“Dear boy,” said Madam, “why on earth should I believe you could keep such a promise?”
“Because I have powerful friends deep inside the Shiguan,” I said. “And because once I bring Brach down, his leverage over you is gone.”
She looked me up and down. “You let me go, and I will make every effort to be there.”
“That sounds like lawyer talk.”
“Such a thrill to take big chances, isn’t it?” I sighed and went back into the lobby.
Lakshmi stood near the back door, sword in hand. “Learn anything useful?”
“Nothing that helps us today. Cut her loose.”
“You really think that’s wise?” asked Lady. “The woman has done nothing but harrow you.”
“Yeah, but a little goodwill here could help us at trial to nail Brach for killing Henry. And Lakshmi doesn’t have time to babysit her, anyway—we’ve got a wraith to catch.”
Lakshmi pulled out her cuff key, gave me a long look, then went into the theater. When she returned, she had her phone in her hand. “I’ve got to go. My chancellor wants an update on the wraith.”
“Will this chancellor be at my trial?” I asked.
Lakshmi nodded. “Mistress Nancy Wake. She’s the bridge between the Convocation and the Strata Chancery.”
“Is she fair?”
“Well, hers is a nonvoting seat.” The raptorial looked around the theater lobby. “But, she would hate what this place might become if Brach has his way. That should work in your favor.”
And there were sixty more theaters just like it. Plus, all theactivevenues the Shiguan were taking over.
Just after Lakshmi left, Madam pushed open the theater door and gestured for me to rejoin her. “Give me a minute,” I told my friends.
“Her hands are free,” Cassius reminded. “I’ll be all right.”
Back in the theater, Madam had her lantern and bow in hand. A panic shot through me.
“Easy, Mr. Solomon,” said Madam. “I may not know where your wraith is, but I can show you an old freebooter trick that may help you find it.”
I got out my own catalysts. “Shoot.”
“The wraith you hunt was drawn by your rebirth,” she began, “which means it shares some kind of connection with you.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen it.”
Madam pushed her bow forward across two rods of her lantern. The two notes clashed, metallic and droning; dark violet light flared around us. “It’s called darkshine,” she said. “Create two contact points. Invert your normal bow stroke, andonlystroke that direction. Then, fix in your mind the pattern you hold in common with the creature.” I positioned my bow. “Like this?”
She nodded. “Then you look, Mr. Solomon. In every direction of the compass, you look.”
I whispered my stone to life and reverse-bowed across two rods of my lantern. The lamp squawked a dissonant harmony and sputtered fits of light. Madam took hold of my hand and guided the bow across my lantern.
The darkshine flared. I called to mind the gleam-note pattern I shared with the wraith and looked around in a slow circle. Thousands of brilliant sparks of white light erupted through the darkshine. They flared, completely washing away the dark. When I stopped playing my lantern, I couldn’t see. There was only white.
“I’m blind.”
Madam chuckled. “Everything went white, did it?” “What did I do wrong?”
“You’re not capturing the unique bond that only you and your wraith share. If you don’t go deep enough, you’ll find a world of people with similarities to what you and the wraith have in common, and they’ll all shine back at you at once.”
My sight gradually started to return.
