“What’s wrong with Itzel?” I ask, worried. She’s a friend of mine as well.
“It’s her famous grandfather,” Ariel says.
Famous is an understatement. Cadmael singlehandedly boosted the quality of life on Gomorrah to the levels we currently enjoy. In his youth, he invented a reactor that provides energy that’s almost free and therefore powers every aspect of our day-to-day life.
“What did he do this time?” I ask in exasperation.
For as long as I’ve known Itzel, her grandfather has been a pain in her butt. Recently, for example, he acquired a gambling debt so large that Itzel had to take a risky job to help Felix and his friends. She was so traumatized from their adventure that she asked me to treat her with dream therapy—which I intend to do at some point in the near future, since I now know how to enter gnome dreams.
“He disappeared off the face of Gomorrah,” Felix says. “Itzel asked us to help, and we owe her.”
“Of course,” I say. “And I’d like to help too.”
Everyone except Maya looks happy at the news—though it’s hard to tell what Fluffster is thinking under all that fur, and the cat’s flat face must always look a little bit grumpy.
What about your mother? Fluffster asks mentally.
Momentarily forgetting about cooties, I reach down and pick him up.
Wow. The risk of disease is worth it. Chinchilla fur is almost as heavenly as Pom’s.
“My mom takes priority, of course,” I reply, looking into his rodent eyes. “But I’m hoping the video game stuff and my payment to Valerian won’t occupy all of my waking time.”
I don’t add that I’m beginning to miss vampire blood. With this much going on, sleep is a luxury. But I’d better resist these thoughts; it could be addiction rearing its ugly head. If my waking time isn’t enough for people, they can bite me. Especially Valerian—that way, I might even enjoy it.
Felix grins. “Awesome. We’d love your help—and maybe I can still help you with the game when I have free time.”
I put Fluffster back on the floor. “That would be great. Maybe you can do it in place of some of your paid gigs. I’ll pay your usual rate.”
At the mention of money, Fluffster puffs up. Felix will gladly help you. Itzel’s favor isn’t going to pay rent or put groceries into the fridge.
“But he can’t do it now,” Maya says. “We’re going to Cadmael’s apartment so I can use my powers to locate him.” She puts her tiny hands on her hips. “I only have a short window of time when I’m free, so we need to go. Right now.”
“Right,” Felix says sheepishly. “We’d better leave.”
Funny how this rush seemed to materialize only when I did. I decide against saying anything, though; Maya will be even more certain that I want her boyfriend, which I don’t.
All my amorous thoughts are directed at Valerian as of late.
I look at Felix with a stony expression, lest Maya thinks I’m undressing him with my eyes. “Before you go, can you give me an update on Leal’s comms?” I glance at Maya apologetically. “Leal was a dreamwalker whose murder the New York Council asked me to solve. His comms contain his notes and may provide useful information about my powers.”
Felix perks up. “Oh, yeah, forgot to tell you. I was able to hack those. Got his whole journal. Checked on Soma, as you asked—no mention of it. He did seem obsessed about some secret society that’s like the Illuminati but on steroids. At least that’s as far as I got before I grew bored.”
It’s all I can do to conceal my disappointment. I was really hoping there’d be something about Soma in Leal’s notes. Hekima had implied that it’s a place where dreamwalkers live, but it’s unclear if he meant a city or a whole Otherland.
Thanks to my mom’s secretiveness, I know so little about my kind—or my family. She’s never even talked about my early childhood years—which sucks, since I don’t remember anything from before I was seven.
Ariel cocks her head. “A secret society?”
“Yeah,” Felix says. “A group called Icelus.”
Kit morphs into Leal and rolls his/her eyes. “That again? He brought that up in front of the Council a few times. A ridiculous notion.” She turns back into her usual self. “According to him, Icelus are a cult of Cognizant worshipping some weird god.”
Ariel looks intrigued. “Like the Brotherhood?”
“The monks are not secret about their faith.” Kit turns herself into one of the hooded figures.
“Right,” Felix chimes in. “Unlike the Brotherhood, Icelus hide their affiliation—and their deity isn’t very nice. Leal says Icelus are behind some terrible things here on Earth.”
Kit scoffs. “Delusions of an old man. He claimed they started wars and invented terrorist acts. His list went on and on. There’s no way a group of Cognizant could’ve gotten away with all that under the noses of the Councils.”