16
DAYLIGHT WAS WASTING away and there was still too much that I needed to get done. I reached Robert on his cell and convinced him to barricade himself in my apartment until I could get him into the parlor for a tattoo. In the meantime, I needed to stop by Chang’s while I figured out what to do to protect my brother.
Despite the fact that the world dangled on the cusp of total destruction, nothing appeared to have changed at the entrance to Chang’s. I cut through Diamond Dolls, barely aware of the exotic dancers as they made their turns around the silver pole in the middle of the stage while customers lounged in battered chairs, sucking down beers. Ducking into the white room near the back of the strip club, I found the two Doberman pinschers waiting for me. Everything normal. Yet, when we stepped into the elevator, the canine pushed the button to the first floor of the subbasement rather than the third, where I always met the old man, causing a fresh rush of tension to gather in my shoulders.
As the doors slid open with a soft hiss, I waited for one dog to lead the way as it always did, but neither moved. I looked down at the dogs, but both were staring straight ahead.
“Come along, Gage,” Chang called, his disembodied voice dancing down the hallway.
Frowning, I stepped off the elevator and walked down the dimly lit white hall before turning a corner to enter the main room. My mouth fell open as my eyes struggled to take in the enormous garden spread before me. Much like the third floor of the warehouse that I always visited with him, the first floor appeared to be an enormous room with two-story ceilings. Yet instead of the usual assortment of tables and shelves filled with rare items, the room housed an enormous garden that would have put Versailles to shame. It somehow looked organized and elegant as well as wild and untamed all at the same time. Lush flowers bloomed around trees that stretched up to the ceiling. But the most spectacular thing was the light. I couldn’t see a single bulb overhead, but the room was as bright as midday despite the fact that we were several feet underground.
It was only when I felt a small hand pat me on the arm that I pulled my eyes away from the garden to look down at Chang. The wily old Chinese man looked older than the Cairo pyramids, but there was a twinkle in his brown eyes that reminded me that appearances could be so deceiving. He raised a large metal watering can and I took it without thinking.
“Come, help me,” he said with a wave of his hand before he started down a winding gravel path that disappeared into the garden. I followed him, parting the limbs of a weeping willow that hung over the path. The light that cast the room in a golden glow dimmed as we walked deeper into the garden, coming under the shade of so many massive trees.
“It looks like you’ve been busy,” I said, struggling to keep one eye on the little old man with the cane while my attention kept getting drawn to the garden.
Chang gave a little chuckle and shook his head. “I have had this garden for years. It is very relaxing to wander here.”
“Yes, but with everything going on topside, I didn’t think I’d find you here.”
The little old man paused and looked up at me. “The world is falling apart. Indianapolis has disappeared like Atlantis and Pompeii. Where would you be if you fear it is your last moments?”
I looked around, taking in the general serenity of the place. Except for the sound of water flowing past the banks of some distant stream that was cutting through the room, it was silent. The air was thick and heavy with humidity and the scent of flowers. It was as if the outside world had ceased to exist beyond Chang’s private Eden.
I looked down at the old man and gave him a weak smile. “I understand.”
“You were always a smart boy, Gage,” he said with a wink. He continued walking with me, following a couple paces behind until he paused before an outcropping of what looked to be limestone. He pointed to several beds of light violet-colored flowers huddled near the rocks. “Give those flowers a drink for me.”
With a nod, I walked over and watered them with the can he handed me. As I stood there, I peered closer at the flowers, taking in their thick leaves and delicate buds. Raising the watering can, I jerked around to Chang, who was watching me with a look of expectation.
“These are Cry Pansies, aren’t they?” I demanded. Chang nodded, his smile growing. Putting the can on the ground, I knelt down for a closer look. “These are extinct.” I barely controlled the urge to reach out and touch one of the blooms. “Not even the Towers have these in their greenhouses.”
“Of course not,” Chang snapped, drawing my gaze up to him again. He waved his hand at the flowers. “No magic or potion value. The Towers only save what they can use.”
I pushed to my feet again and dusted my hands off before picking up the watering can. “Thank you, Chang, for showing me this. They are beautiful.”
