Hish was looking behind it, then he looked at the folding staircase. He yanked it down so that it would extend to the floor and it screeched and stuck, stiff from disuse. “Somebody should oil this thing.”
Pepper chuckled. “This thing is huge. I’m not sure how we’re going to move it. We might have to leave it and return here when we’re ready.”
“Don’t we need to repair it? Prepare it for use?”
Pepper shrugged and nodded. “Yeah. I think we do.”
“And we’re going to do that here?”
“Unless you have an idea on how we can get it back to the tower, it’s got to stay here.”
Hish crossed his arms and stared at the Bridge. He walked back and forth in front of it, went up to it and tried to move it. “I can’t even budge the thing.”
Pepper nodded, still thinking. “Damn.”
Hish laughed. “Exactly.”
Pepper rolled his eyes, then sighed. “We’re definitely going to have to leave it. But now we know where it is. It’ll be easy enough to get back here.” He traced his fingers down the rough, dirty surface of the mirror. His reflection was very faded and blurry. “I wonder if we’ll have to polish this relic so it shines or if charging it up will do it.”
“Hard to tell,” said Hish. “From the text, I didn’t even know it was a mirror in the center. Honestly, I was expecting it just to be a ring, with nothing in the middle. Do you want to use the power from the Heart you have now?”
“No. I don’t think that’s a good idea. If we start charging this up now, it might attract notice. The best bet is to get all three, then we’ll come back and turn it on then. And then, whatever we have to do to it, we’ll do to it.”
“All right, boss,” said Hish.
“Ugh,” groaned Pepper. “Don’t call me that.”
Hish grinned. “Sorry, sir.”
Pepper shook his head and regarded the old device. “We’ll either need additional muscle or magic to move it. I think we need to get it away from the wall, towards here.” He pointed at the long scrapes in the floor, leading from the Bridge to the center of the room.
Hish wasn’t looking at the floor. He was looking up at the ceiling, weaving back and forth to try to get a better look, but the water falling in his eyes was making it hard to get a good look. He flew up and grabbed ahold of two of the hanging chains, then he pulled one of them downward, hard. It wouldn’t move for a moment, but he kept pulling. It screeched and then started to ratchet more chain out, rough and rusty. “I think these are for moving it.” He flew down to the Bridge and walked around the sides of it.
“Yeah,” he said, “Look. I think these things,” he felt an ornate arrow-shaped flourish on the side of it, “are hooks. I think the chain will actually attach to the thing. It looks like those chains are on some sort of track, and there are definitely pulleys up there. But they’re old and rusty.”
“Good eye,” Pepper said. “Let’s leave it for now.” He grabbed a corner of the old, moldy tarp, and flew up to recover the Bridge. Hish flew over to the other corner to help put it back in place over the old Bridge. Pepper landed a ways back from the covered Bridge and nodded again. “That looks pretty much like it did when we found it.”
“Shall we have a guard posted here?”
“That’ll attract too much suspicion. It’s Realms away, and some fairies from The Reaping taking shelter here in this particular room for the next two months… No. It’s sat here for over two hundred years. We only need everyone to keep forgetting about it for another month and a half.”
He stared at it for a long time. Neither of them said a word. Hish stepped back and updated his map of the tunnels so they could quickly find their way back here and when he’d finished, Pepper was still staring at it.
He didn’t turn his head when he said, “We’ve done some pretty wicked deeds.”
Hish replied, “Mm.” He wasn’t sure what to say.
“I did it all for some decent reasons.”
“I know, sir.”
“The Reaping was in chaos when we arrived. We got the lava flows under control. We drove the beasts away. No one else has been able to do for that place what we did.”
“I know.”
“I’ve turned The Reaping into my home. It was the most dangerous place in the Realms. Now…”
After a while, Pepper turned to face his friend. “I don’t want to die. Not now. Not when I can’t do anything about it, and when I have so much left to do.”
“I know, Pepper. I’m with you, right to the end.”
Pepper put his hand on Hish’s shoulder. “Let’s go, my friend. We still have a lot of work to do.”
When they reached the surface again, they both blinked in the bright sunlight until their eyes could adjust. The tunnels were magically lit, but the light was a dim, amber color. It took a few minutes until they could unshield their eyes from both the bright sun and the sparkling River on the high side of The Dam.
Pepper glanced at Hish to make sure he was ready, then he took off. They hadn’t gotten very high when he heard Hish make a noise.
“Hmm.”
Pepper stopped to hover next to his friend. “What?”
Hish shook his head. “I don’t know. I could swear I saw a Mer poke his head out of the water and watch us. He’s gone now.”
Pepper looked at the water and frowned. “Are you sure?”
Hish shrugged. “No. I’m not. Sorry. Let’s go.”
They flew off, but more than once, Pepper looked over his shoulder at the shimmering River below.
chapter 17
Andi returned to her new office after two hours of non-stop meetings. A week ago, she had signed her new division’s first settlement, and the numbers all looked good. He was terminally ill, had drug abuse issues, and looked like a solid moneymaker for the company. She was well on her way toward making her bonus this year.
