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“Do you want me to come?” Anna asked again, looking worried. “If you don’t feel comfortable, we can send back the dress and…”
“It’s fine.” I flashed her a smile. “I’m perfectly safe in my building.” Who cared about safety when they were so close to something they’d been trying to get for so long?
She didn’t look too sure as the elevator doors closed on her, leaving me alone in the hall. I took a deep breath and walked towards the apartment door. It was unlocked, and inside, past the long sweep of plush pale carpet, was a wall of windows showing the rising moon and the city skyscape, the best view of the city I’d ever seen. Was the Piscerie going to cater here?
An elevator inside the apartment dinged gently, getting my attention. It was gold, intricate metalwork that looked too delicate to be functional. It was jewelry, like the stair curving upwards on the other side of the room. The elevator dinged again, and I saw a note inside in the Scholar’s handwriting.
I stepped into the elevator and read the note while the doors closed behind me, trapping me inside the delicate golden cage.
Be certain to watch for cars, Miss Morell,
~Mr. Stead
There were no cars in the elevator. It descended smoothly for a very long time until the doors opened on another apartment, black plush carpet leading to a wall of windows that looked out on a night garden filled with lush plantings that glowed in the darkness.
I went to the door and outside was a hall, black marble this time, with a door on the end made out of glass and metal that looked out on a street in Song in front of the Scholar’s Lab.
Ah. The Lydian was connected to both Sing and Song. How good to know something so clearly essential and terrifying. I walked down the hall, following the golden arrows until I got to the door and looked out at the car waiting for me.
The gorgeous Bentley was as black as sin and curvaceous as a dragon. The driver stood at attention, waiting for me. Apparently, I wouldn’t be taking the train. I took a deep breath and stepped out of the building, then went down the steps and towards the driver, who immediately opened the back door with a slight bow.
Was he a vampire or something else? I didn’t ask, just got inside and tried not to bounce on the cushy seat like a teenager. I took a picture with my phone and sent it to Anna. Not the train and then put my phone away in the pocket of the coat I hadn’t put on. The car roared to life and then I was pressed back into the cushy seats as the car powered through the undercity, rumbling engine as powerful as the vampire who owned it. There was no way he didn’t own the car, not when it was so perfect for him.
We wound through the city at a dizzying pace through neighborhoods I didn’t remotely recognize until with a lurch, it left the brick road and drove up a smooth ramp that spiraled around and around, leaving me with a dizzying view of the city below before it broke out in the clear night, on the opposite side of the river from the city. After a few turns, we joined the normal freeway, and then crossed the enormous suspension bridge that led to SingSong. It was beautiful, a dazzling jewel surrounded by a golden wall. We didn’t enter the gate, instead leaving the freeway and taking a smaller road along the river until we reached brightly lit docks next to a building built over the river, lights strung above and classical guitar playing in the background.
The drive had been very quick, and I was still stuck to the back of the seat when the driver opened the door and held out his hand for me. I took it and let him pull me out of the car. He bowed again, closed the door and went to the driver’s side, driving off and leaving me there.
I looked around and saw the sign, “Piscerie,” in bright lights on a blue background, so I was in the right place, but how was I going to get home? There was always the train. I headed to the entrance of the multi-level restaurant built over the water, less elegant than I’d expected. It was rustic, charming, but not ornate.
The waiter smiled at me and bowed. “Miss Morell, please follow me.”
So much bowing. I followed him, raising my long skirt as I followed him up the steps to the rooms overlooking the water, private rooms with red velvet carpet, red upholstery, and stark white tablecloths in contrast.
I was staring at the tablecloth and almost missed the man standing behind it, studying me with a slightly surprised expression, like he hadn’t expected me to come.
“Mr. Stead. Am I late?”
He made a point of checking out the window, because apparently he took time by the stars or the lights shining off the water before he turned back to me with a smile. “Not at all. You are exactly when you should be.”
“When I should be? Ah. How scientific you sound.” The waiter took my coat and hung it next to the door before he bowed and left me with the Scholar. He looked dashing in his tuxedo, matching my dress in elegance, except that his tie was undone along with the top two buttons, leaving his throat bare. I’d never seen him quite that unbuttoned, even when I’d disturbed him this morning. There was something positively shocking about seeing him unbuttoned.
I sat down and had a moment’s panic when he came too close to help me sit in my chair and wrangle the dress, but I didn’t quite throw a death curse at him, so that was good.
“Mr. Stead,” I said, pulling some notes out of my bag and putting them on my plate. “I am ready to come to an agreement. I must have seemed overeager this morning, but you know how it is to be searching for clues in your research only to come to dead end after dead end and then finally get a glimpse of a solution. It’s like hearing a heavenly chorus of angels, parting the endless darkness with a ray of hope.”
He cleared his throat and adjusted his chair, pulling it up to the table and smoothing the tablecloth. “Yes, it is something like that. I hope that your trip here was comfortable.”
“Yes, it was lovely. About the mark, Mr. Stead.”
“Slowly, Miss Morell. Things seem to be proceeding at an ever-increasing pace, when sometimes life should be savored.”
I licked my lips and put my notes back on my lap. “Of course, if you’d like to eat before we discuss business, that’s understandable.”
“May I pour you some wine?”
“I don’t drink, but you can pour if you’d like.”
He froze with the bottle tilted as he stared at me with black, fathomless eyes. “You don’t drink wine?”
