Chris swallowed hard. He'd been keeping those thoughts in the back of his mind, but they hadn't been happy there. Now they scrabbled around in his brain, urging him to scream.
Cirocco looked very tired.
"I think he will be completely safe with Gaea," she said, heavily. "At least physically. I'm sure she wants him alive." She frowned. "Pretty sure. Hold on while I check it out."
She pounded her fist on the sprawled, sleeping form of the Snitch. He squalled, and leaped to his feet.
"No more matches, no more matches!" He stopped, stunned. "My head!" He collapsed, chin on the dashboard, and covered his head with his feet. Cirocco pulled them away, one at a time.
"Relax, Snitch," she said. "You answer some questions and I won't hurt you anymore. And I'll give you three more drops."
One eye popped up on a slender stalk.
"No hurt Snitchy-baby?" he whined.
"No hurt."
"Drinky-winky?"
Cirocco got out the flask and let a drop fall into the demon's mouth.
"Answer the questions now?"
"Fire when ready, puss."
"We've found the child we were looking for."
"Tha's nice. Didn't do you lotsa good, did it?"
"No. He's going to Gaea, isn't he?"
Snitch nodded.
"Gaea loves the little shit. Gaea'll be real good to him. Star pris'ner. Nothin' too good for li'l ol' Adam. Stinkin' Priests out beatin' the bushes for weeks when the word came down the li'l bashtard's on his way."
"I don't understand how-" Robin began, but Cirocco silenced her with a gesture. She leaned over, and Chris could barely hear the whisper.
"When he's off his guard like this we can learn a lot."
He seemed to have gone back to sleep. Cirocco waved the eyedropper near him and his head came up, following it back and forth.
"More, Snitch."
The tiny demon began to weep.
"More, more, more, alla time it's more ... what do they want from me? Why can't I get any peace? They keep after you, never any rest ... and I tell ya, I'm innocent! I was framed! I didn't ask for any of this, I-"
"Where should I send the Oscar, Snitch?"
"My agent handles all that," he said, recovering instantly.
"The stinking priests were beating the bushes ... " Cirocco prompted.
"-for weeks! Whoever found him's gonna be th' new Wiz, Gaea says. Da Wiz, da Wiz, da wunnerful, wunnerful Wiz!"
"And the child?"
"He be King! King o' da Wheel! She look after dat li'l basser real good, I guarantee! Nothin' but da best."
"She doesn't want him dead?"
"No way, Jose! Don' hurt one hair on his li'l beanie, she say, or you wish you could die, only you can't, cause she gonna keep you alive least a year an' kill you in pieces! She got a palace all built to keep him in, all made o' gold and precious jools and pure plat'num, an' wet nurses running all around, an' flunkies to comb his hair and wash his pecker and butter his toes."
"And why is she doing all this?" Robin asked.
Snitch hiccuped, and turned one bleary eye to her. He looked her up and down, and one corner of his mouth turned up.
"Nice tits, sweetlips. How'd'ja like ta see where I got tattooed?"
Cirocco flicked his face. He belched.
"How about that snake? I see his tail, but where's his head?"
Again Cirocco flicked him. He blinked, shook his head, and began to sing.
"Hey, little snake, are you crazy, or what? Your butt's in the air and your head's up her-"
This time Robin flicked him, quite hard.
"That's it!" Snitch stormed, pacing angrily around the dashboard. "I gotta take that crap from you, douche-bag, but not from her. Nothing more, not word one, that's all I'm gonna say. My lips are sealed!"
Cirocco picked him up and shoved a match down his throat, end-first. It left a little of the shaft and the matchead sticking out of the demon's mouth. His eyes bulged as she upended him and struck the match on the dashboard. Then she held him erect, arms pinned to his sides, and let him watch the match begin to burn down.
"I think these matches would burn practically down to your tail," she said, calmly. "What I'm wondering, do you think we'll be able to see it? You think you'd glow like a lantern? What was that? You'll have to speak a little louder, I can't hear you." She waited, as Snitch struggled vainly. "Sorry, Snitch, I can't understand a word you're saying. What's that? Oh, all right." She wet her fingertips and pinched the match-head, which sizzled and went out. She pulled the match out of him and he collapsed, wheezing.
"The trouble with you," he said, "is you can't take a joke. My lord, you're a mean one, Cirocco Jones."
"I'll take that as a professional compliment. Now, she asked you a question. And you will address her as 'Ms. Robin,' with suitable deference, and you will keep your filthy thoughts to yourself."
"Okay, okay." He lifted a weary eye toward Robin. "Would you please repeat the question, Ms. Robin?"
"I just asked why Gaea is doing all this? Why is she going to all this trouble to steal Adam?"
"No trouble at all, Ms. Robin. See, she wins whichever way it comes out. If she gets the kid, and Cirocco don't come, why that's fine. But she figures, if she does get the kid, well then, Cirocco is sure to come." He turned his head and leered at Cirocco. "And Cirocco knows why she has to come, too."
Cirocco picked him up and popped him back in his bottle. Chris could hear him screaming his protests-mostly having to do with the promised alcohol-as she twisted the lid tight. No one said anything for a while. The look on Cirocco's face precluded idle conversation. At last she relaxed a little, and looked at Robin, then Chris.
"You'll want to know what he was talking about. I don't know if I need to say it, but I will. I would be going after him with everything I've got, no matter what. If Gaea got him, I would not rest until we had him back."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Robin confessed, "but I never thought anything different."
"I do know," Chris said, "and I never thought it would have made any difference, either."
"Thanks. To both of you. Robin, I have a reason other than friendship for doing my best to see that he doesn't get into Gaea's hands, and if he does, to get him away from her." She punched numbers on her keypad. "Rocky, how many eggs did you find in that room?"
"Fifteen, Captain," came the voice over the radio. Cirocco turned to Chris.
"Does that sound right?"
"No. I'm sure I had a rack of sixteen in that room. It was full."
"Conal," Cirocco said, "what can you tell me about the rack of Titanide eggs you let Adam play with?"
"It was the standard keepsake rack, Captain. Two rows, eight above and eight below. It was full." Cirocco hit the keypad again.
"Rocky, it seems-"
"I've found the rack, Captain," Rocky said. "It held sixteen. I've been searching diligently, according to your orders."
"Rocky, so help me, if you-"
"Captain, permit me to interrupt before you say something that might insult me. I have the fifteen eggs here before me. I have not waited to find them all before destroying them. To be exact, I have split them in half, so you may count the pieces upon your return-as I anticipated the embarrassing situation which seems to have arisen. Now, I may still find the missing egg, or it could be that Adam was holding it when he was taken. But if it is not found, it would be rather incriminating if I were shortly to be pregnant, wouldn't you think?"