Bad Dreams & Broken Hearts 02: “It's not that unusual, you know.”

I grinned at him. “Good for you.”

Jake his head. “It's not like that. Karin, her name is. She's just a friend,” he seemed a little embarrassed. “To me. She's more than a friend to Marji.”

Oh. That was interesting. I took a drink and nodded. “Go on.”

“She's missing. And I think, maybe, something took her. Something from outside.”

“One of my relatives, you mean,” I clarified.

He stood up suddenly. “I shouldn't have come here. I shouldn't have bothered you.”

I put my hand on his arm. “Sit down,” I said sharply.

He sat.

“Tell me what you know,” I said. “Maybe I can help you, maybe I can't. But you've come this far, so tell me the rest of the story.”

Jake leaned back. He seemed to relax then. The worst was over, and his darkest suspicions had been confirmed. There's comfort in that, I've always found.

“It's been, what, two years?” he began.

I nodded. The summer before last Marji had started making excuses to break our dates. There wasn't any big blow up, we just weren't seeing each other any more. I had tried to talk to each of them about it, but they insisted everything was fine. After a while we had just stopped calling. It happens.

“We weren't going to the Pearl & Feather anymore,” he added.

“Me, either,” I put in. The Pearl & Feather Club was where I had met the two of them originally. It was an uptown club with heavy membership fees and a very strict policy of protecting the privacy of its members.

He raised his eyebrows at that, surprised. “Oh.” he said.

I waved for him to continue. Yes, I had stopped going to the Pearl & Feather because I didn't want to run into them, and they stopped going because they didn't want to run into me, and wasn't that funny, but it wasn't relevant to whatever Jake wanted me to do for him.

“Marji, well, you know how she gets. Moody, sometimes,” Jake said. “That Winter we sponsored an artist. It was one of Marji's charities, you know. We were just supposed to contribute to her education, but we met at this donor's banquet and we really hit it off. Karin is so clever—just smart as a whip, and so full of life. And she's had it rough. She grew up in a foundling home. You know me, my dad was a fisherman and my family never had much, but at least I had a family. Karin, though, she had nobody. And she's so talented.”

“An artist, you said,” I said.

Jake nodded,“Works in inks, mostly. Incredible, fantastic landscapes. Anyway, we underwrote her studio space, and helped her out. Little things, art supplies, groceries, you know. Introduced her to potential buyers. You remember Reynaldo Sturm?”

I thought back. “Lawyer, isn't he?”

“Managing partner, yeah, down in Shell Beach. He just loved her work and commissioned a whole series of prints for their top floor. Ten or twelve of them.”

“So she's doing okay, then?” I prompted.

“She starting to get some recognition, yes,” he allowed. “You know, it's not an overnight process.”

I got the feeling that he was stalling. “And she and Marji...?”

He looked wistful. “That wasn't an overnight process, either. But I could see it happening. Marji gets so excited when she's got someone new. She just glows. And this time... well, it was all so new for both of them.” A lopsided grin. “I think it kind of snuck up on her.”

There was a level on which I just didn't get Jake. When Marji had first started coming on to me, years ago, she had explained that she was married, but that they had an open relationship and her husband knew about her affairs and consented to them. I had formed a mental image of Jake, then—weak, probably impotent, possible effeminate.

Totally erroneous, as it turned out. Jake was far from weak. He was a lead power engineer at the City electrical plant. Not just a desk jockey, either, he'd come up through the ranks and still stood watches when they were short, maintaining the containment fields that held the fire elementals in check. He was on top of the on-call list when a problem developed, too, putting his own life on the line to keep the power flowing.

Nor was he impotent or effeminate, Marji was quick to tell me. She didn't go outside the marriage because he wasn't enough for her, at least not in that way. She liked the adventure, the spice of it. I was a diversion for her, someone to have fun with, but I wasn't ever going to replace her husband as the love of her life. I could take that or leave it.

I took it. Gladly. She was a beautiful woman and a pleasure to be around, in or out of bed. What I didn't really understand is why Jake took it. It might have made more sense to me if he had fooled around as well, but he didn't. Claimed that he didn't want to. He seemed perfectly content to stay at home nights when Marji was spending the night at my apartment. That's why I'd been happy for him when I thought he'd had a girlfriend. But evidently not.

The only explanation seemed to be that genuinely loved her so much that he felt joy at anything that made her happy, even her sharing the bed of another man or taking up with a girl. That hypothesis didn't fit with what I thought I knew of human beings, but I had to accept it until something better came along.

“I could see it growing that Spring. They were spending more and more time together. Marji got herself elected president of the Council for Modern Art. She was always talking about Karin, her art, her career, what we could do to get her the recognition that she deserves.” Jake grinned. “I wasn't surprised when she started staying at Karin's studio overnight. I would have been surprised if she hadn't.”

“And that didn't bother you?” I had to ask.

He seemed surprised at the question. “No, of course not. I know we don't have an ordinary marriage, but you of all people should understand that.”

