“True, we can change our fates,” I said. “We can alter our lives. Which must happen constantly…every choice is a different path.”
“Exactly,” Monty said. “Unless she needs a specific outcome.”
“Then why single me out?”
“That is the question,” Mori said. “Why you? It’s not like immortality is remarkable, considering the circles you both move in. There is more going on here. Which of the three did you speak to?”
“She said she was Lachesis in triune form,” Monty answered. “I asked her why weren’t we speaking to Atropos.”
“What did she say?”
“She didn’t,” I answered. “She said something about not being able to cut my thread, but deflected Monty’s question with some not-so-subtle threats about erasing everyone my life touched.”
“Fate wouldn’t need to threaten you,” Mori said. “Fate is a being of destiny. She just is. Like Death. The old man doesn’t need to threaten anyone. Eventually, they all meet him. Fate kind of operates the same way.”
“Except you can change your destiny,” I said. “By your force of will and action.”
“Or have it changed for you,” Mori said. “By a pissed off goddess.”
“Fate made real emphasis on my having to be mortal again. That part was important.”
“Who or what stands to gain by you becoming mortal?” Mori asked. “I mean, besides the property value of the city?”
“I think the question is: who does Simon threaten, as an immortal?” Monty asked. “Who is being thwarted by his presence?”
“Do you still want to speak to Kali?” Mori asked. “She may have the answers you need. I sure don’t.”
“Yes,” I said after a few seconds of thought. “Kali is still the goddess of creation, right? I mean, she cursed me alive. She could have blasted me to atoms, but didn’t.”
“You really think that was the better of the two options?” Mori asked. “Kali has a tendency to lean toward the destruction side of things, but you’re right. She may have the answers you need.”
“I have a question,” I said. “About Ezra. Is he the Death? How did you become his PA? Are you two the same being?”
“That’s three questions.”
“Can you answer them?”
“Sure,” Mori said with a wicked smile. “Yes, none of your business, and no.”
“That was helpful,” I said. “No need to be so touchy.”
“You still don’t understand basic etiquette when dealing with beings of power.”
“Basic etiquette?” I asked, confused. “Those were simple questions.”
“Far from it,” Mori said. “When you are dealing with a BOP-being of power, be excruciatingly specific. Vague questions can get you all kinds of unpleasantness, and loopholes can quickly become nooses. Remember that.”
“I will. Still won’t answer the questions?”
“Fine,” Mori said with a short sigh. “Only because I know you won’t let this go.”
“You’re right, I won’t.”
“Ezra is a personification of Death,” Mori started. “For your level of understanding right now, he is Death, capital D. Ask me again once you’ve lived a few millennia. How I became his PA? I made a deal with him. One that is personal and will not be shared at this moment. As far as us being the same being, I have a question for you: Are you the same as Kali?”
“Well, no,” I said. “She cursed me alive, but I’m not her. I’m not a god.”
“You’ve answered your question then. If you really want to go see Kali, you need to go to this address.”
Mori grabbed a pad and wrote down an address, sliding it across the table.
“Kali lives in Jersey?” I asked, looking down at the address. “Seriously?”
“Has he suffered head trauma?” Mori asked Monty. “Something severe?”
“Are you asking if it was recent,” Monty asked, “or during his formative years?”
“Oh, the hilarity,” I said. “You should both take your show on the road. Start down south, like Antartica.”
“The doors to Kali’s domain are thinner at certain locations,” Mori said. “That address will lead you to one of the doors. I can’t guarantee she’ll be happy to see you though.”
“I have that effect on people,” I said. “What’s the worse she can do? She already cursed me alive.”
“There are some things worse than dying, Simon,” Mori said. “If you don’t know this by now, you’ll learn it soon enough.”
I was about to answer when Anton appeared with our meal. Two more servers walked behind him, one carrying an enormous bowl of pastrami, the other carrying the rest of the food. The first server hefted the pastrami bowl and placed it under the table for Peaches with a grunt. They left the food, bowed silently and stepped away from the table.
“Thank you,” I said to Anton and crew. Mori gave him a nod of approval and they left. “I know there are worse things than death and dying, but it’s time I confront her about why she did what she did to me.”
“You think she’s going to lift the curse?” Mori asked gently. “This is Kali. She may be the goddess of creation, but she knows how to hold a grudge. You got her angry enough to curse you, something few have managed to achieve and survive.”
“We kind of disrupted an op she had going on,” I said. “One that was 500 years in the making.”
“You still want to go visit her?” Mori asked, standing while shaking her head slowly. “Maybe get your affairs in order first?”
“That’s encouraging,” I said, suddenly hungry with the smell of pastrami on rye wafting up to my nose. “Maybe she’ll be in a good mood when I see her.”
Mori laughed.
“Good luck,” she said. “I hope this isn’t the last time I see you…alive.”
EIGHTEEN
“I’m starving,” I said, as I took a bite of the sandwich tempting me. “What do you think?”
“About you starving?” Monty asked. “Unlikely. You’re almost as bad as your creature when it comes to eating. Bottomless.”
