Alex Verus 5: Hidden (9 page)

“But the Council still wants Crystal,” Luna said.

“Which means that Caldera’s on our side for exactly as long as Crystal stays a suspect. If we can prove that Crystal’s behind this, we’ll get Caldera and a whole Keeper task force backing us up. But if we prove
Sagash
is behind it then there’s nothing Caldera can do. Sonder has to push Crystal as the prime suspect, because as soon as she’s not then he stops getting help from the Keepers.”

“I hate Light politics so much,” Variam muttered.

“Better get used to it.”

“Why are you so sure it’s Sagash?” Luna asked.

“Because this was what he did before,” Variam said. “He got a couple of idiots to kidnap Anne out of school.”

“But that was what, five years ago?”

“Four if you count from when we got out.”

“You’re seriously saying he sat around for
four years
before coming back?”

“Yes,”
Variam said with emphasis. “Because that’s what he did the
first
time. It was three years between the deaths at our school and when Sagash showed up. The guy holds a grudge like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Say it was him,” I said. “Why would he go after Anne now? What would he want from her?”

“Best case? He still wants her as his apprentice and he’ll pick up right where he left off.” Variam’s face was grim. He didn’t say what the worst case was, but I could guess.

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O
nce we reached the station Variam split off, disappearing into the Underground to begin his search. Luna hung back. “Caldera’s sidelining us, isn’t she?”

I gave her an appraising look. “You noticed.”

“Well, she didn’t exactly make it subtle,” Luna said. “Ask around the apprentice program to find who it was? What are they going to say? ‘Oh yeah, I was just talking about Anne to these two sinister-looking hunchbacked guys in black cloaks, here’s their address and mobile number.’”

“Black cloaks aside, that probably
is
how they found out.”

“That still leaves about a thousand people who it might have been. And same goes for Vari. She’s just trying to get us out of the way.”

“Not quite. If she really thought there was no chance of finding anything useful, I doubt she’d have asked you to do it. I think she’s giving us peripheral jobs to keep you out of trouble.”

“You know,” Luna said, “I’m getting really tired of mages thinking I’m useless.”

“We’re not Light mages,” I said. “And we’re not Keepers. Caldera knows she could use our help, but we’re always going to be on the outside. From her perspective we’re amateurs. Well-meaning amateurs, but . . .”

“Sonder probably wants that too, doesn’t he?” Luna said. “He wants to keep me on a shelf somewhere nice and safe.” She gave me a challenging look. “Are you okay with that?”

“Well.” I gave Luna a grin. “Caldera
is
on our side, so I think we should help her out. But I don’t see why we can’t show a little initiative . . .”

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W
e parted company and I headed home, picking up a few things from the shops along the way. By the time Caldera arrived a couple of hours later, I’d had the chance to make some preparations.

“. . . and beyond Jagadev’s throne room are the private rooms and living quarters,” I said. Caldera and I were standing over a sketched map on the small table in my kitchen. “That was where Anne and Vari lived while they were there.”

“Other exits?” Caldera asked.

“At least two that I know about,” I said, pointing. “Here and here. There’s roof access too, but I don’t know the way inside. According to Vari it’s a bit of a maze, so I’d get directions if you’re planning to go exploring.”

“What sort of security force does Jagadev keep on hand?”

“Last that I saw, a lot. At least twenty armed guards, some of them adepts, and that’s not counting wards and automated defences. I wouldn’t recommend starting a fight.”

“I’ll be there in my capacity as a Keeper.”

“Mm.” I was pretty sure Jagadev was too smart to challenge the Keeper orders directly, but the assembled Dark mages might be another story. “I’m guessing you haven’t been to the Tiger’s Palace before?”

“Other Keepers have. We poke around so often it’s practically the Order of the Star’s local pub.”

“But they probably don’t do it on the nights Dark mages throw a party.”

Caldera shrugged.

“Sure you don’t want me along?”

“Very sure,” Caldera said definitely. “Don’t take this personally, but right now having you mixed up in this is the last thing I want. You’re a trouble magnet, you’re not trained for police operations, I can’t rely on you to follow orders, and on top of that, according to Sonder you have some kind of history with Jagadev. I’m already going to be babysitting one civilian in there; I don’t need another.”

