Chapter 6

The door opens,revealing Ariel's grinning face.

Ariel is an uber, an extremely good-looking and super-strong type of Cognizant. She and Felix are roommates, so seeing her here isn't a big shock.

"Bailey!" Before I can blink, she envelops me in a hug so tight a bear would be proud of it.

Since she doesn't touch any exposed skin, I find it easy to calm myself after the contact—especially once I catch my breath and ascertain that my ribs aren't broken.

"What are you doing here?" she asks excitedly, waving me in. "I didn't think you'd come back to Earth so soon after the last adventure."

"I'm surprising myself, trust me." I close the door behind myself.

Three furry creatures come out from the kitchen area and look up at me with varying levels of curiosity.

One is a chinchilla, an adorable rodent who isn't what he seems. From our last encounter, I know that this is a domovoi, a rare type of Cognizant that are extremely powerful in their limited domain. His name is Fluffster, probably on account of all that fluff.

Hi, Bailey, he says as a voice in my head. Good to see you again.

Smiling, I return the greeting and examine the second creature, a cat of the Persian variety. Though she's not a Cognizant of any kind, there's a royal air about her, and the kind of evil intelligence in her eyes that makes me want to avoid getting on her bad side.

The third animal is another chinchilla, which prompts me to ask, "You got another pet?"

Ariel rolls her eyes. "We didn't. That's Kit."

"Oh, hi, Kit." Kit is a shapeshifter, and a powerful one at that—so much so she's on the New York Council. She can obviously be any creature crazy humans keep as pets, be it a chinchilla, or a dog, or a hippo.

I'm not a pet, Fluffster says in my mind, managing to "sound" grumpy.

"Sorry." I do my best to keep a straight face. "I meant ‘another pet besides the cat.'"

The cat gives me a look that seems to say, "In reality, they're all my pets."

The extra chinchilla shimmers and transforms into Kit's petite, anime-like blonde form. "I'm here to keep Fluffster company," she says with a wink.

"Don't ask," Ariel whispers. "They're friends with disturbing benefits."

I don't actually see a problem with such an arrangement—apart from this being potentially bad for Kit's sex addiction. Ariel is a product of a world where anyone enjoying intimacy always looks humanoid, so I can't blame her for the bias. We're more open-minded on Gomorrah. Besides shapeshifters—who are rare—we've got a plethora of weres, and other Cognizant regularly hook up with them in various forms.

"What brings you here?" Kit asks and turns herself into Felix. "If it's to see the technomancer, he's busy with someone else at the moment."

"His girlfriend," Ariel clarifies conspiratorially. "I'm still getting used to the idea of him having one."

Not liking the look Kit gives me, I say, "Felix and I are just friends." Her expression doesn't change, so I add, "Not the kind of friends you and Fluffster are."

"That's good to know," says an unfamiliar female voice.

A beet-red Felix and a tiny young woman step into the living room. She looks familiar—this is the girl I've seen him defend from pucks in his dream, I realize.

"Maya, this is Bailey," Felix says. "We go way back."

Maya extends her hand to me, and I have no choice but to shake it, making a mental note to sanitize soon.

She peers at me through her glasses. "Felix said you took video game courses together, but he never mentioned how pretty you are."

I grin at her. "Thanks. Video game development is why I'm here, actually. Felix, can you help me add levels and features to a VR game?"

"Why?" he asks.

"What are you up to?" Kit inquires.

More questions follow from everyone except the cat, and bit by bit, I bring them up to speed about my mom, Valerian, and the deal we made. To avoid talking about my plan to gain power, I just tell them that Valerian will help me in exchange for some services that include the game.

"Valerian is ambitious," Kit says when I finish. "Releasing his VR headset and applying to be on the Council at the same time? I have no idea how he's juggling it all."

I frown. "He applied to be on the Council?"

"Wants to replace Hekima," Kit says, her face turning into the late illusionist's grandfatherly visage. "Will likely succeed, too. His predecessor proved just how powerful their kind can be—a boon to the Council."

"I still can't believe I took classes taught by someone capable of all those murders," Maya mutters. "He seemed so nice."

She took classes with Hekima?

Oh yeah, that's right. He taught something called Orientation here on Earth—a sort of school for the young Cognizant.

This Maya must not just look like a teen—she is one. I hope Felix knows what he's doing.

Felix directs a guilty look at Ariel. "A chance to work on VR. Maybe I could—"

"No," she says sternly. "We need you."

I raise an eyebrow.

"Felix can't help you," Maya says with a little too much eagerness. "His other friend from Gomorrah has dibs."

Is she jealous of me? If so, why? Her boyfriend is roommates with Ariel and Princess Peach—both more attractive than I am.

Deciding to ignore her, I look at Felix skeptically. "You have other friends on Gomorrah?"

"Itzel," Kit explains and turns into the person in question: a round-cheeked young gnome with a goofy smile. In the real world, that smile would be hidden by a mask, since Itzel, like all of her kind, suffers from breathing issues.

"What's wrong with Itzel?" I ask, worried. She's a friend of mine as well.

"It's her famous grandfather," Ariel says.

Famous is an understatement. Cadmael singlehandedly boosted the quality of life on Gomorrah to the levels we currently enjoy. In his youth, he invented a reactor that provides energy that's almost free and therefore powers every aspect of our day-to-day life.

"What did he do this time?" I ask in exasperation.

