Blind God's Bluff by Richard Lee Byers

Author:Richard Lee Byers
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fiction, Urban Life, Fantasy, C429, Extratorrents, Kat
ISBN: 9781597804431
Publisher: Pgw
Published: 2013-01-08T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

After talking to Queen and Gimble, I looked for Timon, but he was already gone. That surprised me and made me nervous, too, but there wasn’t much I could do about it. I ignored a last come-hither smile from Leticia and a final sneer from Wotan and dragged myself off to bed.

The next thing I knew, I was standing in a hotel room a lot swankier than the one in the Icarus, with a huge canopy bed, and Dom Perignon chilling in a bucket. French doors led to a marble balcony. I stepped out under a night sky glittering with more stars than I’d ever seen, even up in the Pamir Mountains. Smelling of salt water, a cool breeze brushed my face. The sea whispered in the distance, where waves broke to foam on a white sand beach.

Closer in were gardens with paths winding through them. The long building itself reminded me of the palace of Versailles—not that I’d ever seen it, but one of my high school teachers showed slides—and had a big bronze statue of King Neptune with his pitchfork out in front. Distinguished-looking men in dinner jackets and beautiful women in fancy gowns and diamonds strolled in the main entrance while valets parked their Bentleys, Lamborghinis, and Aston Martins.

Something nudged me to look down at myself. When I did, I saw that, for the first time ever, I was wearing a dinner jacket, too. Maybe it meant I was supposed to go eat dinner.

Feeling cautious but curious too, I wandered out into the hotel. But I never made it to the restaurant. The casino sucked me in. I stood and watched the rich guys and their girlfriends play roulette, blackjack, and baccarat until I felt the itch to do it, too. Maybe the same person who’d dressed me for this place had supplied me with cash or credit cards. I started to check my pockets, and then a familiar stink washed over me.

“Jesus Christ,” I said, turning around, “even here?”

“‘Even here?’” Timon asked. The grime on his cheeks had stripes in it where sludge had leaked out of his half-formed eyes. “Do you understand where we are?”

“It’s another ghost world, like the one the Pharaoh dumped me in, only a lot more complicated. I’m guessing this is your world of dreams, and this particular piece of it is somebody dreaming about Monte Carlo. Or maybe a James Bond movie.”

“Very good.” Timon waved his hand. “That’s our host over there.”

He meant a little bald guy in black-rimmed glasses. He was sitting at a roulette table, but it didn’t look like he was placing any bets, talking to anybody, or even sipping the huge margarita that looked like he’d sneaked it in from a Viva Vallarta. His face sweaty and slack, he just stared at the spinning wheel and rattling, tumbling ball.

“Is he dreaming about losing?” I asked. “He doesn’t look like he’s having any fun.”

“His unconscious wanted to dream about something else entirely. But I thought a fellow gambler would enjoy these surroundings.

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