“I’m not the one who needs the help, and neither is Sonder.”
“And that’s why I’m here. But your friend’s not the only case out there.”
“Are you saying you’d be rather be working on those other cases?”
“What are you expecting me to say, Verus?” Caldera asked. “That I’m pissed off at Sonder? Well, maybe I am, a little bit. But I’m still going to do what I can to get you your friend back. Just like I do for everyone else who comes to us.”
I studied Caldera curiously. “Does it ever get to you? Seeing the same things happen over and over again?”
“Ask me that sometime when I’ve drunk a lot more. Come on, go through the layout once more, then I’m heading back to the lab. I’ll get you an earpiece for tonight.”
I spent the afternoon trying the remainder of my contacts. I didn’t find out anything about Anne, but the one bit of good news was that I managed to get through to Arachne. I caught her up on the situation; we discussed plans and agreed to meet that evening. As the afternoon wore on I spent a couple of hours in the bathroom and then went to meet Variam on the Heath.
The sun was setting by the time Variam showed up, and he actually looked right past me without recognising me. “Hey, Vari,” I said as he was about to pass by.
Variam looked at me more closely, and then his eyes went wide in disbelief. “Alex?”
“Notice anything different?”
“What the hell did you do to your hair?”
My hair’s naturally jet black, with a tendency to spike upwards. Right now it was combed back and dyed a vivid blond—the bottle had advertised something a little more natural-looking, but I’m not exactly a stylist. “Like it?”
“This really the time?”
“Oh, you know,” I said. “Just felt like a change. Come along to Arachne’s and I’ll explain once we get there.”
Variam walked into Arachne’s cave just ahead of me and stopped dead. Luna was standing in the main cavern near the door and she’d obviously heard us coming. “Hey,” she said with a grin, giving her dress a swirl. “What do you think?”
Variam stared. Luna looked satisfied, then she saw me and her eyebrows rose. “You went for that colour?”
“Like it?”
“You look like a Bond villain.”
“Now that’s just mean. And I was about to say something nice about how you looked too.”
Luna’s dress was dark red, darkening from vermillion at the torso to the colour of dried blood at the skirts, which had a rumpled, crushed-velvet look. Fingerless gloves ran to above her elbows, a feathery ruff rested on her bare shoulders, and she’d even dyed her hair red with orange highlights to match the rest of the outfit. “Nice wasn’t exactly what I was going for.”
“Oh, there you are, Alex,” Arachne said as she emerged from behind Luna. “What on earth have you done to your hair?”
I sighed. “Everyone’s a critic.”
“I told you your hair needed to be medium ash brown with golden blond.” Arachne is a gigantic tarantula-like spider, black and hairy with fangs the size of kitchen knives, a detail neither Variam nor I paid attention to. You get used to anything given time. “Not bleach blond. There’s no point in doing this if you don’t get the colour exactly right.”
“Colours aren’t my strong point, okay?”
“Wait,” Variam said. “You’re going to the Tiger’s Palace?”
“See?” I said as I headed past Luna. “Told you he’d get it.”
“Are you nuts? Jagadev said he’d kill you if you ever showed up again!”
“Oh, I doubt he’d do that in front of fifty Dark mages.”
“That’s because if they figure out you’re spying on them they’ll do it first!”
“Technically all the Dark mages are going to be there to spy on one another,” I said as I found the selection of clothes Arachne had laid out for me. “If I didn’t do it too, they’d probably get suspicious.”
“Does Caldera know you’re doing this?”
“Sure, kind of . . . Oh, that one looks good.”
“No, that’s in Chojan’s style,” Arachne said, lifting a leg to tap one of the others. “He’s going to be there. Try this one instead.”
“What do you mean, ‘kind of’?” Variam said, walking around. His eyes kept drifting back to Luna.
“Well, she did ask me to scout out the Tiger’s Palace. I’ll just be doing it a bit more proactively.”
“How long have you been planning this?”
“Since about thirty seconds after Caldera and Sonder told us about the party. I didn’t tell you until now because I knew you’d be giving Caldera a report before meeting us. This way you didn’t have to lie to her.”
“She’s going to be pissed,” Variam said, then suddenly shook his head. “Wait, why should I care? Gah, I hate having to think about whether the boss is happy.”
“I know, but you want to be a member, you have to pay the dues, and we are going to need help for this one. Whether or not Sonder’s right about it being Crystal, I doubt we’ve got the resources to do this on our own.”
Luna and Variam shared stories on how the day had gone—they’d turned up a lot of bits and pieces but nothing solid—while Arachne continued her efforts to educate me in the basics of hair care. “Use this after you dress,” Arachne said, handing me a small jar. “The gel should recolour your hair close enough to the right shade to pass a fairly thorough inspection, but don’t get it wet. It won’t persist as well as a proper dye.”
I nodded. “Thanks for helping out on such short notice, by the way. You been okay?”
“For the moment,” Arachne said, the clicking rustle of her mandibles a counterpoint to her voice. “Although some of the recent political developments are . . . worrying. If you have the time, I’d appreciate hearing what you discover at this audience.”
“Sure. What are you worried about specifically?”
“Specifically?” Arachne said. “Your ex-master.”
I felt my heart sink. “His name has been linked to Morden’s current project,” Arachne said. “A discouragement to those thinking of standing in opposition.”
“It could be a bluff.”
“I very much doubt Morden would make a threat like that without something to back it up.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s him,” I said. It didn’t sound as convincing as I’d like. “He might be doing it as part of some other game.”
Arachne studied me with her eight eyes. “What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I understand Luna’s been hearing rumours of Richard’s return,” Arachne said. “She’s reported them to you.”
“Luna needs to learn to keep her mouth shut.”
“Hasn’t that contact of yours from the Council been saying something similar? Talisid?”
I was silent.
“Have you ever heard the parable of the horse which was a mule?” Arachne said. “You go to market and buy a horse. On your way home, if one person looks at the horse and tells you it’s a mule, you should ignore him. If a second person looks at the horse and tells you it’s a mule, you should go back and check. If a third person looks at the horse and tells you it’s a mule, then it’s a mule.”
I looked up at Arachne. “What’s your point?”
“Exactly how many people need to tell you that Richard might have returned before you start listening?”
“They’re just rumours—”
“Repeated rumours, and I’ve known you to act on less. Why haven’t you?”
I took a glance over towards Luna and Variam. Both were out of earshot and distracted in any case; they’d gotten into one of their usual arguments and Variam was pointing out of the tunnel for emphasis. “Say I do believe them,” I said quietly. “What would I do about it? If he is back, if he does come after me . . . then I’m screwed. It doesn’t matter how much warning I have.”