Understand? Well, no, but I had learned to accept it. “But Karin's a girl,” I pointed out.

“And Marji's a modern woman,” he countered. “It's not that unusual, you know.”

I let it go. There wasn't any way to ask the question that I wanted without sounding like an absolute cad.

“And we had started another expansion at the plant. I was gone all hours of the day and night. You know how Marji hates to be alone,” Jake concluded.

I nodded. Marji needed to be admired, to be important to someone. When she had spent the night at my place she sometimes woke up in the middle of the night wanting to talk, and she had confessed to me once that she had started to feel that she was unreal and needed me to confirm that she existed. Since I don't sleep, it had never bothered me. It was a minor obsession, one that she had tamed and turned to her advantage, learning to pull the focus of every eye on herself. Still, I had smelled the fingerprints of madness on her. I suppose that was part of why I had loved her so.

“Marji and Karin went everywhere together. They were patron and artist, nothing scandalous about it. It freed me from having to attend a great many interminable dinners.” A chuckle from Jake. “We took her with us to the islands for the Solstice with that Winter. I like her, I like her a lot. Very smart. Intellectual.”

“Modern,” I suggested.

“Exactly,” he said.

And then, before he could go on with his reminiscences, I cut to the heart. “And now she's missing.”

A shadow passed over his face. “Yes. Three days now. She's vanished. Just went into her studio and never came back out. No one has seen her.”

“No chance she got called away? A sick mother out of town?” I asked.

“She would have let us know,” Jake insisted. “A note, a call, something. And besides, she's an orphan, remember? We're the closest thing to a family she has. Marji is inconsolable.”
“I bet,” I said “What did the police say?”

“Nothing,” he shrugged, “Oh, they said they'd look into it. Sent a few officers around to take pictures of Karin's studio, interviewed some locals. But they're just going through the motions, making it look good. They've got no evidence of any foul play. They think we're overreacting.”

“But you don't,” I said.

“She wouldn't have left her art behind. Maybe some of it, but not everything. Her life was in that studio.” Jake was adamant. Then he lowered his voice. “Marji consulted a Delphium.”

I raised my eyebrows at that. The City has very strict laws regarding the use of magic to track individuals. Violation of privacy and all that.

“A legal one,” Jake said. “Some of the City offices have them on staff. It was off the books, but the information is solid. Karin isn't dead, and she's not in the Midworld. We can't use that information officially, of course.”

“Well,” I conjectured, “if something did snatch her out of the world the City cops couldn't do much anyway. Out of their jurisdiction. I assume Maji talked to OEA?” The Office of External Affairs handled relations between the City and Nightmare.

Jake nodded. “She talked to them, and they took a report.”

He stopped and looked around. No one was near, the closest was a trio of men two tables away who were loudly arguing about the upcoming parliamentary election and not paying us any attention.

He lowered his voice. “You know how she is. She didn't leave it at that. When they didn't call back the next day she went down to Government House and started pounding on doors.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And?”

“We've been warned off,” he nearly whispered. “Very politely, but very, very firmly. Inquiries about a missing artist will not be pursued and please stop asking.”

“Officially?” I asked.

“Everything but,” Jake said. “My boss, Director Carlson, got a call from the Deputy Minister Of Energy. Then I get called on the carpet for a lecture on how important it is that we maintain a positive relationship with the City offices. Marji's getting the same message. Concerned friends having a talk with her. The word's out—back off of this if you know what's good for you.”

I chewed that over. Marji wouldn't back off. Oh, she wouldn't go running through the streets with a sandwich board, she was too much the political animal to do anything overt. But she'd keep digging, one way or another.

I finished off my second cider. “So... what do you want from me?”

He looked uncomfortable. “We're not getting anywhere with the City,” he admitted.

“I've got no pull with the City,” I said quickly. Too quickly, I realized.

“They recognize your title,” he pointed out.

“It just means they can't deport me without causing an incident. I don't exactly throw it around, you know.” I said as casually as I could. Even if he gotten into my CPS file there were some things he damned well better not know, friend or not.

“Yeah,” Jake agreed, seeming to take my words at face value. “And we'll keep it between us. But we were hoping you could maybe ask around, uh, outside the City.”

“Oh...” I said slowly. “You mean ask my father.”

Yes, of course. I should have seen it coming. I had been too worried that about what he might have found out about my work for the Lord Mayor. I shook my head.

“Okay,” I said, “Let's say I do that. If she's in Messidor, and if my father knows where she is, and if he chooses to tell me... maybe I can help. That's a lot of ifs, man. Nightmare's a big, place, you know.”

“I know that,” he said sharply. “I deal with Nightmare every day at work.”

I shook my head again. “No, you deal with Thermidore every day.” A thought struck me. “And I'm betting you've already followed up your contacts there, haven't you?”

He looked uncomfortable. Gave a quick nod.

“And got nowhere,” I suggested.

