‘I used to live here,’ Anne said. ‘I can find a place to watch.’
I nodded. ‘I’m not going to tell you to stay outside no matter what. I’d prefer that you did, but you’re right that this might be dangerous, and if it is, we might need you. But promise me that if you do come in, you’ll tell us first, okay?’
Anne seemed to relax a little bit. ‘Okay.’
‘See you soon.’
We split up, Anne going down one street and Luna and I going down another. ‘You’re good at that, aren’t you?’ Luna asked once we were out of earshot.
‘What do you mean?’
‘If you’d told her to stay outside, she wouldn’t,’ Luna said. ‘But she wouldn’t break a promise like that.’
‘I’m not trying to manipulate her,’ I said sharply. ‘Having her anywhere near Richard is a bad idea.’
‘I know,’ Luna said with a sigh. ‘I’m just worried.’
We turned down another street and halted. Up ahead was the entrance to the Tiger’s Palace, hidden away at the bottom of a set of steps. At least, that was how I remembered it. Right now, the enormous queue of people trailing up the steps, past three buildings and down the alleyway was making it a lot less hidden.
‘You weren’t kidding about it being busy,’ Luna said.
‘Mm,’ I said. I was doing mental arithmetic. Adepts are maybe a tenth of a per cent of the population. London’s population is nine million or so. Call it ten thousand adepts. I’d expected that maybe one or two per cent of that number would be showing up tonight. Eyeballing the crowd, I was pretty sure I’d underestimated.
‘So I’m assuming you have a plan for the whole “banished from the Tiger’s Palace on pain of death” thing?’ Luna asked.
In answer I took a handful of woven threads from my pocket, tied them around my wrist, then pulled loose one of the knots. I felt a pulse of magical energy, very brief, and quickly damped down. Illusion magic is very difficult to detect. Focusing on my arm with my magesight, I could just barely see the weave, and only if I concentrated. I was pretty sure that most other mages wouldn’t be able to see it unless they knew exactly what to look for.
‘Very nice,’ Luna said approvingly. ‘Arachne?’
‘Good guess.’
‘Wasn’t a guess,’ Luna said. ‘You’re actually dressed well now.’
‘Shouldn’t you also be worrying about being recognised, Miss Fashion Critic?’
‘I was invited,’ Luna pointed out. ‘It won’t exactly work if I pretend to be someone else.’
‘You like living dangerously, don’t you?’ I said. ‘Fine.’
The queue was enormous, and it wasn’t moving fast. We joined the back, and had to wait less than sixty seconds before another couple joined the queue right behind. ‘Well, this brings back memories,’ I said quietly to Luna. The line was noisy, with a group of girls just in front having a loud conversation, so I wasn’t worried about being overheard.
‘Of what?’
‘Going out clubbing.’
‘You went out clubbing?’
‘Not very often. You?’
‘Queuing up to get onto a packed dance floor, brushing up against everyone?’ Luna said. ‘What do you think?’
‘Okay, silly question.’
‘I really wished I could,’ Luna said. ‘Though it’s a funny thing: once I’d been training with Chalice and I was confident enough, I went out one night with Vari, and it was crap. The music is awful, everything is overpriced and it’s so loud you can’t talk.’
‘That’s pretty much the club experience.’
‘At least I didn’t miss much.’
The line shuffled forward, approaching the corner of the Tiger’s Palace. ‘So what’s Jagadev’s angle?’ Luna asked.
‘Tiger’s Palace has always been an adept hangout,’ I said. ‘Jagadev hosts it as a venue for mages too. Probably he’s going to claim he’s just a disinterested service provider.’
‘You think the Council’ll buy that?’
‘Hell no,’ I said. ‘Richard is radioactive right now. Which is what worries me. Jagadev’s not dumb, and he’s been doing this stuff a long time. If he’s willing to associate himself with Richard, it must be because he’s getting something out of it, and the most likely reason I can see is that he thinks it’ll be really bad for us.’
‘Whoever loses, he wins?’
‘I think he’s inviting a bunch of powder kegs and then withdrawing to a safe distance. Wouldn’t be surprised if he isn’t even here.’ A thought struck me. ‘Wait a sec.’ I reached out to Anne through the dreamstone. Hey. You there?
Anne’s answer came instantly; she must have been waiting. Of course.
Picking up anything on your lifesight?
There’s a big crowd inside the Palace.
Jagadev?
No Jagadev.
Figures. Richard?
No sign of him either. But there are people on the rooftops.
Civilians?
Not with the gear they’re carrying, Anne said. Either the Council is getting started early, or Richard is really serious with his security. Or both.
The queue crawled slowly forward. As we approached the entrance I grew close enough to see to the front of the line. There was a cluster of security men, a lot more than you’d need just to check IDs, and they were questioning each person in turn. As we watched, a pair of guys were turned away. They started to argue; one of the bouncers stepped up, looming over them, and they backed off in a hurry. The third guy who’d been with them hesitated, looked after them, then turned and was let in.
Try to stick to mental only from now on, I said to Luna. You ready?
Let’s do this.
We reached the front of the line. ‘Name?’ one of the bouncers asked. Like his companions, he was big and nasty-looking. They were wearing suits, but they didn’t look at home in them.
‘Alice Trent,’ Luna said.
‘Contact.’
Luna blinked. ‘I’m sorry?’
‘Your contact,’ the bouncer repeated, unsmiling.
‘My— oh, right, right. I was invited by Stephen.’ Luna blinked up at the bulky man, her eyes innocent. ‘I don’t know his last name, but that’s okay, right? He said I should use his name. I’ve got his number if you want me to call him.’
A second man was flipping through a list. The bouncer glanced across; the man looked up and nodded. The bouncer looked back at Luna. ‘ID.’
‘Right, here you go.’ Luna fumbled in her purse. ‘A driver’s licence is okay, right?’
The bouncer studied the card, handed it back, then looked at me. ‘You with her?’
‘Yeah.’ I let a little bit of anxiety show in my voice. ‘That’s right.’
‘List says plus one,’ the other man said.
The bouncer nodded, already dismissing us. ‘Full search before you go inside.’
The second line of bouncers searched us. I submitted without complaint. Illusions can be given away if someone gets close enough to touch, but Arachne had been careful – the braid around my wrist wasn’t making me look taller or shorter, it only made fine changes to my features and the colours of my clothes. I’d been more worried about the guy picking up on the items I was carrying, but my coat was lined with damping fabric and I’d made sure not to carry any obvious weapons. It was just as well I hadn’t – the guy was thorough. Once the bouncer was done he jerked his head to indicate that I should go. The other bouncer gave a last glance at the item he’d taken from Luna’s bag – a long-handled hairbrush – then shoved it back in and handed it over. Luna rejoined me and we passed through the doors and into a corridor lined with concrete and metal.