“Bottom line, the Shadow Court could be trying to align itself with Solidarity Pharma and its philanthropic activities, in addition to hitting up the rich and Connected,” I said. “Mixing with the public, maybe trying to curry favor. So if we show up only after Brody and Nikki survey the scene, also looking like we’re mixing with the public, then whoever is watching will take note.”
“I’ll have said scene for you in thirty seconds,” Simon said excitedly. “Whoever these firebugs are, they’ve got a sense of humor. They set the fire in the middle of the lagoon of Treasure Island. That little island thing is barely more than a stage prop. No one gets hurt that way, and there’s plenty of water to put out the flames, but still.”
“So you saw who’s at the fire?”
“Oh yeah. That area is definitely under ordinary surveillance, and…here we go.”
The screens situated around the expansive teak table flickered to life, a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view of the lagoon of Treasure Island. Given the scorching desert heat, there were not a lot of tourists out, but those who were would’ve been noticeable anywhere other than Vegas.
I leaned forward. “Um…what are they wearing?”
“Feathers, it would appear,” the Devil answered, and sure enough, three slender swaying individuals wandered down Las Vegas Boulevard, clad head to toe in robes stitched with brightly colored feathers. One of them carried a shallow metal salver at his side. As Simon zoomed in, it became clear that the feathers were actually made of silk and twine, but the effect remained the same. The shimmering firebirds danced their way around the lagoon of Treasure Island and out of immediate sight of the street, then jumped into the water of the shallow pool, holding their salver high. They clambered across the water in a remarkably short amount of time before pulling themselves up onto the makeshift island in the center of the pool.
It was a testament to the security at Treasure Island that the reaction to their trespassing was immediate and loud. But the three firebirds paid no attention to the shouts coming at them from the casino security guard who immediately ran out the hotel’s front doors. If anything, they seemed to take pleasure in it, laughing delightedly as they positioned their holy bucket and threw something inside it that they pulled out of their voluminous robes. A second later, the fire went up, and the three fire sprites disappeared.
“Hold on there, Sparky,” I said. “That’s some pretty heavy-duty transfer right there. Who are these guys?”
Armaeus chuckled. “We are in Las Vegas, Miss Wilde. This illusion could easily be explained as any one of the many distractions up and down the Strip.”
I looked at him sharply. “You don’t believe that, do you?”
“I do not, but I am not the audience for this little demonstration. That said, it would seem we are dealing with Connecteds of at least some moderate skill, which we already expected given their ability to summon the High Priestess with their call. Which is fascinating.”
“Fast-forwarding here until we get to Brody and Nikki on the scene… Boom. There’s Lainie,” Simon said.
We watched with fascination as the woman who, for all intents and purposes, had become the High Priestess’s intern, stepped out of the crowd and surveyed the chaos. She moved confidently, slowly, and paid absolutely no attention to the first responders who were doing their level best to keep the growing crowd back. Intriguingly, though she was approached by them, they shied away as if they had no jurisdiction over her. And of course, they didn’t. This was a summons of the ancient oracle, and nobody had more right to be there than she did.
She stopped short of the lagoon, her head tilted up, as if she could actually see the smoke billowing up into the sky, the remnants of the fiery conflagration that had already been put out by the first responders. Her lips moved, and Simon leaned forward.
“I got it, I got it,” he murmured, his fingers darting over the keys. She’s saying… ‘Bright and burning star, we follow you. Powers of the ancients, we call you. It is time.’ Sweet.”
I made a face. That was the second reference to a star these firestarters had rocked. “Bright and burning star?” I sighed. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Armaeus merely turned to me and held out his hand, his eyes sharp with interest.
“Let’s find out.”
10
We arrived at the fireside crime scene at Treasure Island a moment later, whispering into existence with far less crackling, since Armaeus was the one doing the whisking.
Lainie stood off to the side, but now Nikki was with her, one hand on her shoulder. Nikki turned and made eye contact with me as soon as I appeared, and I nodded. Our bombshell barrister femme fatale was far more than just a pretty face and a pair of incredible legs. A former cop, she had used her natural-born intuition to excellent effect, but her psychic skills transcended even that. With just a touch directly against their skin, she could read anyone’s memories. Not their minds, not exactly, but the way they recalled certain pivotal events in their lives, particularly events of the recent past. It had proven invaluable to her work in homicide, where witnesses were reliably unreliable. Everyone had their memories, which she could see as their own filtered view of the world. Now she’d used that same ability to see what Lainie had seen.
I was simply glad that the young woman seemed not too terribly worse for wear. To my surprise, she turned to the Magician, and when she spoke, it was the High Priestess’s voice that emerged, not Lainie’s clear alto.
“The ashes,” she said.
The Magician nodded and disappeared from my side, winking back a second later. In his hands he held a gelatinous mess of soot and water in a clear bowl, which he offered to Lainie. She took it from him and dumped it out, letting the muck stream through her fingers as both Nikki and I shuddered. She didn’t seem to notice the mess she was making. Perhaps to her, it wasn’t a mess.
This time when she spoke, it was in her own voice. “Purple and blue,” she murmured. “The summons comes from royalty, and to royalty it is given. Fire and truth and freedom. The call is made.”
She fell silent again as I stared at her, but when I would’ve pushed her for more information, Armaeus touched my shoulder and drew my attention away to the far side of the lagoon. Three figures stood there, dressed in long linen shifts of pale neutral colors, cream and tan and taupe, watching the proceedings. I knew without a doubt they were the same three who had set the fire, back to see the results of their handiwork, this time sans feathers. To my surprise, they were not focused on Lainie but on Detective Brody as he argued with the first responders, about what, I didn’t know. He gestured wildly, passionately, in a distinctive Brody-like way, and the three figures radiated approval. If anything, this confused me even more.
Brody was Connected, after a fashion, but he was probably the closest our group was ever going to get to an ordinary human. Yet he was helping us, and we were helping him. The rightness of that resonated with me…and it seemed like it resonated with our erstwhile feathered firestarters as well. Interesting.
“Miss Wilde,” Armaeus said as the trio turned up the boulevard, away from the Strip. We followed.
We started after them, moving slowly down the street as they strolled their way past the Wynne Casino and on toward the Sahara Casino. At the far end of the Strip, the Stratosphere loomed high, and soaring above it was the home of Nikola Tesla, the Hanged Man. He had not been considered necessary for this morning’s meeting, and I wondered at that. Given Tesla’s obvious affinity with the Emperor, it would seem like the Emperor would have wanted to have as many of his homeboys present as possible.