"Sagans?"
"Billions and Billions."
She just stared at him. He sighed. “My mother is a big Carl Sagan fan. He's dead now, you know."
"I know who he was. I just don't get the reference."
"Never mind. So does this mean you'll stop manufacturing your drugs?"
"Maybe. But even if I do, I'll just turn my recipes over to someone else and keep a portion of the profits."
Raven grimaced. “Have you no conscience? Drugs destroy people."
"Only those not strong enough. It's not my job to coddle the weak."
"I ought to turn you in."
"But you won't. I'm too useful to you on the street."
"Necessity—the mother of corruption. In this case, at least. Fine. Keep me informed and I'll make sure you get paid. But I'm warning you now—whatever deal we have between us doesn't cover anyone you might sell your recipes to."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Do that."
She threw the GTO into gear and smoked the tires all the way across the parking lot, roaring into the street and leaving a trail of smoldering rubber behind her.
Raven climbed back into Ben's convertible Tiberon and shook his head. “That woman's as big a pain in the ass as Jaz."
Ben snorted. “That would take some doing, don't you think?"
"Absolutely. I'd say she's up to the challenge."
"The one I'd rather not introduce her to is Amanda. They'd either be mortal enemies on sight, or the best of friends. Not sure the city could handle either scenario."
"Pessimist."
"Realist.” He gunned the engine and whipped out of the parking lot. “I take great pride in it, too."
"You would. How's the wife and kid?"
"She's great. He's getting bigger by the day. Little shit grew fangs the other day. It's getting to be like raising a kid and a puppy at the same time. He's hell on electrical cords, let me tell you."
Raven laughed. “You regretting it?"
"Not for a minute."
* * * *
Quickfingers glared at Thoth from out of his prison. He'd been rendered completely impotent and it seriously pissed him off. Whatever the jerk had done had left him even unable to use his mage-gems, much less turn ethereal or teleport. The spell knotted around the bottle was the most convoluted crafting he'd ever seen, making even some of Jaz's more creative pieces look like the weavings of a child.
He had been able to hear every word the two men had exchanged, and wasn't happy about being stuck here. Something very bad was happening and he desperately needed to get word to Jaz. They'd both been ignoring him, the only piece of good fortune he'd had since being captured.
He'd tested the balance of the wine bottle on the table, and, after a bit of experimentation, determined that a serious effort on his part could well tip the bottle and maybe even throw it off the edge of the dresser.
If he could somehow break the vessel, he'd be able to escape. A three foot fall onto a carpet probably wasn't going to do it though. He stomped around the tiny space, swearing at the top of his tiny lungs. He'd already tried to send a message to Jaz via the wrist communicator they all wore, but he'd gotten nowhere. Thoth had crafted this prison all too well.
If Quickfingers got out of here, he'd be all too glad to show the mage the error of his ways. No one got away with imprisoning him. He'd make Thoth regret the day he first set foot on Earth.
* * * *
Tacoma, WA
Basement Lab PAC Headquarters
3:28 AM
"Are you sure this will work?” Jaz asked Bonedance. The giant spider gave her an inscrutable glance and whistled softly—his version of a nod.
"It'll work. He may not be happy about it, but this little gadget will bring him right home."
"Thanks, Bonedance. How are things going for you, anyway?"
"Very well, thank you,” he said. “I have been having the most phenomenal time playing with all the toys down here. I miss Chaz, but it is rather nice to be in charge for a change."
Considering how he had first arrived, it said quite a bit that the huge tarantula had gained Athena's trust as well as he had. He'd come a long way from the Centian squad leader who'd shot down Air Force One in an attempt to kill the President. He was a fully credentialed operative of the PAC, even though he was forced to remain out of the sight of the populace as a whole. The last thing anyone needed to see was a giant tarantula stalking the streets.
"I'm ready. Please stand back.” He activated the ‘gate module and tossed the drone into the shimmering field.
It was less than five minutes later than Chaz came stumbling through the ‘gate. “What the hell?"