“About what Mori said…that it wasn’t really Fate.”
“I’m not sure,” Monty said, placing a napkin across his lap. “This opens many possibilities. You have made many enemies in your short time as an immortal.”
“I’ve made? You’re the mage.”
“She wasn’t there to see me,” Monty corrected with an extended index finger. “She was specifically there to see you.”
“If it wasn’t Fate, then who was it? Scary beings of power is more your department.”
“How is this my department?” Monty said, slowly skewering some salad with his fork. “You’ve made angering gods an art form.”
“You’re the mage,” I said, around a mouthful of pastrami. “Isn’t there a list of super beings and what they look like? Some kind of directory?”
“Of course,” Monty said with a nod. “Why didn’t I think of that earlier? It comes complete with emails, likes, dislikes, favorite foods, and colors too. I’ll just look up Fate and see if her picture matches.”
“A simple no would’ve been enough, you know,” I said, shaking my head. “Less is more.”
“We need to go see Roxanne,” Monty said, after eating some of his salad. “Despite what Fate said—if it was Fate—your condition is serious and Roxanne may have some insight.”
“If you recall that was my suggestion before the torture you called a test happened,” I answered. “We could have avoided all my agony.”
“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains no matter how improbable…”
“Must be the truth,” I finished. “I get that, really. What impossibility did we eliminate with my torture? Aside from the fact that you’re a closet mad scientist, and I’m somehow affecting reality around me?
“Several things, actually,” Monty said, holding up a finger. “You aren’t a mage.”
“Wow, it took you this long to figure that one out?�
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“Let me finish,” Monty said, scowling. “Even though you aren’t a mage, you have the potential to be one…a powerful one.”
“Pass. We’ve had this discussion,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t do the finger waving or manipulation of major energy. Did you forget the orb on the Strix? I’m sure René hasn’t.”
“No, no one has,” Monty agreed. “Or your ‘magic missiles’ as you call them. I’m not referring to that, but rather the potentiality of your inherent power. Haven’t you ever wondered why Kali cursed you, or why your vampire gave you the blade?”
“You mean aside from the fact that I pissed off Kali and interrupted her op, or that Michiko is just beyond my understanding? No.”
“It’s possible that Kali cursed you because of that latent power, which resulted in your vampire giving you the blade for safekeeping.”
I had thought of it, actually. It was a rabbit hole I tried to avoid. Admitting I had this power meant I had to take responsibility for it. I didn’t want the power or the responsibility, not in this or any lifetime.
“Not really,” I lied. “I just figured they hated me and wanted to make my life as miserable as possible.”
“You realize that with great power comes…”
“I swear if you Uncle Ben me, I’m going to unleash a magic missile in your direction, right here and right now.”
Monty raised a hand in surrender.
“I was merely pointing out that the possibility of your inherent power could’ve been the prime motivator for Kali, your vampire, and even Hades who entrusted you with your creature.”
“What’s the alternative suggestion?”
“That you just irk everyone you meet, and they wish you the utmost harm immediately upon hearing you speak?”
“Sounds harsh, but doesn’t that make more sense?”
“Not really,” Monty countered. “Yes, you are annoying and ill-mannered, with little to no filter on your thoughts or words, but—”
“Why don’t you tell me how you really feel?”
“But,”—he pointed at my chest—“Nana made you my shield-bearer,” He let the words hang for a few seconds. “Uncle Dex trusts you, and dare I say, even likes you. He barely tolerates me.”
“You are a bit stuffy, you know,” I replied. “I don’t understand how you two are even related.”
“Both of them are excellent judges of character,” Monty continued, ignoring me. “I trust their judgment, and you have demonstrated more than once that you are honorable, even if you are impetuous.”
“I’m not impetuous,” I said. “I just act on my impulses, sometimes without thinking first.”
“Precisely,” Monty answered. “Their actions lend credence to the potentiality of overwhelming power postulate.”
“The what? C’mon, did you just make that up?”
“Preposterous,” he snapped. “The first mention of the Potentiality Of Overwhelming Power Postulate pre-dates even Professor Ziller. I can assure you I did not ‘make up’ its existence.”
“I’m sorry I asked,” I said. “You realize that it’s the postulate of poop, right?”
“Only to your brain,” Monty answered, shaking his head. “Are you going to let me finish or is this where your puerile remarks take over?”
“Please,” I said, waving him on. “Tell me all about the postulate of poop. Does it smell?”
“In any case,” Monty continued past my answer, doing his best to maintain his composure. Mages were so easy to rile. “The potentiality of overwhelming power postulate states that power in its inherent form is neutral. Neither good or bad, just dormant or active.”
“We both know that’s not entirely true,” I said, mental red flags going up. “I’ve seen power used for evil. We both have.”
“True, but the power itself wasn’t evil, merely its expression.”
I didn’t like where this conversation was going. It was a slippery slope. An argument used by those who would pervert power to commit acts of unspeakable evil. Or…dark mages excusing their use of blood magic.
“I would argue that using power to commit evil or darkness, makes it evil or dark, not neutral.”
