“He never told me his real name.”
“Actually, the body is intersexed. Tasha said the genitalia were tucked into the pelvis, like an avian’s reproductive system.”
“Huh. Is that common?”
“You’d have to ask her. I don’t think she’s seen very many purebloods in situ. When they interact with our world, they don’t tend to leave traces behind.”
“The Ferid are not pure,” Ru said. Linus and I stared at him. These were his first words in more than two hours. “Or, they are not predominantly pureblood. The Senators are, and of course, the Invictus.”
“What’s the Invictus?” I asked.
“The Invictus controls the Senate. The Invictus is what you might have called a Caesar in your world’s antique period.”
“And that’s who Basuram thinks you tried to assassinate?”
He laughed. “That would be suicide. Basuram was given a cover story to engage the potential trust of the locals. But the Kentauros was sent after me because my memories are important. The Ferid cared nothing for El’s memories, but they’re eager to devour mine, because only I remember how the three of us got here.” He suddenly looked at Linus. “I apologize, Doctor. Please go on about the demon’s remains.”
Linus smiled slightly. Who didn’t like hearing themselves referred to as Doctor? He couldn’t prescribe medication, like Dr. Hinzelmann, or prosect a body, like Dr. Rashid, but he could run a refractive index test on bits of bone and broken glass from another world. Plus, there was now the “military training” mystique that Selena had mentioned to me, in a rare moment of naked gossip for her.
Not that I found soldiers particularly sexy. Although I did once sleep with a member of the Israeli Defense Forces who had alopecia, which meant that his chest was hairy, but his head and legs were smooth. I kept being really sassy, pretending I knew something about the Middle East because I’d read
Drinking the Sea at Gaza
. In the morning, we ate fried chicken at a place across the street.
Focus. God.
I blinked, returning my attention to Linus.
“We took vitreous fluid from the demon,” he said, “whose name appears to be Blq. At least, that was the repeating rune we found in his RNA.”
“Blq,” I murmured. “Like that goblin in the Tom Cruise movie.”
“Blq is what we unofficially call a Bercilak-demon. That is, like the giant Bercilak in
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
—”
“Blq can survive decapitation.”
“Not indefinitely, though. The erythropoietin levels in the brain were quite high. The serum EPO is 119, and that elevation can indicate severe tissue damage with a prolonged perimortem phase before actual death.”
“That sounds about right,” I said, “given that Blq was still alive after being disarticulated and disabused of his head.”
“I’m going to examine the vitreous fluid closer,” Linus said. “The proteins may tell a story. Although, to be honest, it’s pretty much like staring at a glass of water.”
“All right. Do keep me posted on that. And thanks for all your hard work, Linus. You really are an integral member of the forensic team.”
He opened the file. “I’m going to pretend you never said that.”
“Thanks. That’s probably for the best.”
We began walking down the hall to Trace.
“I know where it is,” Ru said. “At least, I think I do.”
“You know where what is?”
“The apartment. From the memories.”
I stopped in the middle of the hallway. “Ru. We don’t have to rush this. You’ve just remembered that you have a brother.”
“I had a brother. He died in that place. With the shiny yellow floors and the brown walls. And the big bowl.”
“What big bowl?”
“It was made of a smooth material, like marble. He said that he filled it with water, but I was skeptical.”
“A claw-foot tub.”
“It did have feet, yes.”
“That could be half the apartments downtown,” I said. “Although—you mostly find claw-foot tubs in older buildings.”
“The street outside was strange.”
“Strange how?”
“Made of little stones.”
“Cobblestones. That’s Gastown.”
“Tess. I need to find whatever is left of him.”
“And you know he’s your brother?”
“As surely as you would know one of your own family.”
“Basuram said you were alone.”
“The Kentauros lies. The Kentauroi are soldiers. They are paid to fight the wars of the Ferid. But Basuram almost told me about El, just before dying. My brother’s name was on the tip of the demon’s tongue.”
I exhaled. “All right. Come with me.”
