more humongous Tobias down on top of him. The poor man passed out from the impact. Tobias lay on the floor, beside himself with anger. The guards looked at one another, torn between their loyal duty to their master and their enjoyment of some fine physical comedy. Tobias’s voice floated up.

  “We’re going to find them, James, and make them pay.”

  James didn’t answer, which didn’t really come as a surprise to anyone, not even Tobias.

  Rory shouted ahead to Fritz as they raced through the white hall.

  “Where are we going? We’ll never make it down through the tunnel in time! He’ll catch us by the memory room.”

  “Don’t worry. We’re not going that way.”

  Fritz reached the door to the tunnel and urged Clarence through it. Rory followed him, closing the door behind him. When he turned back, Fritz was poking at a dead alligator lying by the underground stream. Fritz nodded to himself.

  “Good, I was hoping Jason hadn’t grabbed it. Come on. Help me push it into the water.”

  “Why?” Rory asked, disgust showing on his face. “It’s a dead alligator. We can let them bury it.”

  Fritz pushed at the reptile with an unsurprising lack of success.

  “We’re not going to bury it. We’re going to ride it. Now help me push!”

  Rory walked over and gingerly placed his hands on the cold, scaly skin.

  “This feels gross.”

  “We’re down to ten minutes, if that helps.”

  Rory pushed all thoughts of alligator diseases out of his head and threw himself up against the dead reptile. It wasn’t easy, but gradually it started to slide across the floor toward the river. As they pushed, Rory squeezed out a question between grunts.

  “Why are we going to ride it? It’s dead.”

  “Still floats. That’s why they call it the dead man’s float. Or dead gator float, I guess you’d say. Here we are!”

  With a loud splash, the gator fell into the stream. The current immediately began to sweep it away.

  “Grab the tail before it’s gone!” Fritz cried.

  Rory snatched the end of the tail just before it floated out of reach. He could barely keep the rushing water from pulling it away.

  “Quick! I’m losing it.”

  Fritz climbed up Rory’s leg to his shoulder and then out along his arm. Rory repressed a shudder that would have lost them their ride. Fritz reached the gator and jumped up and down, testing its worthiness.

  “She’s shipshape. Clarence!”

  Clarence took a running jump and landed squarely in the middle of the scaly boat.

  Fritz called out to Rory. “All right! You’re gonna have to keep your hold as you slide into the water. Then pull yourself up the tail. Got that?”

  Rory just didn’t want to drown. He’d play the rest by ear. But he nodded to make Fritz feel better.

  “All right, go!”

  Rory placed his foot in the water. Right away, the current tugged at him, and his balance wavered. Fritz saw what was happening right away.

  “Just jump!”

  Rory heard the sounds of heavy footsteps from the room next door. Gathering his courage, he pushed off with his other foot and sailed through the air. With a splash, he plunged into the rushing waters, the underground flow pulling at his legs and forcing him underwater. His hands slipping free of the alligator tail, he went down, sinking into the deep.

  The muffling of sound beneath the surface had an odd calming effect on Rory. As he felt himself swept along, he glanced around. The underground stream was lit by glowing plants that swayed along the bottom. The world under the streets seemed so peaceful. Then his feet touched bottom. The impact shocked him back into reality. He was drowning! Kicking against the brick floor, he pushed himself toward the surface. For what seemed like an eternity he swam upward, until finally, right before his lungs exploded, he broke through.

  Gasping, he took in as much air as he could, swallowing a healthy swig of the stream in the process. The waters bore him quickly through the long tunnel. He heard a shout.

  “Rory! Thank God!”

  He looked around, struggling to keep afloat. Right behind him, coming up fast, sailed the alligator with its two passengers. Fritz waved.

  “Grab on! Quickly, before we lose you!”

  Rory reached out and wrapped his arms around the neck of the dead beast. He hung on as they swept down into the depths of the city.

  20

  RIDING HAMISH

  In the highest northwest corner of the bank was a small, plain room. No pictures hung on the walls and no drapes livened up the tiny, square windows. The walls were an ugly green, as was the door. The only furniture was a large wooden desk, also green, upon which lay reams and reams of ledgers and accounts and all other types of paper with meaningless numbers scrawled across them that only people with way too little imagination could ever possibly understand. It was to this room that T. R. Tobias, God of Banking, retired after his chief Broker reported that the thieves had disappeared into the tunnels. He posted a Broker outside the door to give him privacy while he wedged his huge stomach behind the desk and did what he always did in stressful times: he began to write out sums, gradually calming himself with the soothing familiarity of numbers.

  He had not been at his work long before his door flew open and the Broker he’d set outside burst into the room. Its eyes rolled around in its head while its mouth sported a steady frown, as if the two halves of its face were run by different brains. With a flash of panic, Tobias realized that the creature’s mind was not its own, but he hid his unease behind a calm smile.

  “Kieft! Hello! Come in!”

  How did Kieft find out so quickly? What did he know? That mystery did not last long.

  “Where is the boy?” the Broker’s mouth asked with Kieft’s voice.

  “He escaped with a battle roach, one of the M’Garoths.” Tobias saw no point in lying.

  “And he has the belt?”

  “Not as such, no. Someone else took it; I haven’t discovered yet who. But I will find out.”

  The Broker’s mouth curved into a grim smile. “This is quite a bank you have here,” Kieft’s voice said. “It seems easier to get into and out of than Grand Central Station.”

  Kieft was furious, but unlike Astor
, Tobias didn’t blink in the face of his anger.

  “I will get it back,” he said.

  “It was a simple task I gave you,” Kieft growled.

  “I have guarded the belt for a hundred and fifty years,” Tobias said, his voice patient and unconcerned. “I will guard it for many more. This is a hiccup, nothing more.”

  “A hiccup! The boy you let waltz out of your bank is a Light!”

  Tobias felt his insides twist, but he refused to let his face reveal his shock.

  “He does not have the belt. And he never will.”

  He stared down his possessed henchman, locking wills with Kieft.

  “Find it,” Kieft said finally. “No excuses.”

  Tobias nodded. “Does the Mayor know?”

  “Of course not,” Kieft said. “Don’t be a fool. He knows no more than he needs to. He still thinks the Trap was sprung just to capture the Munsees. But the Trap must not open. No one can be allowed to discover what I have hidden there. Both of our secrets rely on it.”

  “What about the boy?”

  Kieft’s rage radiated through the Broker’s rigid face.

  “This is not a welcome wrinkle, Tobias. I had finally figured out a way to dispose of the Rattle Watch, and then this new annoyance appears. But this boy is far more dangerous than the Rattle Watch—they are but an annoyance. This Light could sink us all. I cannot be caught interfering; it would cast doubt on me, which I cannot afford. I have set my assassin on him, but we must be prepared for all contingencies. I leave it in your hands. There will be no excuses.”

  Hamish the dead alligator floated along the underground stream, bearing his passengers through the tunnels under the city. The small stream widened as they floated onward, and the glow coming up from beneath the surface dimmed, but Rory could still see the concrete walls surrounding them. The excitement of the escape gone, the bubble in his chest burst and he began to cry.

  “Why didn’t I turn that stupid key! Why didn’t I just do what he said! None of this would have happened! The Munsees would be free, I’d be safe from those Strangers, and Bridget would still be here. Why was I so dumb!”

  “Shh. Stop it, Rory,” Fritz said. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Tom, or Hex, or whatever he’s calling himself now, wasn’t being honest with you. You were right to question his motives. It sounds like even his own son didn’t go through with turning the key, all those years ago.”