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“Scamper, you two,” Marla said. “And stay out of trouble. If you notice any frogs or
hummingbirds, give a shout.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Rondeau said, nodding at Bethany. B nodded and started to
follow Rondeau out.
“Wait!” Bethany said. “Are you Bradley Bowman?”
“So they tell me.”
“From Hollywood to the hidden world,” she said. “I hope I get to hear the tale of that
journey someday.” She returned her attention to Marla, dismissing B and Rondeau from
her attention. “I’m not clear about your interest in Mutex,” Bethany said. “I’ve heard
you’re pursuing him, and that you were on hand to witness his murder of Finch and
Dalton—which makes you seem like bad luck, so you’re lucky I let you onto my train at
all—but why, exactly, are you after him? And what are you doing in San Francisco
anyway, besides making enemies?”
“Mutex killed my friend Lao Tsung.”
“Right, Lao. We came to the city at about the same time, though beyond that we didn’t
have much in common. I envied his longevity.”
“He wound up dead, just like everybody does,” Marla said.
“So you’re operating out of simple revenge?”
Marla considered. She didn’t know how much Bethany already knew. Dalton had
believed Marla was responsible for killing Finch, and he’d known about the
Cornerstone disappearing, but how much had Bethany heard? Surface anomalies aside,
Bethany reminded Marla of herself—competent, no-nonsense, straightforward, savvy,
mostly businesslike, with none of Finch’s power-games, or Dalton’s monomaniacal
boorishness, or the Celestial’s rudeness or avarice. Marla didn’t trust Bethany, but then,
if by some quirk of space-time or magical mishap Marla happened to come face-to-face
with her own identical double, she wouldn’t trust her, either. Marla was too smart to go
around trusting people promiscuously. “Revenge is as good a reason as any,” Marla
said. “Don’t you think? I owe Lao Tsung a lot. But you should be more concerned with
your own life. Mutex is coming for you, to kill you for giving him the brush-off and, not
coincidentally, to rip out your heart and offer it up to his gods. But instead, how about
we capture him?”
“You mean kill him, surely,” Bethany said. “Unless you want to keep him alive for a
while, to torture him. But that’s not a good idea with a sorcerer as adept as he’s proven
himself to be. Every moment alive is an opportunity for him to regain the upper hand, as
I’m sure you know.”
Marla didn’t see an easy way to bluff past this, so she gave in. “I can’t kill him right
away. He has something I need, and I have to find out where he’s hidden it.”