Where? said a ghostly voice.
“Same-old same-old. We’re having a surprise party with some old, true friends.”
A long pause. Right, said the ghost-voice. I can be there in maybe-so five ten minutes.
“Good enough. Thanks.”
Jing-mei tapped the disc again. The light blipped into nothing, and she tucked the disc behind her ear. The fancy device reminded me of Deming the waiter and his magic-powered glasses, the ones that let him transmit orders directly to the kitchens. This had to be the same kind of micro-receptor-transmitter technology, but much fancier and much more powerful.
Jing-mei caught me staring. “It’s just a new toy. All the courtiers love them.”
“You could make a fortune selling those in the Phoenix Court,” Quan said. “Where did you find a manufacturer?”
“Trade secret,” she said, with a mysterious smile. “And Phoenix City is a nice market, but I hope I can make a fortune right here.”
So that’s how she’d spent her share of the reward. She sniffed out the latest toys or trinkets, then sold them for a huge profit to rich nobles. Danzu did the grunt work, transporting the goods from wherever—maybe even from Phoenix City. Merchant and businesswoman. It was hard to take in how much my friends had changed in just one year. But in a strange way, they were still all part of the same gang, each helping the other.
“What is Gan’s job in all this?” I asked.
Yún and Jing-mei shared a look of sour amusement.
“Stiff stick,” Jing-mei said.
“You aren’t being fair,” Yún murmured.
“Well, no. We can talk about that later. Ah, here he is . . .”
Bells were chiming through the apartment. Jing-mei hurried away. Soon, I heard Gan’s deep slow voice from down the corridors.
“. . . caught the express transport before it left the guard station. Gave them some excuse about my captain sending me out to investigate a disturbance, but I don’t think—”
“You think too much,” Jing-mei said.
“Very funny,” Gan said. “So which ‘old, true friends’ did you mean? Don’t tell me Yún caught up with Kai and dragged him back to Lóng City.”
“Close, but not quite.”
“Don’t make me guess, Jing-mei. My sergeant says I’m up for review and I—”
Gan rounded the corner and stopped. Tick by tock, he took in my presence, then Yún’s. The griffin snagged his whole attention, but only for a moment, because all of a sudden he recognized Lian and his mouth fell open.
“Hello, Gan,” Lian said.
Gan collapsed onto the nearest stool and blinked at all of us. Finally, he croaked, “Princess? When did you get back home? And why are you here?”
Why not at the palace, he meant.
“I need your help,” Lian said. Once more she told the story of our escape and her suspicion that someone, or several someones, had conspired to overthrow Lóng City’s king. Throughout her account, Gan continued to blink and make unhappy noises in his throat.
“We believe the conspirators were paid by the Phoenix emperor,” Quan said.
“And who are you?” Gan shot back.
“A doctor, student, and former subject of the emperor,” Quan replied without hesitation.
He left out the part about being Lian’s beloved, I said to Chen.
That comes later, Chen grunted.