“It’s my way of ensuring that certain plants do not disappear from this earth,” he said with a shrug, but his face quickly brightened with a new thought. “I have a small section of my garden dedicated to Saint Helena. That island lost so many plants. I rescued an olive, ebony, and heliotrope.”
I walked back over to the little old man and followed him as he continued to wander through the garden.
“I’m surprised that you recognized the Cry Pansy,” he said, breaking the growing silence.
I paused, staring at a deep red bloom that appeared to be the extinct Cosmo Atrosanguineus. There was supposedly a clone in a Tower greenhouse, but the original was long gone from the earth. Except maybe for the one that I was now looking at. “A long time ago when I was studying, I discovered that I was pretty good at remembering the various uses for plants as well as their growing requirements. I thought when I got older I would spend a chunk of my life working in one of the Tower greenhouses. I always imagined that it would be peaceful and safe.” My voice died off as I stared at the flower. I had never gotten to the greenhouse in Dresden, or more important, the massive exotics greenhouse at the Antarctica Tower. I was too busy trying to escape.
A sigh rose up in my chest and it was hard to hold it in. The greenhouses were just one example of the good the Towers could do. They preserved rare and nearly extinct plants and flowers, which could be used to heal wounds and cure diseases. But the warlocks and the witches weren’t interested in saving the people of the world. Just themselves.
The sound of Chang’s feet steadily moving down the gravel path tore me from my thoughts and I followed him until he sat on a carved wooden bench under an ancient oak tree. He gave a relieved sigh as he settled on the bench and stretched his thin legs out in front of him. Setting the watering can by the side of the bench, I sat next to Chang and looked out across the garden. I hadn’t realized it as we walked, but we had moved uphill, so that we now looked over a large section that was spread out in a vast explosion of color. For just a moment the world had slipped away from us and there were no threats from the Towers or the Summer Court or Reave. It was just Chang and me, lost in nature.
“I’ve heard rumors,” Chang started, his voice soft and almost hesitant. “I’ve heard the Towers are looking for something stolen from them.”
Looking down at the old man, I arched one eyebrow and frowned. “Do you have a guilty conscience? Is there something you would like to confess?”
Chang scowled at me but didn’t speak. My composure cracked and I smiled. “I can’t imagine that your conscience would ever prick you. At least not when it comes to the Ivory Towers.” The brief humor slipped from me and the weight of the situation descended on my shoulders again. “But the rumors are true in a way. They are looking for something they protect, but you can rest easy in that it’s not anything that you’ve recently procured. Well, I certainly hope that you’re not attempting to purchase this item.”
The old man stopped scowling, but didn’t lose his dark expression as he looked straight ahead again. “There are many interesting things that the warlocks and witches guard, but most . . . most are hidden within the Towers and can be accessed by only another witch or warlock. And seeing how you are the only warlock that I do business with . . .”
“We both know I have enough problems. I’m not fetching you new baubles from the Towers to add to your collection.”
Chang didn’t even blink an eye at my comment. Today was the first time either one of us had vocalized what I was sure he had always known. We didn’t speak of my past with the Towers and I never asked how he knew. Chang knew things—that was how he had become the best at acquiring the exotic.
There was a tightness around his eyes as he stared at some distant point. He was turning something over in his mind. When he spoke, his words were slow, as if he was choosing them very carefully. “The destruction of Indianapolis. Nasty business and very visible. The Towers do not handle problems in their own house like that, and if they were all hunting you . . .” Chang paused and looked me over in such a way that I could almost hear the calculator in his head. “If they were hunting you, you would have already been dead. No, I think they lost the one thing that we can actually steal from them.”
“Chang,” I warned, trying to force the wheels in his brain to stop.
“The locations.”
My shoulders slumped and a headache started to throb in my temples. The old man was too smart for his own good. That or . . . “I pray by all that’s holy you’re not the buyer.”
Chang cackled, slapping the bench armrest on his right in his amusement. It was the first time he seemed to slip back into his usual mood. Since I had stepped into his garden, he had seemed subdued and almost melancholy. But then, no one in Low Town was in a good mood at the moment.
