"Yeah. That's what I want," Rosa agreed.
Noel gave her back the cards. "I expect I could teach you, and with practice you could probably become quite proficient, but I foresee some problems. It would be unwieldy to mark all the cards, and you would be tying yourself to the most lethal of your manifestations. Depending on the circumstance, you might want a different power. To pull Death all the time might be coming on a little too strong, don't you know? Also, this is the crutch on which you hang your power." Noel tapped the deck of cards with a manicured forefinger. "Would you actually be able to transform if you knew you were cheating? You are Rosa Loteria, the Lottery Rose. If you removed the element of chance . . ." Noel let his voice trail away and raised his eyebrows.
The girl's brows snapped together in a ferocious frown. "I can't risk losing my powers."
"I would reach the same decision."
"Well, crap!" She walked away, trailing Spanish like a kite tail of profanity.
Noel fixed on a vapid smile and went strolling. There was a lot of conversation about the concluded Rogue Ace Challenge, but another thread of conversation wove like a line of bright sparks throughout the party.
" . . . burned to the ground." Said with breathless excitement by Diver.
"That idiot Bugsy will be behind it." Said with southern ice by Tiffani. " . . . Peregrine's fuuurious with Simoon." Said by Pop Tart, with that tickle of enjoyment at getting to observe anger and not be on the receiving end.
" . . . didn't find any bodies." Said with a thread of disappointment by Jade Blossom.
" . . . insane with worry." Said with compassion by the Amazing Bubbles.
"Of course, he's her itty witty baby boy." Said with just the right amount of disdain by Rosa Loteria.
Women are always so dependable when you need news. Noel lifted another glass of champagne off a passing tray. He glanced over at Peregrine, and indeed the famous joker's smile kept jumping back into place as people walked up to talk to her. Otherwise, her eyes glittered with anger, and a strained frown ridged her forehead. Occasionally, she darted a cold glance at Simoon. Noel recalled the girl's biography: daughter of one of the Egyptian jokers who had sought sanctuary at the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas, she had a second-rate power. Wind powers had always seemed faintly silly to Noel. Of more concern was her connection to Egypt—however tenuous. He decided to find out more.
Noel moved to Peregrine, lifted her hand, and brushed his lips lightly across the back. "Thank you, dear lady. It actually did end up being quite a deal of fun."
Peregrine's smile was pinned back in place. "I doubt the Hearts would agree. You defeated them pretty soundly."
Noel looked over at Simoon. He allowed his expression to shift to grave and disapproving, then nodded sagely. The young woman clasped her hands and stared intently at Noel and Peregrine. High color burned in her cheeks. He inclined his head once more toward Peregrine as she said, "The weather certainly was beastly. Damn Santa Ana." Noel once again looked over to Simoon and frowned. She came boiling out of the chair and crossed the room with a stiff-legged walk, until she stood directly in front of Peregrine.
Noel hid a smile. Once again the human capacity to assume that everything was about you had kicked in and had the desired result.
"What are you saying about me?" Simoon asked.
"We weren't talking about you," Peregrine replied. Her tightly compressed lips allowed the wrinkles around her mouth to escape her careful makeup job. "And feeling the way I do about you right now, it would be better if you weren't talking to me, either."
"This is not my fault."
"You told him about that damn thing!"
"And for all we know the amulet didn't have anything to do with your house," Simoon said. "That idiot Bugsy was there, and Lohengrin, and they'd all been drinking."
"John was not drunk," Peregrine gritted.
Simoon threw her hands up. "Okay. Fine. Have it your way. Ignore how he felt having to work for his mom, and having DB call him 'Captain Cruller' and everybody bossing him around. He was an ace. Now he's just . . . ordinary."
The girl started to walk away. "It was just a necklace. A piece of tourist trash," Peregrine yelled after her.
Simoon turned around, but kept walking backwards as she yelled back, "If that's the case, then why are you so pissed? Unless you really are afraid it was magical."
The room, which had gone very quiet, erupted once again into frenzied conversations. Peregrine turned scarlet, and her eyes filled with tears. Noel pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her. He murmured an apology and hurried out of the restaurant.
Oedipal issues didn't interest Noel. What interested him was a magical amulet with an Egyptian connection.
He crossed the cracked marble foyer, out the doors and down the steps. Simoon sat slumped at one of the round concrete tables outside the studio cafeteria. Nothing exemplified the economic differences on a movie lot like these two restaurants. The one Noel had just left catered to the stars and the studio power brokers. The cafeteria fed everyone else. Noel laid a hand on the girl's shoulder and produced another handkerchief. She wiped her eyes. "Thanks. Sorry."
"Not at all." Noel pulled out his cigarette case. "Do you mind?" Simoon shook her head. He lit up.
"Turkish," the girl said. "Uncle Osiris smokes them. I've never seen a white guy smoke one before."
Noel tilted his hand and surveyed the cigarette. "My flat mate at Cambridge put me onto them."
The girl stared back down at the cracked and weathered surface of the table. The Santa Ana wind whipped her dark hair around her face. A few strands caught on the lips of her generous mouth. She pulled them free and the motion lifted her bosom. She was short and stacked, and Noel felt a brief stirring in his trousers, but he knew the likely outcome, if he should disrobe.
Noel sat down next to her on the bench. "Would you tell me more about this amulet? You said it was magical, and I can't help but be interested." He gave her his most winning smile. "Call it professional curiosity."
"I don't know too much about it, but my mom called and started pushing me to tell John about it. It's an achet, and Thoth gave it to Peregrine when she toured Egypt a million years ago. I guess she was pregnant, and the achet was supposed to be for her kid. But Peregrine never gave it to him. With everything that's going on back in Egypt, my mom and Osiris and the other old folks were all twitching out about getting the necklace to John. Mom said to tell John that it gives the wearer the strength and power of Ra—blah, blah, blah. I thought it sounded just stupid, but Mom kept bugging me and bugging me, so I finally told him so she'd shut up about it and get off my back. I need to concentrate on what I'm doing here, and now I've pissed off Peregrine, and I'm just screwed."
But Noel wasn't really listening any longer. Ra. The sun god in the ancient Egyptian pantheon. John Fortune seemed to have an affinity for light and fire. And Peregrine's house did burn down. His thoughts were spinning. Of course this might all just be the maundering of desperate jokers looking for a miracle, and I may be seeing connections where none exist.
Simoon stood up. "Well, I'm going to go back into the house. I think I've had as much fun as I can stand tonight."
"Wait. You're sure Bugsy and Lohengrin were with them?" Noel asked.
"Well, they're missing, too."
"You wouldn't happen to have a cell number for any of them?"
He watched a series of complex emotions sweep across her face. She pulled out her phone. "I think I've got Bugsy's. He kept calling me for a date."
And obviously struck out, Noel thought as he copied the number into his palm.
"Okay, I'm out of here. Thanks for the handkerchief." She offered it back to him.
"Keep it."
Noel watched her walk away, admiring the sway of her hips. Sparks arced through the dark as he flung away the cigarette. He dialed the number she had given him. A youthful, sleep-blurred voice answered.