“Golden Joab might still be nearby,” said Rose. “Our time would be better spent looking for him, rather than fighting with these two.”
She winked at Malcolm subtly, and he breathed a sigh of relief. If she’d felt like it, she could have brought up how she knew him, and easily turned Tapestry against him for good. Malcolm wasn’t sure why she hadn’t, and as thankful as he was, he couldn’t help but wonder about her motivations.
Now is not the time. Tapestry is liable to blow a gasket if we stay in their presence for much longer.
“Time to go,” he said. He took Tapestry by the arm and, using his powers, began wind running out of the ballroom. Tapestry struggled a little, not letting up until they were in the elevator and headed back up to their hotel room.
“What the heck is wrong with you?” she snapped.
Malcolm shrugged.
“I guess I don’t want to die?” he suggested. “I know, it’s truly a horrible character flaw.”
Tapestry sniffed a couple of times and literally turned up her nose.
“You smell like perfume again,” she said.
“You keep bringing that up like it should matter,” said Malcolm. “Our marriage is a ruse, Tapestry, why do you care?”
Tapestry rolled her eyes. The elevator stopped at their floor, and she took off down the hallway, leaving him to trail behind.
Malcolm entered their room to find her digging through her suitcase, pulling out her pistol along with several clips of ammo. He cautiously closed the door and crouched down next to her.
“You aren’t doing this,” he said. “They know we’re here now, Tapestry. They’ll see us coming.”
“This is an opportunity,” said Tapestry. “I don’t care that much about Golden Joab, Malcolm, but if we can take out two of Rain Dancer’s allies and deny him from recruiting one more, we can put serious pressure on him.”
She started to stand up. Malcolm grabbed her by the wrist.
“No,” he said, firmly.
Tapestry glared at him.
“Just whose side are you on, anyway?”
She shook his grip loose and stomped toward the door. Lacking any better options, Malcolm reached out with Fantasy’s power, trying to use an illusion in the same way she had.
This is… harder than she made it seem.
Tapestry stopped a foot from the door. Malcolm grimaced in concentration, using all his focus to will the room’s exit out of existence, replacing it with a smooth wall.
“What did you just do?” snapped Tapestry.
“I stole… the illusion spryte’s power,” he said. “And on top of that… I have an idea.”
Tapestry walked back over to him. She set the gun down on the night stand and crossed her arms.
“I’ll hear you out,” she said. “But if it’s no good, we go after those sprytes. Tonight, without any more waiting.”
“Why are you so blood thirsty?” asked Malcolm.
Tapestry’s scowl deepened.
“I think a better question is why you’re so insistent on us not fighting them,” she said. “How is this any different from us going after Rain Dancer? Or your brother?”
Malcolm tensed up at the mention of Danny. He looked at Tapestry, and could tell from her reaction that she already knew she’d made a mistake by bringing him up.
The only reason I fought against Danny was because he was hurting innocent people. And that’s also why I gave him that money…
“Maybe,” said Malcolm. “Just maybe… There’s a better approach than searching through a hotel, guns out, and starting a fight that could get innocent people hurt? Do you think that might be a possibility, Tapestry?”
She didn’t say anything. Malcolm picked up her pistol and made sure the safety was on.
“Golden Joab will be doing his performance tomorrow,” said Malcolm. “He still, in all likelihood, doesn’t know that we’re here. Or that the sprytes are here.”
“That’s an assumption,” said Tapestry.
“It’s a reasonably fair assumption,” said Malcolm. “If he knows, then he’s already fled from the hotel, probably. I think he’ll be there, tomorrow night, and we’ll have a chance to make contact with him.”
“You mean a chance to capture him,” said Tapestry. “That’s essentially what Savior sent us here to do.”
“Golden Joab only matters if he’s actually gifted,” said Malcolm. “If he’s just a regular magician, he’s no good to the Champion Authority or Rain Dancer.”
Tapestry nodded.
“So… how do we know for sure?” she asked.
“We’ll be in the audience,” said Malcolm. “And we’ll find out how he really does his tricks.”
“You think it’s going to be that simple?” asked Tapestry. “A world famous magician, and we’ll be able to just… figure out how he does his tricks.”
“He’ll pick a volunteer from the crowd at some point,” said Malcolm. “And we need to make sure that volunteer is you.”
Tapestry nodded slowly.
“The thing is,” continued Malcolm. “There’s going to be loads of attractive women in the audience. And plenty of them will probably, well, you know...”
“I know what?” asked Tapestry, in a sharp voice.
“They’ll have certain impressive assets...” Malcolm cupped his hands in front of his chest suggestively. He saw the look on Tapestry’s face and winced, knowing that he was digging his own grave. “Or, uh, I just mean you won’t be able to hold attention the same way they can…”
I think I just made it worse, if that was possible.
“You’d better be going somewhere with this,” said Tapestry, teeth gritted.
“Golden Joab, from what little I’ve seen of him, seems like the kind of guy who’d pick an attractive woman to be his volunteer,” said Malcolm, quickly. “Unless… there’s someone who took priority over even the hottest woman there. Someone who would immediately melt the hearts of the crowd and Golden Joab.”
Tapestry was clearly at the end of her patience. Malcolm held up a finger for her to hold on for just a little longer.
“So, this is where Fantasy’s power comes into play,” said Malcolm. “I’ll use it to disguise you as… a cancer patient.”
CHAPTER 22
“That is the stupidest thing I think I’ve ever heard,” said Tapestry.
Malcolm frowned.
I was sure that she’d go for it…
“What’s the issue?” asked Malcolm. “Sure, I’d have to make you look bald, from the chemo, but it would only be a temporary illusion.”
“Stop talking,” said Tapestry. “God, I forget how young you are, sometimes.”
Malcolm felt a little offended by that, but tried to play it off with a shrug.
“Fine,” said Malcolm. “And I suppose you have a better idea?”
Tapestry nodded.
“The simplest is usually the best plan,” she said. “All we need to do is show up, watch Golden Joab’s show, and wait.”
“That’s your plan?” asked Malcolm. “That’s… not even a plan!”
“Rain Dancer’s sprytes are probably working on their own convoluted scheme,” said Tapestry. “All we need to do is wait for them to make a move, and take advantage of whatever mistake they end up making.”
“You’re assuming they’ll be obvious about it.”
“They aren’t here to have a conversation with the man,” said Tapestry. “Based off what you’ve told me about Rain Dancer’s methods, they’ll be interested in trying to turn him into a monster.”
“Probably,” said Malcolm.
“So unless he’s onboard with that, he’s going to struggle,” said Tapestry. “We watch, we wait, and we swoop in and save the day.”
“That… actually sounds like it might work,” he admitted.