“You’re so funny, Gage,” he said as his laughing died down. “Do you think I don’t know where all the Towers are located?”
“How many?”
Chang’s grin became positively evil as he held up eight fingers.
I slapped my hands over my ears and hunched over, trying to shrink into the other side of the bench. “Stop, Chang! I don’t want to hear it! I’ve got enough f*cking problems.” Despite having my ears covered, I could hear him laughing at me, and I deserved it. If I stopped for one minute and thought about it, really thought about it, I knew that Chang already knew the locations of the Ivory Towers. The man had his hands on every interesting artifact, treasure, and doodad that had ever been created. Of course, he knew the locations! I just didn’t want to know about him knowing.
I dropped my hands from the sides of my head and let them dangle between my legs as I stared at the ground, feeling as if I were worn down to the bone. Chang stopped laughing and grew silent beside me. He shifted on the bench and leaned forward to look at my face.
“Is that why you are here? Someone knows and you think I am buying the information?”
I sighed. “In all honesty, the thought didn’t cross my mind until a minute ago. A different problem has brought me here today.”
The old black-market seller clapped me on the back. “Gage, you can’t afford another problem.”
“No shit,” I muttered. With a grunt, I sat back against the bench and stretched out my legs in front of me. The peace of the garden was starting to seep into my soul, easing away some of the tension. I pushed aside thoughts of the Towers and their wayward secret. I suppressed worries of Reave and the havoc he could wreak on this world. Arianna’s problem was what had dragged me to Chang’s doorstep. I was focused on the Summer Court and would deal with the rest when I heard from Duff.
“What do you know about impregnating elves?” I asked.
For the first time since I had met him, Chang looked dumbfounded. His little face wrinkled up and his mouth hung slightly open as if he was struggling to formulate a good answer. I came to Chang when I needed something to undo a curse, some magical protection, or maybe just a little bit of weirdness for a tattoo. This subject was not a comfort zone for either of us.
“I’ve not made any elf pregnant!” he finally exclaimed.
A deep chuckle rolled from my chest before I could stop it. “Not accusing you,” I said with a grin. Draping my right arm over the back of the bench, I turned slightly so that I was facing him. “My latest problem is with the elves. Particularly the Summer Court, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they were all having this problem.”
“Are you trying to have a baby with an elf?” Chang shook his head, looking worried. “This is not a good time, Gage. Maybe you should wait.”
“What? No! No, I’m not trying to have a kid.” I jerked back from him like I had been stung. “I’ve agreed to help the Summer Court. They’re having problems reproducing.”
“Oh!” Chang laughed with a clap of his hands, looking more than a little relieved as he slumped on the bench. I was with him on that one. I definitely didn’t need a kid when hell was breaking loose all around us.
“I’ve got Trixie checking with the Hearth Women for some herbal remedies,” I continued, now that his mind was with me. “But I’m willing to bet they’ve tried most of that already. I’ve got a couple potions that I use to help keep people from getting pregnant, but I don’t know any fertility potions or even spells. I was wondering if you had some kind of charmed item that might have been owned or created by some long-dead fertility god. Or how about a colored egg created by the Eostre? She was the goddess of fertility, right?”
“Yes, but that is not what you need.” Chang frowned at me. “Creating children isn’t easy business.”
I arched a questioning brow that stopped him, causing him to think about what he just said.
“Bah!” He waved one hand at me in irritation. “Humans breed like rabbits because they are so fragile. I mean creating children isn’t easy when magic gets involved.”
“Why?”
He placed his scratched wooden cane in front of him and rested both hands on the curved end before looking at me. “Birth, babies . . . it’s all a matter of old magic. Not that stuff those Towers use. Real old magic.”
“You’re talking the big bang, start of the cosmos, fabric of time, and breath of life magic,” I said softly. Chang nodded and I heaved a heavy sigh. This was stuff that I didn’t mess around with. No one did.
“Is it just one person who is having trouble or all of the elves?” he asked.
“It’s one person that I’m trying to help, but it sounds like all the elves are having issues.”
