The ghost room reminds me of Vidocq’s apartment in L.A. He put hoodoo on the place so no one can see it or remember it, so he hasn’t paid rent in years. But whoever conjured up this blind isn’t ducking bill collectors. This is a lot heavier magic than that.
“I’ve been looking for you, lord.”
Fuck me harder, God. Seriously.
“I’m kind of busy now, Brimborion.”
“I can see. Another busy day of wandering the halls. I hear there are some brick partitions on the third floor where if you stare just right you can see animals and fluffy clouds. Maybe you’d like to wander down there?”
“What do you want? Wait. How did you find me?”
“I stopped by your summer home in the library and had a peep at your peepers.”
I make it to him in half a second, get my fingers around his throat, hoist him off his feet, and hold him against the wall.
“You went into the library without my permission?”
“It was unlocked,” he croaks.
He starts turning blue. And he isn’t lying. I can’t remember setting a sealing spell on the place when I left. Besides, he probably could have walked in anyway with the opening talisman of his. I drop him to the floor and head back down the hall.
“What’s so important you had to dog me down here?”
He gasps for air and waves a crumpled piece of vellum at me. He wants me to come down there and take it but that isn’t going to happen. I wait until he can breathe again.
“It’s the banquet tonight, my lord.”
“What banquet?”
“To celebrate the laying of the City Hall cornerstone.”
“Tell them I can’t make it. I have the flu or the clap. Whatever it is you cloven-hoof types get.”
“But, my lord. You have to bless the banquet.”
More rituals.
“Get Merihim to do it.”
“It’s not his place, my lord.”
“Okay. Then cancel it.”
He scrambles to his feet. The vellum isn’t crumpled anymore. He’s holding on to it like a life preserver.
“You can’t.”
“Then don’t cancel it. I’m putting you in charge. If Merihim can’t do it, find someone who can. I’m busy.”
I walk back in the direction of the fake wall.
I hear him come after me.
“You’ve been obstinate in the past, my lord. But refusing the banquet is beyond acceptable. And I heard that you dismissed the planning committee today.”
He’s right about one thing. I was having so much fun I forgot about politics. Lies and promises. It was goddamn stupid to let that slip.
I turn and he comes up short.