For a man who hadn’t been sure I existed for most of my life, my father got my number very fast.
Ghastek leaned back and crossed his arms. “I had a promising career. I had achieved recognition and some infinitesimal measure of security. And then you came along.”
Aha. He and the dozens of hostages working in this building could cry me a river. “Who taught you to draw, Ghastek? That doesn’t even remotely look like an apple. It looks like a butt.”
“More like a peach,” Rowena said.
“I have an inspection in less than twenty-four hours,” Ghastek said, his voice dry. “If we have quite finished critiquing my ability to draw fruit, I have things to do.”
I leaned back. “Are you worried about it?”
He looked insulted. “No. We can be inspected at any point, and we would stand up to scrutiny.”
“If you are anxious, I can make sure he eats something deliciously sweet before he comes over here. Like a generous helping of tres leches cake or a chocolate sundae.”
Ghastek stared at me. “Get out.”
I rose and made a show of sniffling. “Come on, Julie. Clearly we are not wanted here.”
“I will show you out,” Rowena said.
I went to the door, turned, and looked at Ghastek. My father had my number, but I was his daughter and I had made a career out of studying him.
“You keep thinking of him as a god. He is a man. He loves life and he pays attention to every moment. Each second is filled with endless wonder for him. He notices the texture of the couch under his fingertips and the color of the tea in his cup. This is how he stays alive, because if he ever grows bored and disillusioned with the world, he will become a shadow of his former self and die, just like my aunt. Treat him as a man. If you want to make a good impression, don’t do a big official welcome. Meet him yourself and make sure to afford him the small, everyday courtesies.”
I walked out.
• • •
“CAN I SPEAK to you in private?” Rowena asked under her breath as we walked into the lobby. “Outside?”
“Sure.” I had a pretty good idea how that conversation was going to go. Why didn’t you tell me you are my nearly immortal boss’s daughter? It didn’t come up. Where do we go from here? Ugh.
But she was bound to me by the oath she had sworn to the witches. I turned to Julie. “Go ahead of me and start the car, please.”
Julie gave Rowena a sideways glance filled with enough teenage scorn to instantly incinerate a small army and sped up ahead of us.
“That child is just like you,” Rowena said, her voice making it obvious it wasn’t a compliment.
“Thank you.”
We were almost to the door when a journeywoman with short dark hair nearly sprinted to us across the floor.
“Trouble,” I told Rowena.
She turned. The journeywoman ran up to her.
“Not now,” Rowena said.
The journeywoman gulped some air and whispered, “Frederick exposed himself to two young women in front of the ladies’ bathroom.”
Rowena’s eyes went wide. She turned on her heel toward me. “One minute.”
“Take your time. I’ll wait for you by the fountain.”
I walked out of the Casino’s doors. After the stench of the undead, the night air tasted refreshing, like a gulp of cold water in the heat of a summer day. I’d had enough of the People’s hospitality for one night. Maybe if I splashed some water from those pretty fountains on my face, it would wash the stench off.
A man stepped in my way. “Kate!”
How did I know him . . . I had seen him before. He stepped forward and the light shone on his face. Lago Vista. Except this Lago seemed to have lost at least two decades. The Lago I recalled had seen forty-five. In my head, his hair was thinning, his muscle drooped a bit off his frame, and lines had begun to crop up on his face. This Lago was in his prime. He stood straight, his shoulders were broad, his chest filled out his leather, and as he sauntered toward me, his gait betrayed no trace of a limp. His hair was thick, his eyes bright, and his smirk had gone from self-deprecating to smug.
All my warning sirens went off at the same time.
“Hey.” Lago winked at me. “Didn’t know you gambled.”
“I don’t. Strictly business.” There was something important I needed to remember about Lago. Something vital. It was making my head hurt, but when I reached for those memories, there was nothing there.
“I just wanted to tell you that you and I are cool. I don’t hold grudges.”