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“Good. Of all the places in Perdition you could have been, why did you come to us?”
“I told you: I don’t know. I was on that mountain, I walked down, and there you were.”
He nods, thinking.
“I thought we had reached an understanding, a state of trust between you, Daja, and myself,” he says. “Why did you not tell us of your other life?”
“Did I mention I was fucking murdered? Even when I first landed in Hell, I wasn’t this off balance.”
“Still. It’s disappointing.”
“I watched you massacre whole towns because they annoyed you. It made me wonder what’s this guy going to do if he finds out I’m an Abomination.”
“The Abomination,” says Vehuel.
“Thanks for the reminder.”
“You raise a fair point,” the Magistrate says. “But from now on, no more secrets.”
“I’m fresh out of those right now.”
“I am glad to hear it.”
“Hello, Alice,” says Traven. “I’m Liam.”
They shake hands.
I say, “Besides the Magistrate, Father Traven is the only one around here with any brains. I knew him back in L.A. after you, you know . . .”
“Died,” she says. “I won’t be offended if you say it. You’re dead, too.”
“Yeah and it’s weird.”
Alice looks across the table.
“Hi, Cherry,” she says.
“Hi, Alice,” rasps Cherry through her respirator.
“Love the fur coat. Or did you just stop shaving your back?”
“You’re not fooling anyone with that armor. You look like you’re trick-or-treating for UNICEF.”
“Cherry?” says the Magistrate. “Mimir? How many names do you have, my oracle?”
She puts her hand over his.
“I am your Mimir.”
“Shit, Cherry. Take off that stupid mask so we can understand you,” I say.
The Magistrate reaches over and pulls the mask down off her nose and mouth.
“This, too, was a lie?”
She puts both of her hands over his.
“I had to disguise myself. I was afraid of people from my old life. People like him,” she says, looking at me. “Cherry was my name in the mortal world. Before I knew my powers and my true calling.”
