Dalton spread his hands. “I’m not sure. He wanted access to the Cornerstone—which he got, from what you’ve told me. He told the other sorcerers he met with that he wanted to use the Cornerstone to awaken the sleeping gods and give them their due in blood. That doesn’t sound good, but as for what it means, specifically, I couldn’t tell you.”
She thought of the dead frog in her bag, and of the stolen statue of Tlaltecuhtli, the primordial froglike earth-monster. It wasn’t a big leap to imagine that Mutex was planning to awaken the sleeping spirit of Tlaltecuhtli. What would such a ritual require, apart from the Cornerstone?
“Anyway,” Dalton said, “whatever he’s planning, he wants to use the heart’s blood of dead sorcerers to do it.”
“What?” she said, suddenly interested again.
“I’m not Finch’s direct successor,” Dalton said. “The strega Umbaldo was. She was found a couple of hours ago, surrounded by poison dart frogs, with her heart cut out. After her death, the mantle passed to me. My mirror-selves investigated her body—frog poison doesn’t do shit to them, of course—and they found flecks of obsidian in the wound. Mutex is taking hearts. I don’t know if the heart’s blood of a sorcerer is more potent, or if he’s just killing us because he’s pissed at us, or—”
“He’s killing you because you’re dangerous, probably,” Marla said. “The sorcerers are the only ones who can possibly stop him, after all.”
“And you’re all full of fear,” B said. “You’re all terrified, and he wants hearts filled with fear. Teyolia. The life force that feeds the gods and controls the universe. It’s stronger when you’re afraid.”
Marla turned around in her chair and looked at him. She had almost forgotten B was there. Rondeau was trying to shush him, but Marla said, “Did you have another dream last night?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I found a sybil to interpret it. I had to give her my autograph as payment, but I didn’t sign my real name. She said it didn’t matter, but I think she was disappointed.”
He’d found a sybil. Just happened to find one. Maybe he really was more than a second-rate seer. “What are the sorcerers afraid of?” she asked.
B didn’t hesitate. “The same thing you are. They’re afraid of losing control.”
Marla didn’t react. It was a fair cop, but she didn’t need to let it show, especially not in front of Dalton.
“Hey,” Dalton said. “Weren’t you in that bad sci-fi movie with Dolph Lundgren? You played his surly teenage son?”
“That wasn’t me,” B said. “I think that was River Phoenix. But it’s okay. I get that a lot.”
“River Phoenix is dead,” Dalton said, matter-of-factly. “He overdosed years and years ago.”
“It’s a nasty way to go,” B said.
“Not as nasty as having your heart scooped out by a crazed Aztec warrior-priest, and that’s true whether the world is real or a simulation.” Marla laced her fingers together in front of her. Finally, they might be able to get down to business. “What’s your plan of action, and how can I help? I’m a guest in your city, after all.”
Dalton shook his head, as if astonished at her audacity. “I wouldn’t call you a guest, Mason. In fact, it’s probably best for everyone if you go back to your own city. Let us take care of things here. Mutex is more dangerous than we’d expected, but we’ll track him down. You have bigger problems. I’m sure you know you’ve already made a rather significant enemy. The ruler of Chinatown has put a price on your head. I don’t care—I’m as rich as I’ll ever need to be—but there are other people who might want to collect that reward.”
“You’ll have to put me in touch with a good bookie,” Rondeau called, still apparently engrossed in shotgunning video-game aliens. “I might be able to get decent odds betting on Marla, since nobody in this town knows her. You know, back home, they won’t even take bets on the people who try to kill her? It’s a bummer. That used to be easy money.”
“What he means to say is, don’t worry about me. I can protect my own head. It’s Mutex I’m concerned with.” And the Cornerstone. Mostly the Cornerstone. But Mutex had killed her friend, and for Lao Tsung’s memory—and because it coincided with her other goals—Marla would make sure he was stopped.