I looked at Caldera in amusement. “Guess that answers that.”

“This is my job, not yours. If you really want to do me a favour, scout the Tiger’s Palace for tonight so that I can get Sonder in and out without anything screwing up. That’s one thing I
could
use help with.”

“Are you okay with Sonder having dragged you into this?”

“Sonder didn’t drag me in, I volunteered,” Caldera said. “Even if he
did
do it by convincing my boss that this was connected to the Crystal investigation when it probably isn’t. But your friend needs help, and stopping this kind of thing from happening is the reason I joined the Order of the Star in the first place. Besides, Sonder’s helped me out enough times that I owe him a favour.”

“That’s it?” I asked. “You don’t mind?”

“Do you have any idea how many cases like this the Order of the Star gets?” Caldera asked me. “Kidnap, manslaughter, abuse . . . Not a day goes by where someone doesn’t come to us for help. I’ve got fifteen cases sitting on my desk back at the station right now. When I check in tomorrow it’ll be sixteen. Every hour I spend helping you and Sonder I’m ignoring someone else.”

“I’m not the one who needs the help, and neither is Sonder.”

“And that’s why I’m here. But your friend’s not the only case out there.”

“Are you saying you’d be rather be working on those other cases?”

“What are you expecting me to say, Verus?” Caldera asked. “That I’m pissed off at Sonder? Well, maybe I am, a little bit. But I’m still going to do what I can to get you your friend back. Just like I do for everyone else who comes to us.”

I studied Caldera curiously. “Does it ever get to you? Seeing the same things happen over and over again?”

“Ask me that sometime when I’ve drunk a lot more. Come on, go through the layout once more, then I’m heading back to the lab. I’ll get you an earpiece for tonight.”

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I
spent the afternoon trying the remainder of my contacts. I didn’t find out anything about Anne, but the one bit of good news was that I managed to get through to Arachne. I caught her up on the situation; we discussed plans and agreed to meet that evening. As the afternoon wore on I spent a couple of hours in the bathroom and then went to meet Variam on the Heath.

The sun was setting by the time Variam showed up, and he actually looked right past me without recognising me. “Hey, Vari,” I said as he was about to pass by.

Variam looked at me more closely, and then his eyes went wide in disbelief. “Alex?”

“Notice anything different?”

“What the hell did you do to your hair?”

My hair’s naturally jet black, with a tendency to spike upwards. Right now it was combed back and dyed a vivid blond—the bottle had advertised something a little more natural-looking, but I’m not exactly a stylist. “Like it?”

“This really the time?”

“Oh, you know,” I said. “Just felt like a change. Come along to Arachne’s and I’ll explain once we get there.”

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V
ariam walked into Arachne’s cave just ahead of me and stopped dead. Luna was standing in the main cavern near the door and she’d obviously heard us coming. “Hey,” she said with a grin, giving her dress a swirl. “What do you think?”

Variam stared. Luna looked satisfied, then she saw me and her eyebrows rose. “You went for
that
colour?”

“Like it?”

“You look like a Bond villain.”

“Now that’s just mean. And I was about to say something nice about how you looked too.”

Luna’s dress was dark red, darkening from vermillion at the torso to the colour of dried blood at the skirts, which had a rumpled, crushed-velvet look. Fingerless gloves ran to above her elbows, a feathery ruff rested on her bare shoulders, and she’d even dyed her hair red with orange highlights to match the rest of the outfit. “
Nice
wasn’t exactly what I was going for.”

“Oh, there you are, Alex,” Arachne said as she emerged from behind Luna. “What on earth have you done to your hair?”

I sighed. “Everyone’s a critic.”

“I told you your hair needed to be medium
ash
brown with golden blond.” Arachne is a gigantic tarantula-like spider, black and hairy with fangs the size of kitchen knives, a detail neither Variam nor I paid attention to. You get used to anything given time. “Not
bleach
blond. There’s no point in doing this if you don’t get the colour exactly right.”

“Colours aren’t my strong point, okay?”