Chang scratched the top of his head, leaving some of his hair standing on end. “One Eostre egg isn’t going to fix things. Not long term. Sounds like a spell. Bad spell.”
“But what kind of a spell could do this? It didn’t hit them all at once. It seems like they’ve gradually lost the ability to have children. Spells don’t work that way. When one attacks a group, it’s either all or nothing.” I pushed off the bench and paced away a few feet with my hands shoved in my pockets as I fought against the growing frustration and nervous energy. “Besides, if it’s a spell, I’m screwed. I’d have to find the person who created the spell if I hoped to unravel it. That takes time; time I don’t have.”
“Just because it’s inconvenient doesn’t stop it from being the truth,” Chang said, stopping my pacing.
He was right. I might not like the answer, but that didn’t keep it from being the truth. Unless Trixie found some strange change in the habits of her people, it made logical sense that the elves had been hit with some kind of infertility spell. Unfortunately, I wasn’t skilled enough to know how to fix it. I needed a stronger witch or warlock or a big stack of spell books written by someone other than me. Gideon was out because he was too busy to bother with me. That only left Sofie, but since she was stuck as a cat, I wasn’t sure how well she could instruct me in the construction of a fertility spell. And spell books were out. I didn’t see the council letting me stop by to raid their library so I could perform magic I’ve already been forbidden to perform.
“I’m screwed,” I grumbled, rubbing my hand roughly over my face as I tried to think of a way out of this hole.
“Maybe not,” Chang said thoughtfully.
I looked up at the old man, trying to shove down the hope that was swelling in my chest. Whatever he thought of wasn’t going to be cheap. Or easy for that matter. “You’ve got something? A little relic that knocks up women at fifty paces?”
“Not quite.” Chang frowned at me, as if debating whether to tell me. “She doesn’t like visitors. You must be respectful. If she says she can’t help, you leave. No arguing. Do you understand?”
I nodded. “Sure. Of course. Who are you sending me to?”
Using his cane, Chang slowly rose from the bench and then withdrew his old leather wallet from the back pocket of his stained and patched brown pants. I watched as he opened it with slightly trembling hands and flipped through a pile of cards and folded bits of paper before he came to what he was looking for. He held out a white card to me while he shoved his wallet back into his pocket.
Flipping the card over, there was only one word: GAIA. Arching one eyebrow, I looked at Chang as he settled himself back on the bench.
“You’re kidding, right?” I said before I could stop myself.
Chang extended a hand toward me. “If you don’t want . . .”
I jerked the card back and even stepped away from him, which only caused the little old man to chortle. I wasn’t sure that I quite believed in the existence of Gaia, but if Chang thought this woman could help me, then I wasn’t willing to throw away the opportunity.
In truth, I didn’t believe in the gods and goddess. I had a feeling that most were just powerful beings such as a witch or warlock, but not quite of god status. Or at least what I thought of as a god.
“So you’re suggesting that I pay ol’ Mother Nature a visit?” I said, turning over the card between my fingers. There was no address, no phone number, no Web site listed (not that I actually expected this Gaia to have a Web site, but you never know).
Chang grinned at me. “Can you think of anyone who might know more about life and birth?” He paused as if thinking of something and then gave a little shrug as he corrected himself. “Well, anyone you can actually talk to for answers?”
“Look, at this point, I’m open to trying anything. If you think she’ll give me a hand with this, I’ll pay her a visit.”
Chang shook his head. “I didn’t say that she’d help you. I just know that if anyone can fix it, she can.”
“Fantastic,” I muttered. Mother Nature would know how to help the elves, but it was all a matter of getting the old girl to give me a hand. This was certainly turning into one of those days when it would have been better if I didn’t bother to crawl out of bed.
But it was a start. It was a direction to go in rather than spinning my wheels and wasting time that I didn’t have. I sucked in a deep breath and straightened my shoulders. I could do this. Holding up the card toward Chang, I said, “There’s no address. How am I to find her?”
“When you’re ready to see her, she’ll reach out to you.”
“And what do I owe you for this?”
