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"Sorry to disappoint," I said wryly, "but I wasn't able to think that far. I just didn't think it would set a good example to be scared and ashamed for something that's entirely natural."
You are ssstrange.
Coming from her, that almost kinda sounded like a compliment, but since I wasn't as stupid as the Gorgon liked to think, I only shrugged and acted like it was just another insult.
On our walk back to the fortune teller's hut, I asked Sssusssan why our missing thief would risk wasting time and getting caught, just to have his or her fortune read.
I cannot think of any sssane reason either. The thief must be as ssstupid as you are.
"Very funny." We had reached the fortune teller's hut by now, but when I glanced up, I was surprised to see the same Greek characters still flashing green.
Sssomething is wrong.
"You betcha." I shook my head disapprovingly. It was already half-past three, and they were still closed for lunch? How in Hell did they manage to stay in business like this?
No priestess would close her doors for this long.
The Gorgon's rather dark tone sobered me up. We had to find out why the thief came here, but to burst into the hut without a plan...
An idea occurred to me then, and I said rather excitedly, "Little Iron."
The Gorgon, bless her reptilian heart, understood right away.
It is worth a try. The inventions of Perdix are always more than what they ssseeem.
I took the partridge out of my pocket, and it was still a magical treat to see the iron bird slowly come into life, eyes drifting open as if waking from a sleep of heavy metal (pun intended).
I brought my other hand close to its beak, and Little Iron nipped my middle finger open to feed itself. "Good boy," I whispered. "And now, if you don't mind doing us a little favor...can you check inside and see whether it's safe for us to enter?"
The partridge actually bobbed its head in answer just before taking off, and I turned to the Gorgon in amazement. "Did you see that?" Like seriously, I think I had the world's best pet ever, never mind if it also happened to be a bloodsucker.
I once heard Perdix say that while it is blood that gives these creatures life, it is the owner's care that ssshall teach them what it means to truly live.
"I think that's true—-"
How very predictably, sssentimentally ssstupid of you.
"You might think it's stupid," I argued, "but Perdix's words are basically the equivalent of a user's manual. So if he says that's how things roll, then—-"
Little Iron had come flying back, diving so low that I couldn't help ducking in case he lost control. Hadrian liked to say I could be hard-headed at times, and while it was probably true, I doubted my skull was hard enough to survive a head-on collision with a bird made of iron.
A part of me had expected the partridge to come back clutching a piece of clue with its talons, but instead it started drilling holes into the ground with its beak.
Oh my God!
Little Iron was communicating with us, and as the lines and swirls started taking shape, I realized that the partridge was writing a message...in Greek.
"Oh, come on! Seriously?"
The Gorgon was cackling so hard she had to hold on to her scarf to keep it from falling.
"Not funny," I grumbled. This partridge better had a language option I could choose from or Perdix's customer service was so going to hear from the new LOTUS in town. It just wasn't fair—-
The sound of flapping metal wings distracted me out of my thoughts, and I realized belatedly that Little Iron was done writing and had dived right back into my pocket as if needing to recuperate.
I turned to Gorgon, resigned to the need for translation, but just as I was about to ask, I heard Sssusssan hiss, the sound so full of outrage...you just kinda knew after that.
My stomach curled with dread as the Gorgon spun around without a word and stalked inside the hut. My heart started pounding as I followed her inside, and cold sweat enveloped my skin as I took in my surroundings.
There were signs of struggle everywhere. And blood. So much blood that the shattered pieces of the crystal ball on the ground had turned dark with it.
I found her.
Even though the Gorgon's voice was cold and hard, her grief was palpable, like an invisible cloak you could almost imagine brushing against as you came near, a cloak that made the Gorgon's shoulders, normally straight and proud, seem to fall wearily under its painful, terrible weight.
Sssusssan was standing next to a round table covered with black cloth, and behind it was the priestess, her lifeless body on the ground. She was clutching a piece of paper in her hand, the letters in it written in blood, and they spelled...lotus.