"Chaz! It's good to see you!” Bonedance exclaimed. He rushed forward and tried to pull the balding engineer into a hug.
"It's a good thing he's not arachnophobic,” Cecil snickered, as the Artificer patted the tarantula's foreleg affectionately. “To be honest, just looking at that creature gives me the willies."
"He seems a decent enough sort,” Orcus remarked, aiming a puzzled grin at his friend. “So what if he's a spider?"
"It's not natural, that's what it is."
"Like we are, Cecil?” The big bi-colored man shook his massive head. “He's a person just like the rest of us—he just happens to look funny."
"Hey, I never said it was rational."
Raven listened to this exchange with a curious little smile. Sometimes Orcus came on as a bit slow, unless one paid attention. His insights could come as a surprise sometimes. Like now. “Fear is never rational,” he murmured sadly, “but you can choose how you react to it."
"So, Bonedance—I must admit you surprised the hell out of me. What did you do?"
"It is a worldgate-drone. It is the smallest portable worldgate ever devised. I sent it through the main Strihava gate and had it track you down utilizing a DNA linking spell. Once it found you, it was programmed to activate and bring you right to this lab."
"Impressive,” Chaz said. “Now can you send me back?"
"I cannot. Your friends need you."
"Need me for what?" The Artificer turned an irritated gaze on Raven. “I build the toys, you guys use them. That's the deal. I'm not the adventurer around here. I'll leave that up to you."
"Jaz told us to retrieve you, if we could. We may be up against a cabal of rogue mages ... led by Thoth. We need all the help we can get."
"Oh, really?” Raven could almost see the synapses firing in the man's head. Now he was intrigued. “So what do you need me for?"
"Dunno,” Raven said with a shrug. “But she said to get you, so we got you."
Chaz rolled his eyes. “Figures. So, is she back working for Athena yet?"
"Nope. Turned down that offer. Hired on as Deryk's Chief of Security instead."
Chaz gave a low whistle. “That's a good choice. So where is she? Not here, I suppose."
"We've got a big mirror set up in another room. She's waiting for a signal from the Grey Robe that he—it—has found Thoth."
"Ah, she found a use for her boyfriend after all, did she? Good. Smart girl. Well, I suppose I'd better go talk to her. Just point me in the right direction. I'd like a chance to speak to her privately."
There was something different about Chaz, Raven realized. He seemed sturdier, more confident in himself. Being on Strihava alone, even for such a limited time, had done wonders for his self-image. Of course, he was already a mover and shaker there—his inventions had already made him one of the most influential of Strihava's artisans. And though he didn't serve as their elected representative on the council, his new position carried with it a great deal of personal power and prestige.
It sure beat out being in charge of R&D for Shea Industries or AthenaCorp. Here he was just another employee—there, he was someone of consequence. It probably felt a little like becoming someone like Shea or Athena.
"Not a problem,” Raven said. “Give us a holler when you're done."
Jaz wa
s staring into the mirror as Chaz walked through the open door behind her. There was something different about him, something she couldn't immediately place. His outfit suited him. A dark gray jumpsuit literally covered in pockets. He also wore a strange helmet-like hat also outfitted with its share of pockets.
"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court,” she said with a grin. “You look every inch the Artificer now, Chaz."
He met that comment with a wide grin. “Sometimes it feels a little like that. The residents of Strihava are, alternately, the most sophisticated and the most barbaric people I could imagine."
"How do you mean?” She turned her back on the mirror and let her eyes fall upon him directly. He looks more confident, she decided. This Chaz isn't the man who left with me on a quest to defeat Hecate. This man has found his place in the universe.
He's doing better than me.
"So we've got a rogue cabal, then?"
"I think so. I have the GR searching for Thoth. If he spends more than a couple minutes in front of a mirror or any kind of reflective surface, we'll be on him like a starving coyote on a dead cat."
"Nice imagery,” Chaz said with a grimace.
"Hey, if you're expecting poetry, you're talking to the wrong woman."