“Wait,” Variam said. “You’re going to the Tiger’s Palace?”

“See?” I said as I headed past Luna. “Told you he’d get it.”

“Are you nuts? Jagadev said he’d kill you if you ever showed up again!”

“Oh, I doubt he’d do that in front of fifty Dark mages.”

“That’s because if they figure out you’re spying on them they’ll do it first!”

“Technically
all
the Dark mages are going to be there to spy on one another,” I said as I found the selection of clothes Arachne had laid out for me. “If I didn’t do it too, they’d probably get suspicious.”

“Does Caldera know you’re doing this?”

“Sure, kind of . . . Oh, that one looks good.”

“No, that’s in Chojan’s style,” Arachne said, lifting a leg to tap one of the others. “He’s going to be there. Try this one instead.”

“What do you mean, ‘kind of’?” Variam said, walking around. His eyes kept drifting back to Luna.

“Well, she did ask me to scout out the Tiger’s Palace. I’ll just be doing it a bit more proactively.”

“How long have you been planning this?”

“Since about thirty seconds after Caldera and Sonder told us about the party. I didn’t tell you until now because I knew you’d be giving Caldera a report before meeting us. This way you didn’t have to lie to her.”

“She’s going to be pissed,” Variam said, then suddenly shook his head. “Wait, why should I care? Gah, I hate having to think about whether the boss is happy.”

“I know, but you want to be a member, you have to pay the dues, and we
are
going to need help for this one. Whether or not Sonder’s right about it being Crystal, I doubt we’ve got the resources to do this on our own.”

Luna and Variam shared stories on how the day had gone—they’d turned up a lot of bits and pieces but nothing solid—while Arachne continued her efforts to educate me in the basics of hair care. “Use this after you dress,” Arachne said, handing me a small jar. “The gel should recolour your hair close enough to the right shade to pass a fairly thorough inspection, but don’t get it wet. It won’t persist as well as a proper dye.”

I nodded. “Thanks for helping out on such short notice, by the way. You been okay?”

“For the moment,” Arachne said, the clicking rustle of her mandibles a counterpoint to her voice. “Although some of the recent political developments are . . . worrying. If you have the time, I’d appreciate hearing what you discover at this audience.”

“Sure. What are you worried about specifically?”

“Specifically?” Arachne said. “Your ex-master.”

I felt my heart sink. “His name has been linked to Morden’s current project,” Arachne said. “A discouragement to those thinking of standing in opposition.”

“It could be a bluff.”

“I very much doubt Morden would make a threat like that without something to back it up.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s him,” I said. It didn’t sound as convincing as I’d like. “He might be doing it as part of some other game.”

Arachne studied me with her eight eyes. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I understand Luna’s been hearing rumours of Richard’s return,” Arachne said. “She’s reported them to you.”

“Luna needs to learn to keep her mouth shut.”

“Hasn’t that contact of yours from the Council been saying something similar? Talisid?”

I was silent.

“Have you ever heard the parable of the horse which was a mule?” Arachne said. “You go to market and buy a horse. On your way home, if one person looks at the horse and tells you it’s a mule, you should ignore him. If a second person looks at the horse and tells you it’s a mule, you should go back and check. If a third person looks at the horse and tells you it’s a mule, then it’s a mule.”

I looked up at Arachne. “What’s your point?”

“Exactly how many people need to tell you that Richard might have returned before you start listening?”

“They’re just rumours—”

“
Repeated
rumours, and I’ve known you to act on less. Why haven’t you?”

I took a glance over towards Luna and Variam. Both were out of earshot and distracted in any case; they’d gotten into one of their usual arguments and Variam was pointing out of the tunnel for emphasis. “Say I do believe them,” I said quietly. “What would I do about it? If he is back, if he does come after me . . . then I’m screwed. It doesn’t matter how much warning I have.”

Arachne paused, tapping two of her front legs against the floor. “I think you’re mistaken,” she said at last, “but you may be right that you should be focusing on what you’re doing tonight. Do you know
why
you’re doing this, by the way?”

“What do you mean?” It was an odd question, but I was relieved at the change of subject. “I don’t think there’s any way of doing this that isn’t dangerous.”