She checked in with her assistant, Roger, and gave him the list of action items that had come from her meetings so he could type them. Then she entered her office, closed the door behind her, and threw herself into her large, leather desk chair. She slipped her feet out of her shoes, sighed in relief, and laid her head on the cool wood of her desk. It wasn’t quite eleven o’clock yet, and it had already been a very long day.
Even though her department had carefully written their new procedures and contracts over the five weeks since she’d taken her new position, legal still wanted to review the entire settlement. She understood their concerns - viatical settlements were a new endeavor for Great Lakes Casualty, and this was the first one. They wanted to make sure there were no mistakes. Andi wanted desperately to have her first contract airtight and approved, and after hours of review meetings the day before, and more hours of meetings today, GLC finally approved the deal. The poor sap would finally get his check. He’d called her every day to check on it since he was discharged from the hospital.
Andi thought he seemed like a decent enough guy, but his life took him down some paths that let him fuck it all up and start making some very selfish decisions, even at the expense of those close to him. Times were desperate for him now, and she felt more like she was helping him out than taking advantage of him.
She was grateful to her friend Gretta, a trauma nurse at the ER that Emmet had been taken to. She had asked Gretta to call her if any down on their luck terminal patients came in, and scored big on him. She wanted to reach out to some of Gretta’s friends, particularly those in different hospitals, to see if she could expand her network some more. She’d also gotten in touch with oncologists and gay-friendly doctors to try to reach more of those terminals, as they were called. Some doctors simply handed over records and lists of patients, although they weren’t technically allowed to do so. The ones who upheld their patients’ privacy were incented to provide her contact information.
Based on the number of leads that were coming in, Andi knew that she would need a sales staff, and soon. She knew that she could only hand
le the first handful of deals, and then she’d have to grow her team. She had a stack of resumes on her desk that she’d meant to review this morning, but she hadn’t gotten to them yet. She sat up straight and slid the stack of papers in front of her, then grabbed a highlighter and started marking up the resumes, deciding who she might want to talk to and throwing some straight into the garbage.
She was startled out of her focused resume reviewing by the buzzer. Roger’s voice sounded through the speakerphone.
“Ms. Leeds? Mr. Clark is here to see you.”
Andi looked over at the calendar sheet on her blotter. She didn’t think she had any appointments this morning, but then she saw in Roger’s handwriting, “L.C. 11:00.” She hung her head. She had no interest in seeing Larry fucking Clark again. “Can we reschedule?”
“Sorry, Ms. Leeds. He’s already here. He’s on his way in.”
Her door opened and Larry Clark walked into her office. He looked around, inspecting her new accommodations. He looked at her two framed degrees hanging on the wall, glanced at the knickknacks on the two shelves, and approached her desk.
As Andi slipped her feet back into her shoes, Larry picked up the framed picture of a little girl on her desk and examined it. “Your daughter?” he asked.
“No, my niece.”
“Oh. How old?”
“Six,” Andi said.
“Precious. You have any kids?”
“No. I’m not married.”
Larry chuckled. “I didn’t ask if you were married. I asked if you had kids,” he grinned at her.
“Sorry, sir, you’re right.” She struggled to come up with something to say to him until he got to the point of his coming here. “You?”
“No, I’m not married. Not anymore. My wife passed away.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Any kids?”
“Yeah,” Larry said. “I have a son, Jim. Fourteen.”
“Congratulations,” Andi said, trying hard to make it not sound like a sneer. “Sorry, what can I help you with?”
“Help me with? I came down here to congratulate you on signing your first settlement. I knew I’d made a good choice with you. My number one girl,” he smiled.
She nodded thanks but didn’t say anything.
“Well, come on,” Larry said.
“Come on? Where?”
“To celebrate over lunch. We have reservations at the club for lunch, to celebrate what you’ve done with your new post.”
“The club?” Andi asked.
“My country club.”
“Ah, of course,” Andi again tried to keep the sarcastic edge out of her voice. But as of this morning, her deal was officially approved. She did feel celebratory, but lunch at Larry Clark’s country club hadn’t made it onto her list of possible celebrations. “Would it be possible to take a rain check? There’s just so much to do...”
“Nonsense. You’re a VP now. You get some perks, and having the company buy you a well deserved and very fancy lunch is just one of them. Come on, I’ll drive.”
She really didn’t want to be alone with him, but she couldn’t see any way of getting out of it. “All right,” she said and grabbed her purse. She nodded to Roger on her way out, and Larry held the door open for her as they exited the building. It was a beautiful day, warm but with a nice breeze, and a deep blue sky - a perfect early autumn day.
“The leaves will start turning soon.”
“Hmm?” Larry asked.
Andi hadn’t realized she’d actually spoken out loud. “Sorry, I said the leaves will start changing soon.”
“They sure will.”
They walked up to his reserved parking spot. His bright red Porsche was gleaming in the sun. She had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. Of course, a bright red Porsche. Widower, playing around with women at work. What a sleaze. He opened the car door for her, which surprised her. Then they pulled out of the lot and headed toward his country club.