"That's the truth. Though you do have a clever turn of phrase now and again."
"Fuck you very much."
Chaz grinned. “How you handling the whole GR used-to-be-your-boyfriend thing?"
"I'm handling it just fine. And he wasn't my boyfriend."
"Close enough.” He cocked his head and looked at her for a long moment. “Okay, so you never even played kissy-face. I get that. But he's the closest thing to a boyfriend you've ever had."
"Gee—thanks for pointing that out. I've always been particularly fond of the salt in the wound consolation prize myself."
"Sorry."
"By God, it sounds like he actually means it.” She sighed. “I'm sorry too, Chaz. I have no reason to be kicking you around. I've known how you've felt about me for years now, and as much as I love you like a brother, that's all there is to it. We're friends, and that's all we'll ever be. I hope you can live with that.
"And just so you know—I don't think I ever came close to falling in love with Diamond either. He intrigued me, but I can't even say I was ever even tempted to kiss him."
"Have you ever been tempted to kiss anyone?"
"I'm so done with this conversation, Chaz.” She made a dismissive wave and turned back to face the mirror. “I'm going to change the subject now.
"So, do you have any theories on why Thoth would have shorted us on our magical training?"
He chuckled and shook his head. “I've been asking myself that very question since you told me. The first thought is that he's working for the Centians, but that doesn't make any sense at all. Why would he bother teaching us any magic, then—especially considering how the Centians feel about magic in the first place?"
"That's pretty much my thought. If he's pursuing some agenda of his own, I'll be damned if I can make out what it is."
"Same boat here. The only thing that makes any sense at all is if he's allied with a group we know nothing about."
"That's not a pleasant thought,” she said. “The first question we should ask is—who?"
"Word has it that he's done extensive traveling—even visited the Centian homeworld ... allegedly. We know that the immortals exist in more than one universe. Maybe he's hooked up with another group of them?"
"But you'd think they'd want to do what our immortals want to do, wouldn't you? To fight the Centians?"
"There's so much we don't know, Jaz. We haven't done much exploring of our own—we don't know how many quantum realities there are, or how many different variations of a theme we'd see before that theme is twisted beyond recognition.
"What if there's a universe out there where the immortals are evil? It has to be possible, right? What if their Deryk is the biggest, nastiest, most vicious tyrant who ever lived? Can you imagine what would happen in such a universe? If he set the agenda for the whole human race for the past twenty-five thousand years, aided by his companion immortals like Loki, Hades, and Hecate ... among others?"
"Eeek. I really don't like the sound of that."
"Tell me about it. It's thoughts like that one that keep me awake nights. Oh, I'm not saying I think that's the kind of power he's working for, but I have to wonder if they're out there, and if they know we exist. When we catch Thoth, we'll just have to ask him what the hell he thought he was doing."
"And who he thought he was doing it for."
"Exactly."
"Sometimes, Chaz, I'm very glad I don't live inside your head. My head's bad enough."
"Are you two finished yet?” Raven asked, sticking his head into the room. “You might want us all on hand if the GR finds him."
"Yeah, we're done,” Chaz answered back. He glanced back at Jaz's reflection in the mirror. “I'm not exactly sure what you expect me to do if your GR transports us to wherever Thoth is."
"Three mages are better than two,” she told him. “Even if he's not alone, the three of us should be able to overwhelm an equal number of mages, maybe even more, assuming they're not significantly better trained than we are."
"That's why you're going to have backup,” came Ben's voice from the doorway. Much to Jaz's surprise, he wasn't alone. His wife Amanda stepped through the doorway with him, and behind them came Loki and Renee.
"This isn't just your fight, Jaz. This fight belongs to all of us. Thoth betrayed us and we mean to find out why.” Eerily, Renee seemed to float across the room until she was in their midst. She placed an ice-cold hand on Jaz's shoulder and gifted her with a broad smile. “You have sacrificed more than most of us in this war, Jaz. Maybe not intentionally, sometimes, but nevertheless, your sacrifices haven't gone unnoticed."