I took Ru into the audiovisual lab, which was empty. I sat down and logged into the computer. Ru frowned.
“Why are you searching for real estate?”
“I’m doing a Boolean search for apartments that may have some of the characteristics we saw. This search engine links to Craigslist and KiJiJi, as well as to private listings. Let’s see. Claw-foot tub. You said there was a window.”
“I did?”
“When Derrick was reading your mind.”
“Oh. I do not remember everything I said.”
“He’s really sorry about that, by the way.”
“I have already accepted his apology, which was unnecessary.”
“Was there anything special about the window?”
“It was hard to open. It—what is the word—became jam?”
“Jammed. Did you push it up? Was it heavy?”
“Yes. The glass was thick.”
“What about around the frame of the window?”
“There was a design. Sculpted.”
“Crown molding.” I added that. “Did you look out the window?”
“Once. I saw a big metal building.” His eyes widened. “I’m remembering more now. There was an arch. And a flying vessel, moving along a stone aqueduct.”
“The cinema in Chinatown. That’s on Pender. We’re definitely in the vicinity of Gastown.” I kept thinking. That was a bit of a shabby area, although the city was aggressively gentrifying the neighborhood. It was close, in fact, to an apartment building I’d visited more than three years ago, belonging to a vampire named Sebastian.
I clicked the search button. Eleven results appeared.
I opened each listing. They all had images, but they weren’t great images by any stretch of the imagination. When I clicked on 29 ABBOTT STREET, I felt Ru suck in his breath slightly behind me. I looked at the pictures. The apartment had faux paneling, original hardwood, and walls with at least fifty years of paint coating them. The kitchen was floored in tacky yellow linoleum.
“This place was put on the market two days ago.” I stood up. “I have to go declare it an active crime scene.”
“I am going with you.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ru.”
“That place is all I remember about my brother. I need to see it.”
I looked around. “Damn. Where’s Selena?” I dialed her extension. It went straight to voice mail.
“This is Tess,” I said. “I’ve got an address. I’m taking the Denali, and if something attacks me, I won’t think twice about using it as a tank.”
“What’s a Denali?” Ru asked.
I was already dialing Lucian. “It’s like a chariot.”
“Hello?”
“It’s me. I need you to meet me at Twenty-nine Abbot Street in Gastown. And I need you to drive like you aren’t ninety years old.”
“Can you give me any more information?”
“No. But I’ll buy you a drink later tonight.”
“That’s fair.” He hung up.
We took the elevator down to the underground parking. I made sure that Ru was strapped in tightly on the passenger side, then carefully guided us aboveground. It was dusk. Why was it always dusk?
“This part of the city is interesting,” Ru said. “Like a sunken ship.”
“It does feel that way sometimes.”
“There are a lot of people living outside.”
“Not everyone can afford a place to live in a city this big.”
“What is strange,” he replied, “is that you think this place is big.”
I parked across the street from the walk-up building. “How hot was it in the apartment building?” I asked. “Were you sweating?”
“I do not perspire.”
“Fine. Did you feel hot?”
“Yes. It was dry, and the air was full of dust. I also smelled something very pungent. An odor that was like polymer melting.”
“Roof tar. Let’s start with the top floor.”
I walked up to the entrance and rang the manager’s suite. Nobody answered. I pressed a few random buttons. There was a buzz, and the door opened.
“People are dumb,” I said.
We climbed the stairs. I was breathing more heavily by the time we got to the top, which brought me to the conclusion that I needed to step up my cardio.
“You lead the way,” I told Ru.
I followed him slowly down the hallway. He stopped at 304.
“This might be it,” he said.
The door was locked. I took the athame out of my purse and touched it to the dead bolt. I channeled a spike of earth materia, letting it agitate the metal, until I heard a satisfying click. The door opened.
The apartment was empty and had been recently cleaned. The tang of bleach was still in the air. The hallway seemed familiar, but only in flashes. Ru walked slowly around the living room. The moment his foot touched the linoleum floor, I saw a shudder go through him.