“Master job on that,” he said. “AIDS patient. Drugs. I’m sure we’ll cash in on that one sooner than later,” he laughed. “Poor sod. Still, like you said, he did it to himself.”
“Everybody does things they regret,” Andi said, and stared out the window.
“Mm,” intoned Larry in agreement. He put his hand on her knee while they were driving. It was all she could do not to shrink away from him.
They didn’t speak much on the way to the club. The valet opened the door for her, then rushed around the car to open the door for Larry. He nodded at the young man, took his ticket, and held the door to the club open for Andi.
Awfully gentlemanly for such a letch, she thought.
The tuxedoed maître d’ led them to their table, and immediately bread and water were brought out to them. She read down the menu. Everything looked very fancy and very expensive.
The waiter arrived and Larry greeted him by name. “Good to see you, Henry. We’ll start with champagne.”
“Champagne?” Andi asked.
“We are celebrating,” Larry said, then made a gesture to the waiter, who left.
“I don’t know, I mean, it’s the middle of the workday and I still have a ton of work to do.”
“It’ll be fine.”
“But I really --”
“I insist,” Larry said in his no-nonsense corporate voice. The million-dollar voice that allowed him to exert his will over so many willful and talented VPs and managers.
Andi shrugged. “Sorry.” She took a piece of bread and shredded small pieces off and ate them, slowly, deliberately. She was still uncomfortable and trying to hide it.
The waiter returned with champagne. “To viatication, and to you, Andrea,” Larry lifted his glass.
Andi raised hers, too, and Larry clinked it with his own, then tipped it back and drank. She drank, too. Good champagne.
For lunch, Andi had a cobb salad and Larry, the surf and turf. He was right about lunch. It was very expensive, very fancy, and very delicious. Andi didn’t realize they’d finished the bottle until Larry ordered another.
“Mr. Clark, I’m sorry, I really shouldn’t.”
“Nonsense,” he said, and refilled her glass. “You’ve done a great job this past month. You took a brand new division, designed workflows, got legal on your side... And that takes some doing. Especially with something new, they are usually the last ones who will do anything out of their way to help you. But you got them. Well done.” He raised his glass to her again. She didn’t raise hers right away, but he reached over and clinked glasses with her again, anyway.
Andi’s head was fizzy from the champagne. She felt flustered and uncomfortable, but it was nice to hear the praise he was lavishing on her. She felt flushed and a bit tingly. Her salad was enormous and she only ate about half of it.
Larry was still talking, but she realized he’d completely lost track of what he was saying. “You know?” he was saying. “So, take the rest of the afternoon off. You’ve earned it.”
“Wow, thanks,” Andi said. She hoped her voice didn’t sound quite as sloppy as it felt in her mouth. The champagne had gone right to her head. She was glad she was sitting down because she knew walking would be taxing, especially in these shoes.
“You look all flushed,” Larry smiled at her, then refilled her glass again.
The waiter returned with a dessert tray. Andi was deeply tempted by a dark, rich chocolate cake, but started to decline. Larry ordered it for her anyway.
“Oh, you don’t need to get dessert, too,” she said, knowing it wouldn’t do any good.
“Nonsense. Please, enjoy.”
The cake came and she did enjoy. It, too, was massive. She didn’t even get through half of it.
“May I?” Larry asked.
“Sure.”
He slipped the fork from her fingers, cut and speared a piece and smoothly slid it into his mouth. His eyes drifted closed. “Oh, that’s good.”
“I know,” Andi giggled. “It’s amazing.”
Larry took anothe
r bite, then set the fork down.
“Come on, let’s get going.” He stood up.
She stood, too, unsteadily. She swayed a little as she walked back to the valet stand, and Larry put his hand on the small of her back to steady her. Her head was still spinning. She couldn’t focus her eyes without concentrating. “There is no way I can go back to work like this,” she said. The valet pulled the car up.
“That’s all right. Come on, we’ll go check in somewhere,” he said. He helped her into the car, and it didn’t register what he had said until they pulled up to the hotel.
Andi woke up with a splitting headache, in an unfamiliar bed. Larry was still sleeping next to her and had his arm around her hips. She looked at the clock. Six forty. She shook her head. She didn’t actually know whether it was six forty AM or six forty PM.
She slipped out from under Larry’s arm, gathered her clothes, and slipped out the door. She asked the desk clerk to call her a cab. It was now six fifty in the morning. She’d spend the night with him.
While she was waiting in the lobby, she had a small bowl of fruit from the continental breakfast table and her groggy eyes locked on the wall calendar next to the desk clerk. Something about it disturbed her, but she couldn’t figure out what. The cab brought her back to the office. Her car was alone in the parking lot, which was deserted on a Saturday. She’d left the top down and was thankful that it didn’t rain last night.
She drove home, still feeling perturbed. It dawned on her as soon as she closed the door to her apartment behind her. It was the eighth of October.
“Oh, shit,” she said, and backed against the door.
She was late.
chapter 18
Just before sunset on the second day of their journey, Ivy stood next to Herron on the border that separated The Meadows from The Rainforest. They’d had to travel the entire width of The Meadows, as The Winter Kingdom lay in the opposite direction from where The Caverns had been.
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