Bad Dreams & Broken Hearts 16:“I was born to play this game, Sam.”

On the way back home I stopped for a bag of hot pretzels from a street vendor. I walked slowly, thinking over my conversation with the Lord Mayor. I was going to have to tell Marji about the offer of clemency in exchange for testimony without exposing my own connection to the Mayor's office.

No, on second thought that probably wasn't possible—and besides, Jake had heard the Grimm ask if I were acting as the Mayor's agent, and anything that Jake knew Marji would soon know.

So I'd have to trust to Marji's discretion. Maybe if I made it clear to her that blabbing about this could get her char-broiled and then eaten...

I came in through the front and made a mental note to send my doorman a bottle of something nice—three bottles, one for each shift, and a fourth for the parking attendant. Heck, I'd just send a case to the office and let them pass them out.

When I opened the door to my place I saw Marji and Karin sitting at opposite ends of the room. Karin was reading my copy of Amazing Adventures. Marji was glaring into a glass of Scotch in a way that made sure it wasn't her first. Or her third.

“Pretzels,” I said, offering the bag. Karin reached out her hand and I gave her one. Marji just glared.

Fine. I didn't know and didn't want to know what was going on between those two. Whatever it was, I didn't have time for it. I took a pretzel and a leaned against the door frame.

“I just met with the Lord Mayor,” I said. “He's willing to offer amnesty to Grandmother Wolf in exchange for her testimony to bring down Tak. Are we going to move on this or not?”

That got their attention. Marji looked up blearily. “What?”

Karin was a little more eloquent, “You spoke with the Mayor? In person?”

“Face to face,” I said. I walked into the room and sat on the couch next to Karin. I looked over at Marji. “What I say doesn't leave this room. And I mean that. You know who and what I am. You know who our target is. This is the great game and you are playing with gods and monsters and all the legions of Hell are sitting at the table. The buy-in is your immortal soul. There are no do-overs. There are no second chances. We are playing for keeps. This is your last and only chance to take your losses and walk away. I am going to ask you once—are you in?”

Karin looked down at her hands, then up at me. “I don't have any choice. He'll keep coming for me.”

“You could go to Messidor,” I said. “My father would grant you asylum. You've got talent, you could apprentice to a norn mage. Tak wouldn't be able to pursue you there—and you wouldn't be a threat to him.”

She shook her head. “Leonid Vetch gave me a chance when everyone else threw me away. He died to protect me. I can't walk away from that.”

I nodded and looked over to Marji.

She smiled at me and in that smile I saw something dark and mad and cunning, something that I had always guessed was there, and I knew then that no matter what happened, no matter what she did, I would always love her. “I was born to play this game, Sam,” she said. “You know that.”

I locked eyes with her. “If you're in, then Jake's in. You know you won't be able to keep him out.”

“Don't worry about Jake,” Marji said, that vicious smile still on her lips, “He's tougher than you think.”

I had my doubts on that score, but I kept them to myself.

“Okay,” I said, “I need to talk to him. When does he get off shift?”

“When we get there,” Marji said, getting to her feet and picking up her purse.

Karin stood. “We're going to get my bike next, right?” she asked. “And I need a few things from my studio.”

“And I want to dump this,” I said, waving the satchel. I went into my bedroom and put it on a table. I noticed the cane I'd picked up from the trip with Jake to Nivose. Might come in handy, so I stuck it under my arm. The monogram was C.T. Castor Tak? Maybe. Grandmother Wolf might have gotten it from Tak and given it to the lizardman. She might even have predicted we would end up with it.

I noticed something else—my bed was messed up. Not drastically, but since I don't sleep in it I keep it neat. It wasn't neat now.

Marji..., I thought, then put the thought away. There wasn't time for that now.

“Let's get moving,” I said, tucking the cane under my arm, and we did just that.

We stopped by Vetch's building—the cops were gone by then—and Karin got her motorcycle that she'd left chained to the front steps. Then Marji and I followed her to her studio. Karin rolled her bike around to the back of the building and then went upstairs and came back with a big leather portfolio.

And then it was off to the power plant.

It was easier to get through the gates during normal business hours. We all showed our IDs and got “Visitor” badges, but there weren't as many guns in evidence.

Jake was in his office. We filled him in on what he'd missed. He sat back, eyes closed, and chewed it over for a while. Then he looked to me.

“That deal the Mayor offered the moreau,” he asked pointedly, “It's solid?”