Chang’s grin turned evil as it spread across his face and his eyes narrowed to thin slits. I suppressed a shiver as I looked at him, trying to remind myself that he was always fair. Of course, the little wrinkled man knew that I was desperate.
“Styx,” he said.
I frowned, my stomach clenching. I told myself that it could have been worse, but I wasn’t thrilled. A couple months ago I hanged myself so I could get to the underworld and obtain some of the water from the five rivers. Desperation had already forced me to trade Chang the water from Phlegethon, the river of fire, for a protection amulet—which I promptly lost. The River Styx was not only the river of hate, but it was also the river of death, as it was the main gateway to the other side. I wasn’t yet willing to part with the Styx water.
Shaking my head, I shoved the card in my front pocket. “You’ve given me information rather than an item. Pointed me in a potential direction rather than given me a cure. The best I can offer is Cocytus.”
“Cocytus? River of lamentation?”
“The water is supposed to be angel tears,” I added, hoping this would entice him.
Chang gave a snort. “We both know how well using something from an angel worked for you,” he said a bit snidely. I flushed but kept my mouth shut. You make one girl immortal using an angelic relic, and no one lets you forget about it. Of course, the entire ordeal had been a disaster, forcing me to commit suicide to get the Styx water in the first place so that her immortality could be cured. I’d learned my lesson and was now steering clear of anything angelic. “Cocytus and Acheron,” the old man countered.
“Cocytus and Lethe,” I challenged. Something about Acheron, the river of sorrow, made me nervous after seeing the swamp-like area while in Charon’s ferry. I wasn’t ready to hand that one over just yet either. Lethe represented forgetfulness, and while dangerous, it didn’t send a chill through me like the Styx or Acheron did.
“Done!” Chang said with a thump of his cane on the ground.
“Can I drop it off in a few days? I don’t exactly carry the waters with me.”
Chang smiled at me and waved one hand as he pushed to his feet again. “I trust you. You’ll drop it off. You’re a good boy, Gage.”
I followed as the little old man started back down the path that we had taken to the bench. Looking around, I couldn’t tell how long I had been in his garden. This was no change in the intensity or slant of the light. Time seemed frozen here, and despite the garden’s overwhelming beauty and tranquillity, I was ready to leave. But it was always like that when I visited Chang. He was an amusing little man, with a wicked grin and a gleam in his eye, but if you thought too long about it, you started to realize that he was probably the most dangerous thing on the planet and I didn’t have a f*cking clue as to what he really was.
Chang paused when the hallway came into view from the edge of the path. He turned and looked up at me thoughtfully. “It really is for the best,” he said.
“What is?”
“You leaving your Tower,” he said, leaning close as if he were whispering a secret. “You never would have been happy in a greenhouse. You have too much mischief in your soul.” He reached up and lightly tapped a knuckle on the center of my chest as if he were knocking on my soul.
I smiled down at him. “Thanks.” The small sadness I had felt earlier when I thought of the life I had left behind drifted away. I stepped around him as I continued toward the elevator and his two guard dogs. I never told Chang what I was or where I came from. The man seemed to always know, though it was only recently that he openly spoke of it. But then, I wasn’t really surprised that he knew. The man knew everything and owned a little piece of everything. I figured that as long as I stayed on his good side, I didn’t have to worry. If Chang was pissed, the whole world was going to burn.
I paused at the doorway and looked back at the lush greenery and blooming flowers stretching out as far as the eye could see. Chang was right about me. I wouldn’t have been happy for long in the greenhouse. When I was a child, I think I clung to it simply because it represented a safe haven away from Simon Thorn and the bleakness of my apprenticeship. Now I had a different kind of haven in the world, and it needed my protection.
But the first thing I needed to do was check in with a special cat to see if she could offer any insight on the elf procreation problem. If I knew it was caused by a spell, it would mean I could give this Mother Nature/Gaia something more to work with.
Two months ago, I discovered there was a Grim Reapers’ union. Now? A real Mother Nature. I hoped this world didn’t get any f*cking stranger than it already was. My brain couldn’t take much more.