Another nod. Then, in almost a whisper, “We've got eyes in Queen Agni's court. They're vicious bastards, but they'll deal. She's not in Thermidore.”

I opened my mouth, decided that I really didn't want the details of his deal, and shut it again. Instead I said, “That's one realm down. Maybe I could rule out Messidor. Maybe. That leaves seven. Know anyone in Bruimaire or Ventose?”

“I don't think I need to.” He glanced around. “How about Nivose? Do you know anyone there?”

“Nivose?” I shook my head quickly. “Why? What aren't you telling me?”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a roll of paper. He spread it on the table and I could see it was an ink drawing. A landscape, executed in a precise, almost photo-realistic hand.

But it wasn't anywhere on this world.

It showed a barren valley, like a dried up river. There was a forest on the farther bank, but not a forest of trees. Huge mushrooms, twisted and slimy. They were poisonous, I knew. Everything in that valley was either deadly, or dead. It was the kingdom of the eldest lord of Nightmare, whose aspect was the Wolf of Hunger and whose name was Grimm.

I had been presented to the Grimm, of course, when I became a man and an heir of Messidor. I had never been comfortable with him, though. Quite frankly he scared me, and I had never spent time in his kingdom, Nivose, by choice. I was more inclined to visit Pluviose or Verdemaire or even Thermidore. Still, I was familiar with the main features of all of the Nightmare realms, and this was unquestionably a picture of Nivose.

A figure was walking along the valley, her back to us, slim, with long pale hair.

I ran my fingertips carefully over the ink. The lines had power. I'm not schooled in magic, but I can feel it. Not a great deal of magic, but it was definitely there.

Jake pointed. “That's Karin. And she wasn't in the picture last week.”

I looked up to meet his eyes and he continued, “This was on the wall of Marji's office. It used to be just the landscape. Then the figure appeared. After Karin disappeared.”

I nodded, beginning to understand.

“And I'm almost certain she's moved since we found it,” Jake finished. He pointed to a spot on the picture a few inches away from the figure. “I think she was standing here when we first saw her. And she was standing still, not walking, looking back over her shoulder. I haven't seen her move, but I'm sure she has.”

“You never said she was a magus,” I said.

“She's not,” Jake replied. “She never filed an application in the city or in the provinces. At least not under her own name.”

I tapped the paper. “This says different. You're sure she did it with her own hands?”

He shrugged. “It's her style. She doesn't usually like people to watch her work. She'll even kick Marji out of her studio when she's working on a new piece.”

I snorted. “Yeah, I imagine so.”

Jake frowned. “You think she's unlicensed.”

I shrugged, then motioned for him to roll up the picture and sighed. “Well, I don't know if she's a bootleg mage, but if this is her work then I think I know where she is.”

Jake looked down at the paper. “That is Nivose, isn't it?”

“Oh, yeah, definitely,” I said with a sigh. “That's a picture of Blindworm Forest, near Ivorygate.”

“Ivorygate,” Jake repeated, thoughtful. “The passage to High Wilder?”

I looked over at him, surprised.

“I studied the basic geography of the Nine Realms in college,” he explained. “It's part of the certification.”

“That makes sense,” I said absently, then sighed. “Did you show this to the OEA?”

He nodded. “Well, I tried. They weren't interested.”

That was troubling. They should have been, if for no other reason than it was evidence of an unlicensed mage—particularly one with ties to Nivose. Different realms had different specialties. Thermidore could produce power, which is why Jake dealt with the aefrit. The undines of Pluviose made chemical elixirs, primarily the 'lix that drove the Midworld's cars.

The morauxe of Nivose made pharmaceuticals. Many of which were illegal in the City.

“You do know what this is starting to look like, right?” I asked him.

He gave me a stone face. “If you don't want to help—” he began.

I lifted a hand to cut him off. “I didn't say that. I just don't know if I can help. Like I say, Knight of Hell is just a title. But I'll do what I can.”

Jake nodded, made a visible effort to relax. “Thank you. We're desperate, and believe me, I know how this looks. But Karin is not like that. If she were, I wouldn't have let her anywhere near Marji. Something is going on here—something screwy. I need to know what.”

“I'll see what I can find out. But not here,” I said. Mick was a good guy and a great bartender, but he wouldn't be happy with my body lying still and cold on a table while my soul was elsewhere.

“I've got keys to Karin's studio,” Jake offered. “Will that do?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I want to take a look around there anyway.” I stood. “Where is it?”

Jake got to his feet. “Pickmantown. I can take you there now.”

I considered that. I had nothing on my plate that couldn't be put off. Some friends of mine were playing tonight, and I had said that I might drop by the club and sit in for a set, but it wasn't definite.

“Sure,” I said. “Let's go.”

On the way to the elevator Alice—a little sloppier around the edges than before—gave Jake the once over. “You weren't kidding, Sam,” she said. “Introduce me to your big friend?”

“Later, Alice,” I told her. “We've got to go train for my first big match now.”

“Break a leg,” she laughed.