“Rock solid,” I told him. “I heard it directly from him.”

Jake frowned. “I don't like the idea of letting that she-wolf off.” A sigh. “I guess it can't be helped. Do you think she'll take the deal?”

I nodded. “It's her best option.”

“Castor Tak, man, I can't believe that,” Jake shook his head, “I just saw him, you know.”

“At Rey Sturm's benefit party,” Marji said.

“Where he saw my art,” Karin added.

“He did, didn't he,” Jake said slowly. “And all this started right after that. Damn. That actually makes sense.”

He turned his attention to Karin, “Okay, so I guess next we find Grandmother Wolf.”

Karin looked uncomfortable. “Yeah, how do we do that?”

Jake frowned at her. “She was linked to you by a major binding less than a week ago.”

“But the Lord Grimm took that over,” Marji objected. “And then you stole her from him. So wouldn't it lead back to you?”

Jake shook his head irritably. “I'm not talking about any active casting here—there's plenty of residual contact from a working like that. More than enough for locating her.”

“If I knew how,” Karin said bitterly.

“It's just basic sympathy,” Jake said. “Contagion 101.”

“Yeah, well, I was absent that day,” Karin shot back. “Didn't go to one of your fancy academies, remember?”

“Hang on,” I stepped in before it degenerated any further. “Jake, how would use contagion to track someone in Nightmare?”

“Me?” Jake asked. “I'd set up a resonant phosphor grid over a reactive map and scan for hot spots. But I'm an engineer, not a wizard.”

“Could you do one of those grid things?” I asked, “Like, in a lab here?”

“Well, of course,” Jake answered, “But I'm not the one with the contagion. I suppose I could show Karin how, but they're really tricky...”

“Draw a picture,” Marji said.

We all looked at her.

“You're a visual mage,” Marji explained. “You've got your supplies, right? Just... draw where Grandmother Wolf is.”

“Uh,” Karin hesitated.

“She's right,” I said. “Just relax, think about Grandmother Wolf, and draw where she is now. Like Jake said, there's plenty of residual contagion to link the two of you.”

Jake got up from his desk and reached under it. A big section of the top pivoted like a drafting board. “Here you go, kid. Just adjust it how you like it.”

Karin grinned at the desk. “That's cute. How do you rate?”

Jake shrugged. “They wanted me to be able to draft plans at my desk. The bosses love their toys here.”

Karin got behind his desk, fiddled with his chair for a minute, then pushed it aside with a glower. Jake started to adjust it and Karin waved him aside. “I'd rather stand.”

Jake then pulled the table-top up. It's highest position wasn't as high as an easel, but Karin was short. She nodded. “That's good.”

Then she started digging through her bag.

Marji jerked her head at the door and Jake nodded. Aloud Marji said, “We're gonna run to the commissary for a minute. You want anything?”

Karin glanced up, distracted. “Sure, a cheese sandwich or something would be nice.” She bent back to her supplies and I don't think she noticed us leave.

Everybody seemed to know Marji, she waved and smiled and kidded with the engineers and office workers in the commissary. Jake introduced me as “Mr. Jackknife” with no explanation, which earned me some curious looks. In my suit I probably looked like an accountant, so maybe they thought I was an auditor of some kind.

We got a bunch of sandwiches—Jake showed his ID card and they wrote down the number—and took them back to Jake's office.

Karin was sitting at Jake's desk and she looked up when we came in. “Found her,” she announced.

Marji rewarded her with a cheese sandwich while I went to look at the picture. There was Grandmother Wolf, all right, standing in three-quarter profile and looking off into the distance. She was under a trellised archway hung with fruit, behind her was a waterfall pouring into a pool lined with carved stone blocks.

“That's not Nivose,” I said automatically. “That looks like... Verdemaire?”

Karin nodded, tearing into her sandwich. Around a mouthful of food she mumbled, “Just south of Heart's Desire.”

I gave her a look. “You know Verdemaire?”

Karin swallowed, then shrugged. “A little. I know those gardens. I mean, I know I can find them.”

I frowned. “If she has an accord with the Lady Heget this could get sticky.”

Karin shook her head. “I don't think so. This is part of Heget's Open Trade Zone.”

That got Jake's attention. He went to look over Karin's shoulder. “Interesting. I've heard about that.”

“Oh?” Marji asked archly.

Jake glanced over at her quickly, “From OEA briefings,” he qualified. He seemed to be blushing.

Marji chuckled.

