I compressed my lips into a tense line. Again, I thought of bolting, but I suspected it wouldn’t do any good.
“Did I mention who sent me?” I asked, deciding it was time to do what little name-dropping I could. “Dr. Meng asked me to find out what happened to Tony Montoro.”
I realized, of course, that Rostok could be the very person I was searching for. He certainly seemed stranger than anyone else I’d yet run into. If he was in the habit of feeding people to this thing called Ezzie, which I was sitting next to, that would explain a lot right there.
“You see?” Rostok said to Ezzie, leaning forward in his chair. The leather creaked, and I got the impression he was a big man. “He stays right on target. He does not quake and shit himself. So many others have failed inside their minds when they first meet Ezzie.”
I supposed I was being complimented, but I didn’t trust myself to speak right then, so I kept quiet, waiting for an answer.
“I’m cold,” complained Ezzie.
“I will do an unusual thing,” Rostok said, ignoring her. His outline shifted. I thought I saw him lift a thick finger into the air and point at the ceiling as he talked. “I will talk of the things you ask about. I will give you a message to take back to the others who suspect me.”
“I’m listening,” I said.
“I’m hungry,” said Ezzie.
“You are annoying,” Rostok snapped. “Shut up.”
Ezzie twisted parts of herself in the darkness and squirmed irritably. But she did shut up.
“You have asked about Tony Montoro. I have told you that he stole from me. I can see how others who know this might believe I took revenge upon him. But I did not kill this man.”
“Who then? And how?”
“Do you know how to kill a thing like Ezzie?” he asked.
“No. I don’t even know what she is.”
“She is a person from another place that mixes with this place. She has stepped through from another of the spheres.”
“Spheres? You mean planets?”
“Not exactly. Imagine a dozen shapes all slowly spinning like soap bubbles. Imagine them touching one another, adhering to one another.”
“Different worlds then?”
“Ah—more like different existences. Occasionally, the rules in these places are different.”
“The rules?” I asked. “You mean the rules that govern our physical world?”
“Yes. In one, the sky may be metal. In another, time may run backward. That sort of thing is rare, however. I’ve never seen a place like that myself.”
I stared at him in the dark room. “All right,” I said. “Then Ezzie is from one of these places, am I right?”
“Yes.”
“And where did the groom go, the man Jenna Townsend told me vanished from her hotel room. She said this hotel ate him.”
The big Ukrainian slouched back into his chair. “She is probably right. I do not command my own hotel these days. Things come and go as they please.”
I glanced toward Ezzie. “This is your power, isn’t it, Rostok? You can open up doors to other—existences.”
“Yes,” he said. “But only to one place. I can do other things as well—but only here at the Lucky Seven.”
I thought about that. He could summon monsters in this hotel. I had to wonder what he had summoned here to make himself rich and powerful. What horrible secrets these walls must hold.
Rostok went on explaining the situation while I pondered the implications.
“In a way, that is the power of all the objects, all the domains,” he said. “They each connect to other places where the rules are different. Your sunglasses, I believe, connect to a place where metals are soft like rubber. From them the rules of that place leak and change their surroundings.”
“You said you’ve changed your mind about me. What else can you tell me?”
“I’ve said too much to a person of your low status. You have no domain. You know almost nothing about us. You have no history with us, Draith.”
“Then make me a player,” I said.
“It is not so easy. I can’t simply declare such a thing. We are like a family of spiteful people. We fight amongst ourselves, but still we have a certain level of respect for one another. You are an outsider. A wandering rogue with a minor item—barely worthy of notice by the Community. But the killer must think you are a threat, because you have been close to many deaths.”
“Can you give me another name, then, another suggestion?”
Rostok muttered and shook himself. “No. But I will give you your freedom. Go.”
“I’m cold and hungry,” said Ezzie.
Rostok chuckled as I stood up to leave. “Stay away from my gambling machines, Draith. Or I will feed you to Ezzie. Your fat will warm her.”
This last statement startled me. Could Ezzie be a larger version of the thing that had burned down my house? The thought was disturbing. I headed to the door and it slid open at my approach.
I was sorely tempted, but I didn’t look back at the strange pair in the room. I was fairly certain I didn’t want to see what either one of them looked like. Not even in the half-light.