“Shift? Tossing stuff around?”
“In part, but it primarily moved people somewhen else.”
“Ahhh. That wasn’t me.”
“I know. It was the younger Behaim that was at fault, who earned my ire here. Time distorted, and everyone that you and the younger Behaim had talked with moved backwards. Reality wobbled quite a bit until you each caught up with the rest of the world. The metaphorical plates fell, and my rest was disturbed.”
“In the late hours of the morning?”
“Not that it matters, but I sleep eighteen hours a day. A useful thing for my mother, created as a sentry and sentinel over holy sites, a nuisance of a thing for me.”
“Ah,” I said.
She was grouchy because of the little time reversal that Duncan had pulled, and she was giving me a free shot at them first.
Was this what it was like being on the other side of the fence? Duncan and Laird had lost the three times, and they’d broken their word, and now other people and things were conspiring to help me screw them over.
I wasn’t about to complain.
“If that’s all, I’ll leave now.”
“Wait, please,” I said. “Two things, if that’s alright?”
“Perfectly alright, Mr. Thorburn. I declared war, I’m obligated to hear you out.”
I paused. “Can I filibuster you? Hypothetically?”
“If you can hold me here by discussing relevant things. I don’t believe you can, and even if you tried, the Lord of the City would find you and catch you before then.”
I nodded.
“What did you want to ask?”
“I’ve been led to believe that the Lord of this city is merely a figurehead. That you’re keeping him in place.”
“Fell would be the one who told you.”
“Yeah.”
“Yes. Essentially true.”
“You could have told me.”
“When? By the time I had a sense of you, I knew you were a diabolist, and nobody is going to associate with diabolists that easily. It’s easier and safer to remove you, given the precedent history has set. Even now, after you’ve proven your mettle.”
“Is the figurehead thing why you’re coming after me?”
“Yes. We can’t have you unseating the Lord of the City. Your background makes things worse. You’re upsetting things, and while it isn’t so dramatic as what the Behaims did, it’s a problem across the board. You can see what’s happening in the city.”
Screwed twice over by things I couldn’t control.
“Alright,” I said. I didn’t want to argue. Not about that. “What if I said that I don’t expect to win?”
She arched an eyebrow.
“Just asking,” I said.
“If you lose, you’re just as dangerous.”
“Things aren’t that binary,” I said. “Existence isn’t black and white.”
“Existence is very much binary,” she said. “You exist, or you do not.”
“I think you know what I meant. I don’t think you can paint all of reality with strokes of ‘right and wrong’.”
“I would argue that everything can be broken down to right and wrong,” Isadora said. “Case in point, I can ask, ‘Do you disagree?'”
I stayed silent.
She smiled a touch. “You don’t give me an answer, because you’re afraid of giving the wrong answer. I just condensed a great many possible answers into two. Right, wrong. You can do the same with all of existence, if you wish.”
“I see. I’m not sure I like that view of reality. If there’s one right answer and nearly infinite possible wrong answers, aren’t there an awful lot of wrong answers in existence? Isn’t reality made up of a great deal of wrongness?”
“Break it down, Mr. Thorburn, examine the densest material at the most fundamental level, and you’ll find a lot of empty space between the components of each molecule. A great deal of empty space between molecules. Look at the universe itself, and take note of exactly how much of the void occupies the solar system, compared to the objects, and I think it’s a strong representation of reality.”
“You’re linking right and wrong to existence and nonexistence.”
“I’m the very manifestation of that link, aren’t I? Rhetorical question, once more.”
“Point taken.”
“Look at the very fact that we are alive in the here and now. How likely are we as individuals, how likely are we in this exact state at this exact time? Right is being a point of light in an infinite darkness, and that holds power, because it brings vast complexities into being. Even small decisions or changes in wording might lead you to different courses in life, to meet different people.
My friends inside were noticing I was talking to someone. Were they seeing the connections?
It was good if they were getting practice. I shifted position, trying to convey that I was at ease.
There was virtually no way the Sphinx would come after me right now. It wasn’t in her nature.
“I have to admit, it’s eerie to hear a being such as yourself talking about the universe and molecules.”
“Then I’ll give you the sort of answer I might have given when I was young, instead. Everything is reducible.”
“Even your argument, apparently.”
She smiled.
“There’s a problem with that, though,” I said. “When you asked me if I disagreed, I stayed silent. You reduced it to two possible answers, but I took a third option.”
“Silence.”
“Yes. Before this discussion began, you reduced another question to two possible answers. Will I defeat the Lord of the city and destabilize things enough to justify your murdering me, or will I lose and surrender myself to him, justifying you murdering me?”
“You’re proposing a third option?”
“Would I be offending your intrinsic nature if I said I’m proposing a third, fourth and maybe fifth option?”
She smiled, “Not at all. My favorite answers to riddles are the ones I could never anticipate.”
I nodded.
“Anything else?”
“My friends,” I told Isadora, while staring at Alexis. “When you come after me, please leave them alone. Ty is pretty awestruck by you, Alexis is maybe the most right person-”
“Thorburn. There’s no need to justify why I should leave your friends alone. If they remain out of it, I will leave them be.”
I nodded.
“I wish you luck, diabolist. I will try to find you later in the day.”
“Thanks for being fair,” I said.
She nodded, then hopped up to the railing, then stepping off. The flapping fabric of her dress, coat and hair spilled out into something bigger, and she was full size before she was halfway to the ground.
I sighed.
I’m going to die.
The realization was a heavy one.
But I couldn’t dwell. The others were getting more restless, and I needed to move.
I stepped back inside, rubbing my hands. Evan lighted on my shoulder.
Three circles, each distinct. Geometric shapes, symbols, and words scrawled out in remarkably good handwriting. That would be Alexis.
As I progressed further into the room, the bathroom came into sight, a large mirror facing the door. I could see Rose standing in the doorway of the bathroom. The best reflective surface in the empty apartment.