Karin tapped the page. “This is in the zone, or at least it used to be. It's been a while since I've seen it.”

“So you can get us there?” I prompted.

She paused, looking at the drawing. Then she said, “Us, meaning me and you?”

“That's right,” I said. “We'll go in spirit. Marji and Jake can watch out bodies.”

Karin nodded slowly. “Yeah. We can go together.”

“Good,” I said. “The sooner the better. I'll call up a pair of landspirits.”

“Oh, we can do better than that,” Jake said. “I'll issue you firespiders.”

“You can do that?” I asked.

He shrugged. “As long as you don't get them killed.”

“I'll do my best,” I promised.

“What's a firespider?” Marji asked.

“Spirit creature from Thermidore,” I explained. “I hadn't realized the plant had any.”

“We use them for message carriers,” Jake explained. “For routine matters not worth opening a gate for. They were a gift from the Lady Agni.”

“They're fast, aren't they?” Karin asked.

“Damned fast,” I said. “So how do we do this?”

Jake considered. “I guess you'll have to leave from the exotics storage area—”

I cut him off. “I'd rather leave my body in your office. Marji, you stay here with our bodies, we'll follow Jake down to where the spiders are in spirit.”

“I can't see your spirit forms,” Jake objected.

“Just walk down there,” I told him. “We'll keep up. Are the firespiders visible?”

Jake nodded. “They're enchanted to have a visible light corona.”

“Then when you see two of them take off you'll know we're on the way.” I smiled. “Relax, we'll put them back to bed when we get home.”

Karin was looking at me nervously. “Here,” I gestured at the couch, “You lie down and get comfortable. Close your eyes.”

She lay down, looking stiff. With her eyes closed she said, “It's been a long since I did this awake.”

“It's not something that you forget,” I assured her and sat down in the armchair next to her and closed my eyes, opened my spirit eye, and slid out of my body.

Her spirit eye was open, but unfocused. I called to her and felt her seeing me. I reached out to draw her out of her body. She came easily and in a moment we stood side by side, our bodies lying still.

“See,” I told her.

She was looking around, getting oriented.

Jake was looking to Marji. She shrugged.

“Okay,” Jake said, unnecessarily loudly, “If you're not following me, say something.”

Then he walked to the door and opened it, paused in the doorway to look back at us, then went out. We followed.

Karin started looking more confident. I knew it would come back to her.

Jake, on the other hand, would have made a terrible spy. He walked with his eyes darting from side to side, like he was expecting Karin and I to suddenly appear before him as spectral shapes, shouting “Booga-booga!”

Fortunately no one challenged him on the way to the back lot where the storage areas were. The whole plant was surrounded by wards, with more wards glimmering around other areas. We didn't need to cross any until we got the exotic storage area. Jake looked around to make sure we alone, then said, again too loud, “You'll have to walk around to the back dock. I'll open it from the inside.”

He waited as if expecting an answer, then went inside.

He had the back dock doors open by the time we got there, and the wards were down. A pair of firespiders were on the loading dock, drifting gently a few feet above the concrete pad.

A firespider doesn't look much like a spider on fire, unless you happen to be really drunk, I guess. They are gleaming brass spheres, about four feet across, featureless and smooth. Their “legs” are beams of brilliant golden coherent light. They have a dozen or so, each as thick as my thumb, drifting around randomly. They actually look more like some kind of spiny starfish than a spider, but the name firespider took, probably because firespinystarfish doesn't sound as impressive.

I whistled low to call them to me and patted my hand in a “get down” gesture. They obediently sunk to where they nearly touched the ground. I walked to one—the beams of light feel warm, but they won't hurt even a spirit form unless the 'spider is really enraged. I pulled myself up and sat on it's round back. Their skin is rough, for all it looks like a brass mirror, and getting on top on them isn't hard.

I looked down at Karin, who looked up at me helplessly.

“Just climb up,” I told her.

She frowned, but tried it and a moment later was uneasily perched on the other.

“Let's go,” I said aloud, and gave the beasts a mental shove. Instantly we were rocketing out over the wall of the power plant, across the beach, and out to sea. Karin shrieked and then erupted into a nervous laugh.

“Relax,” I said, “You won't fall off.”

She didn't seem convinced. “I'm going to get you for this, Jackknife,” she muttered.

The dream sea coalesced around us and I concentrated on focusing the creatures' limited minds on an image of Verdemaire. That's where we're going, big guys. The green one.