“What is it?”
He looked down. “El died here.”
“You’re certain.”
“Yes. I can feel him.”
I grabbed a spray bottle of luminol from my reagent travel kit. I took pictures of the floor from several angles, including a ruler for scale. Then I sprayed the tiles, which were cracked, their edges beginning to curl upward. When every inch of the floor had been treated, I stood up.
“This might be upsetting,” I told Ru.
“You keep saying that,” he said. “But I am past being upset. Now I just want to know what happened to my brother. I want to know what he was doing here in the first place, and what made me come after him. I wish I could remember.”
“Just”—I swallowed—“be prepared.”
I pointed the athame at the window. Strands of earth materia stirred the dust on both sides of the glass, encouraging it, making it fecund. Gradually, the window darkened as earth, grit, and heavy smog thickened on it, until the kitchen was almost completely dark. I turned around, passing the athame over the linoleum floor. Blue light struck the yellow, and dazzling patterns emerged. Markings like frost that glittered blue, forming arcs and glowing satellites.
“Ru,” I said slowly. “These are signs of arterial blood loss. Someone’s body exsanguinated on this floor.”
“He couldn’t get up.” Ru’s voice was soft. “But I put my head in his lap. And he touched my hair. He said,
You’re my partner in crime
. He said,
I love you, even though you are an ill-bred puppy
. And then he showed me.”
“Showed you what?”
“How to recover the Aikon. How to save the memories.” Ru extended his hand, fingers hovering in the air. “There was a hole in his chest. I reached inside. He said,
Lower
. I reached lower, until I found it. Then I pulled it out.”
I felt all the color leave my face. “He was alive when you took the Aikon?”
“Every body is different. He needed to tell me. So I took it, and I carried it into the bathroom. I saw myself in the mirror. That must have been when I noticed the blue all over my fingers.”
I walked into the bathroom. There was a tiled floor and a claw-foot tub, just as Ru had remembered. The vanity was a full-length mirror, like the kind my mother still has in her closet. As soon as I got near it, I felt strange.
“This is not supposed to be here,” I said.
The edges of the mirror were gilded, but the more I tried to look at them, the less defined they grew. I felt a pain in my head.
“Go downstairs,” I told Ru. “Take my phone. Dial one for the lab.”
“I have no wish to leave you.”
“Something’s not right here. Go downstairs.”
The mirror was getting darker. I could no longer see myself in it. I felt the floorboards beginning to vibrate.
“Tess—” Ru pointed to the glass.
It was steaming.
“Get out of here!” I shouted.
“No! I want to stay with you!”
I pointed the athame at his feet. I closed my eyes, channeling a braid of earth and air materia. The power formed itself into a curtain of light, hazy, like smoked green glass. Ru stared at me in disbelief. He yelled something, but the barrier absorbed the sound of his voice. It was for his own good. If it protected him.
I turned to regard the mirror. Now it was a pane of blackness, hanging like a mineral scar in the air. I took a step forward, raising my blade.
The steam condensed. It turned red, until it looked like a spout of whirling embers. Somewhere in the shifting flames, I saw two steady points, which were fixed on me. The cloud drifted forward. I stood my ground.
“Arcadia,” I said.
My phone started to buzz. I knew it was Lucian, but there was no time for anything but this moment. I turned. Ru was gone. He must have run downstairs. I silently thanked whatever power might be listening.
“Tessa Isobel Corday.”
I turned at the sound of my full name. Arcadia was about a foot away from me now, hovering at eye level. Her form was like a vermilion nebula compressed into a trembling water spout. She had no discernible mouth, but her eyes were unmistakable.
“Arcadia,” I repeated. “What do you want?”
“The question is, really, what don’t I want, Tess.”
She hung in the air before me. She was kind of a dark miracle, floating, and she didn’t actually have a face, which made it difficult to judge her expressions. But her eyes grew brighter when she was emphatic.
“You look like the water spout from
Loom
,” I said. “The one you have to unweave using your distaff.”