“They do,” Marla said. “But your true name isn’t what’s on your birth certificate, and anyone can use an alias.”
“The Celestial believes that to name something is to limit it. He does not wish to limit himself. After you finish your business with the Cornerstone, and you officially owe the city a favor, he will be forbidden to harm you. In the meantime, though…” He spread his hands apologetically. “You’re just a tourist who pissed him off. Shall we meet here, bright and early, say 7 A.M.? I’ll take you to the Cornestone then, and you can be on your way by lunchtime.”
“I’d rather go now.”
Finch scowled. “You may not have noticed, but I’m soaking up the energy of several score romping bodies. I’m busy for the evening.”
“Then just tell me where the Cornerstone is.”
“No. I won’t have you carrying off my city’s major artifact.”
Marla opened her mouth, started to protest, then stopped. “Yeah, okay. Fair enough. I’d do the same in your position.” How could she possibly sleep tonight, wondering if Susan was going to cast her spell? Her source had told Marla she had a day or two, but her source had been discovered. Still, that didn’t mean Susan could rush ahead and cast the spell early. It would require peace and meditation and preparation, after all, and Susan was probably a bit agitated after maiming Marla’s informant. Marla wanted to get her protective spell over and done with, but tomorrow morning was probably soon enough. It would have to be. She didn’t think she could beat the Cornerstone’s location out of Finch, especially not with all the energy he had to draw on from downstairs. “I’ll see you first thing tomorrow. I appreciate your help.”
“I’m just doing what’s in the best interest of the city,” he said. “If I denied you, I doubt you’d go away quietly. I’m sure you’d do the same in my position.”
“Probably I’d just kill me, if I were in your place,” Marla said.
Finch nodded. “Oh, it crossed my mind to try, but I think I’d rather have you owe my city a debt. We can discuss more specific terms tomorrow. Go on downstairs, and enjoy the party.” He stood up. “And never burst into my private rooms again, or we’ll see which of us is really the better sorcerer.”
Marla considered letting that go past, letting Finch get in the last word on his home turf, but it simply wasn’t in her character. “I don’t have to be the better sorcerer to turn you into a heap of meat and a bewildered ghost, Finch,” she said. “You might be a half-decent pornomancer, but I could feed your balls to you in a fight.”
“Oh, please,” he said, and suddenly Finch was gone, replaced by a shaggy grizzly bear with ragged claws and a powerful stench. The bear, towering over her, cocked its head and yawned.
Marla squinted at him. Illusions were easy, after all, if you knew what you were doing. Sight depended on the eye interpreting various wavelengths of light reflected from and absorbed by objects, and a talented sorcerer could make those wavelengths twist and bend in order to deceive the eye; sound was equally simple, requiring only minor variations in the vibrations of the air. Marla’s eyes weren’t like normal ones, though—with a bit of effort, she could see in the dark, and around metaphysical corners, and through illusions. She stepped up her vision, peering through to Finch’s true form…and she saw a grizzly bear.
Finch had transformed himself into an actual (though certainly magically augmented) bear, and that was heavy-duty totemic magic. She whistled. “Wow,” she said. “Not just a pornomancer, but a dancing bear, too. You’ve got range, Finch, I have to admit. I bet you’re a lot older than you look, to have learned all that.”
The bear was gone, and Finch was back, still yawning. “And you, Ms. Mason, are almost exactly the age you appear, I would wager. Don’t try to outclass your elders and betters, especially when we’ve already reached an accommodation. I’m sure you’re formidable, in your own little way—otherwise, you’d be of no use to my city—but I’ve been doing this a lot longer than you have.”
Marla thought about reversing her cloak, but it would be criminally stupid to do so in this context, just to show off. She’d probably end up attacking him before she could flip the purple safely back to the inner lining. Besides, that wouldn’t prove anything—the cloak was a powerful artifact, but it didn’t have anything to do with Marla’s power as a sorcerer. It was just a weapon, and while Marla could do more with the cloak than someone with no experience could, it didn’t prove anything about her intrinsic abilities. She still thought she could probably beat Finch in a fight, but if she tried to prove that now, the whole house would likely as not come tumbling down, and with Finch crushed under a pile of rubble, how would she ever find the Cornerstone?