"We're here to pay our bill,” Ben said. “To you too, Cory."
Raven inclined his head. “Thank you."
"No thanks necessary,” Loki chimed in. “Just show us the asses and we'll start kicking them."
"We're kinda waiting on that information right now,” said Orcus, entering the room behind them. “As soon as we know where he is, we're going to jump in and smear him and his crew all over the walls."
Renee gave him a pained look. “I could do without the gory visual, friend."
"Oop. Sorry ‘bout that."
"Don't worry about it."
"How long is this going to take?” Loki asked.
"Life would be much easier if I had an answer for that, Loki,” Jaz said. “It could take another five minutes or it could take a week. All depends on whether or not Thoth has a reason to stand in front of a mirror any time soon."
"This doesn't seem very efficient,” Amanda put in. She leaned into her husband's body as he brushed her long blonde hair with his fingertips.
"No one said it was,” Jaz replied. “But, with Quickfingers missing, it's about the best chance we have of catching him."
"Quickfingers is missing?” Loki frowned. “For how long?"
Jaz shrugged. “Pretty much since we got back to Earth. I sent him to let Deryk and Athena know we were back and he never arrived."
"Is that normal?"
"For him? Not really. He's fairly easily distracted, but he's not prone to wandering off on his own for any length of time. And he usually responds when I call him."
"So we can assume he's been captured or otherwise disabled as an asset,” Ben observed. “Is it just me or does that strike you as extremely inconvenient?"
"Inconvenient for us ... convenient for Thoth.” Jaz nodded. “I'm thinking the same way. I don't know if he captured him or somehow incapacitated him, but it's certainly a lucky break for him."
"Have you tried contacting Hermes?” This from Loki, interrupting himself in the middle of a hushed conversation with Chaz.
"He hasn't been a hell of a lot of help lately,” Ben replied. “His business is booming so much
lately he pretty much took himself off the volunteer roster when it comes to immortal or PAC business."
"But did you ask him?” the Trickster repeated.
Jaz shook her head. “Uh-uh. Not that I didn't try—he's not responding to just calling his name out anymore. I guess you actually have to hire him to run messages anymore."
This seemed to offend Loki. “Hire him? What's he think this is, a choose-your-own-adventure?"
"Apparently so,” Amanda cut in. “He doesn't do missions that aren't pre-arranged. And he simply refuses to transport mortals anymore. He says it makes him feel like a beast of burden. Or so Athena says."
"Not to mention the fact that mages can get around pretty damn quick on their own—at least around town.” Ben grinned and pulled gently on his wife's earlobe.
"Making him superfluous. Gotcha.” Loki sighed. “Hell of a way to run a planetary defense, if you ask me."
"Ain't that the truth,” Jaz grunted. “Hey ... I'm getting something. The G ... robe is—"
"What the hell is a grobe?"
"She means Graayyyyy—"
Twenty
"Robe!"
They found themselves sitting in various positions in a semi circle atop a sleek silver-gray floor, amidst a maze of shimmering light and shadow. Standing in the center of the space was a being seemingly composed of nothing but an empty robe and a body formed of pitch blackness.
Its hood lifted, revealing two eyes that glittered like a thousand tiny mirrors. It lifted its right arm, pointing to Jaz's left. Then it began to float in that direction. The team quickly climbed to their feet and followed.
They came upon a circle of light, a shadowy face imposed upon it from the other side. The face was Thoth's! “I'll go first,” Jaz said. “Orcus—you bring Loki and Renee through. Cecil—bring Ben. Chaz—bring Amanda."
She took two steps back then ran for the circle of light, throwing herself with all her strength at the hole. The mirrorgate on her wrist activated and she felt the brief searing pain of transit.
* * * *
Thoth jerked back as someone emerged from the mirror, fist narrowly missing his long, pointed chin. Her feet hit the table and he threw himself to the side as a glittering purple katana clove the air where his head had been.
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