“The world isn’t black and white, Simon,” Monty said. “There are many shades of gray, especially when it comes to wielding power. Something you yourself have confessed…you aren’t a mage. You know little of manipulating vast amounts of power with a gesture or a word.”
“I know actions, Monty,” I countered, letting the concern seep into my voice as I stared at him…hard. “Actions speak louder than words. A mage uses dark magic enough times”—the example was deliberate—“and eventually it becomes easier and easier to use. Before you know it, the mage becomes Lord Overbearing of the Outer Darkness, controlling, enslaving, and killing people. I’ve yet to meet the Dark Mage of Good Intentions. They may start out that way, but it’s not where they end up.”
“I am not a dark mage,” Monty said, his words low and dangerous. “Nor will I ever become one.”
“Never said you were,” I said. “I’m just saying power isn’t neutral in my book. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. You said it: Nana made me your shieldbearer. Part of my job is to make sure you stay away from the dark side. Bad enough mages all dress at Sith Fashions.”
“Duly noted. More to the point however, your inherent power and its impact on reality or causality as we know it, has gotten attention.”
“The wrong kind of attention, if you ask me.”
“Not wrong or right,” Monty said. “Just attention.”
“From beings of power like a pseudo-Fate? Which explains this morning’s visit.”
“By beings who would subvert its use, and subject you, to their own agenda.”
“In this case, the agenda feels nefarious,” I said. “Fate didn’t say she wanted me mortal so she could restore balance to end world hunger. It sounded more like she wanted me out of the way. Mortal and killable.”
“Be that as it may, the being who appeared in our office may have tipped her hand,” Monty said. “The one-week threat was melodramatic, but revealing.”
“All it revealed was that I have a week to get this situation resolved. Melodrama or not. She had the energy signature to back up her threat. I felt it and so did you.”
“Indeed,” Monty said with a nod. “But why a week? What happens in a week?”
“You mean besides Ms. Pseudo-Fate showing up to blast the people in my life to dust?”
“Yes, besides that, obviously.”
“Don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “What I do know is that she isn’t going to touch the people in my life…not without a fight. Did we learn anything that could help us at that Hunter’s Keep?”
“We were able to get important information from the phasic scan,” Monty said. “Even though your creature interrupted the end process.”
“Are you referring to the moment when he saved me?” I asked. “I thought all seven rings activated?”
“That’s just it,” Monty said. “They weren’t supposed to. You aren’t a mage, which is why I thought the process would proceed smoothly.”
“Sure, that clears it all up…not,” I said. “Explain.”
“By not being a mage, the third ring should have been the highest ring activated,” Monty answered. “A seventh ring phasic scan should have been impossible. Much less you surviving it. It means you possess more power than I thought. It would be that increase that has made you so popular.”
“Oh wonderful,” I said with a groan. “Why can’t I attract a being of infinite coffee goodness and deep tissue massages?”
“Your vampire would probably have an opinion about you meeting with that being…a violent opinion,” Monty said. “Besides, no such being exists.”
“As far as you know.”
“As far as anyone knows, actually. Do you really think a being like that would be kept secret?”
“Good point. This is why you believed our
guest was Fate,” I said. “The results of the phasic scan aligned with what she said about my disrupting causality.”
“Initially,” he answered, after chewing and dabbing one side of his mouth. “But do you recall what I said?”
“Honestly? I’m tuning you out half the time,” I answered, after devouring the last of my sandwich, and leaning back totally and completely full. “The other half, I barely understand the words escaping your mouth.”
“Splendid, I said that she said something relevant,” Monty replied. “She said—”
“No one escapes or alters their fate, no one,” I said. “I remember.”
“You were paying attention…good. Then it stands to reason that Fate, the real Fate, wouldn’t be coming to you for help. You couldn’t stop Fate even if you tried.”
“I don’t believe in fate,” I said. “I choose my destiny, not some distant being. Me. My choices, my actions, decide my fate.”
“But you do believe in Karma?”
“I’ve seen her in action,” I said, rubbing a jaw. “One does not piss off Karma. She is the most patient bitch I know. I mean that in the most flattering and scary sense possible.”
I hedged my bets just in case she was in the neighborhood, eavesdropping.
“I would imagine her methods are thorough,” Monty said. “Which contradicts the behavior of our guest this morning.”
“So we’re dealing with a fake Fate?” I asked, not really understanding the logic. “Why is someone with that much power pretending to be Fate? Of all the entities why pick that one? That’s pretty bad.”
“Worse, we’re dealing with an entity that could bypass my defenses as if they didn’t exist, and can mask their signature almost completely,” Monty answered with a frown…well, a deeper than usual frown. “That can only mean one thing.”
“We’ve pissed off someone who wants us gone?”
“No…well yes, in theory,” Monty corrected. “Someone who wants you, the immortal you, out of the way.”
“Do we really need to go see Kali?” I asked, suddenly rethinking the entire trip to visit a goddess of destruction. “We could figure this thing out without her help, I think.”
Dark Glass: A Montague and Strong Detective Agency Novel Page 11