For as long as I've known Itzel, her grandfather has been a pain in her butt. Recently, for example, he acquired a gambling debt so large that Itzel had to take a risky job to help Felix and his friends. She was so traumatized from their adventure that she asked me to treat her with dream therapy—which I intend to do at some point in the near future, since I now know how to enter gnome dreams.

"He disappeared off the face of Gomorrah," Felix says. "Itzel asked us to help, and we owe her."

"Of course," I say. "And I'd like to help too."

Everyone except Maya looks happy at the news—though it's hard to tell what Fluffster is thinking under all that fur, and the cat's flat face must always look a little bit grumpy.

What about your mother?Fluffster asks mentally.

Momentarily forgetting about cooties, I reach down and pick him up.

Wow. The risk of disease is worth it. Chinchilla fur is almost as heavenly as Pom's.

"My mom takes priority, of course," I reply, looking into his rodent eyes. "But I'm hoping the video game stuff and my payment to Valerian won't occupy all of my waking time."

I don't add that I'm beginning to miss vampire blood. With this much going on, sleep is a luxury. But I'd better resist these thoughts; it could be addiction rearing its ugly head. If my waking time isn't enough for people, they can bite me. Especially Valerian—that way, I might even enjoy it.

Felix grins. "Awesome. We'd love your help—and maybe I can still help you with the game when I have free time."

I put Fluffster back on the floor. "That would be great. Maybe you can do it in place of some of your paid gigs. I'll pay your usual rate."

At the mention of money, Fluffster puffs up. Felix will gladly help you. Itzel's favor isn't going to pay rent or put groceries into the fridge.

"But he can't do it now," Maya says. "We're going to Cadmael's apartment so I can use my powers to locate him." She puts her tiny hands on her hips. "I only have a short window of time when I'm free, so we need to go. Right now."

"Right," Felix says sheepishly. "We'd better leave."

Funny how this rush seemed to materialize only when I did. I decide against saying anything, though; Maya will be even more certain that I want her boyfriend, which I don't.

All my amorous thoughts are directed at Valerian as of late.

I look at Felix with a stony expression, lest Maya thinks I'm undressing him with my eyes. "Before you go, can you give me an update on Leal's comms?" I glance at Maya apologetically. "Leal was a dreamwalker whose murder the New York Council asked me to solve. His comms contain his notes and may provide useful information about my powers."

Felix perks up. "Oh, yeah, forgot to tell you. I was able to hack those. Got his whole journal. Checked on Soma, as you asked—no mention of it. He did seem obsessed about some secret society that's like the Illuminati but on steroids. At least that's as far as I got before I grew bored."

It's all I can do to conceal my disappointment. I was really hoping there'd be something about Soma in Leal's notes. Hekima had implied that it's a place where dreamwalkers live, but it's unclear if he meant a city or a whole Otherland.

Thanks to my mom's secretiveness, I know so little about my kind—or my family. She's never even talked about my early childhood years—which sucks, since I don't remember anything from before I was seven.

Ariel cocks her head. "A secret society?"

"Yeah," Felix says. "A group called Icelus."

Kit morphs into Leal and rolls his/her eyes. "That again? He brought that up in front of the Council a few times. A ridiculous notion." She turns back into her usual self. "According to him, Icelus are a cult of Cognizant worshipping some weird god."

Ariel looks intrigued. "Like the Brotherhood?"

"The monks are not secret about their faith." Kit turns herself into one of the hooded figures.

"Right," Felix chimes in. "Unlike the Brotherhood, Icelus hide their affiliation—and their deity isn't very nice. Leal says Icelus are behind some terrible things here on Earth."

Kit scoffs. "Delusions of an old man. He claimed they started wars and invented terrorist acts. His list went on and on. There's no way a group of Cognizant could've gotten away with all that under the noses of the Councils."

"Unless they'd infiltrated the Councils," Felix says. "Which is what Leal claimed. He even—"

"Can I get the notes so I can read them myself?" I glance at the door. "You're in a rush, remember?"

"Right." Felix disappears into his room and comes back with the dreamwalker's antiquated comms.

I take out my own shiny new model and my local phone. "Send them to one of these, please."

Felix snatches my new comms out of my hands and examines them with the excitement males usually save for the female form.

Maya scowls at me.

"Where are the glasses for this thing?" Felix asks. "And the gloves?"

I explain about the invisible headphones, the contacts, and the nails. Felix looks so enthralled I half expect him to have an orgasm, while Maya's scowl grows into a death glare.

"I think I'm going to get these once we find Itzel's grandfather," Felix whispers reverently.

I blow out an exasperated breath. "Do what you wish. But send me the files now, okay?"

"Oh, right." He shoots both devices with an arc of his technomancer energy. "Done."

I turn on my VR and see a new message with an attachment. I open it to find many pages of text.

Fine. I'll read this when I have more time.

Maya possessively grabs Felix's elbow. "We'd better go."

"Good idea," I say. "I'll get in touch with you through Itzel once I'm back on Gomorrah and have a free moment."

As Ariel and the others put on their shoes, I double-check when I need to meet Valerian and do the math on how long it'll take to get to his company's offices.

I have about an hour to kill.

"Can I hang out with Fluffster here?" I ask Felix and Ariel.

"Of course," Ariel says and hugs me without warning.

Before I can recover from her hug, Kit does it to me as well.

Maya coldly waves goodbye, and Felix cautiously shakes my hand.

I wait until they exit, then run to the bathroom to sterilize myself with soap and hand sanitizer. Feeling as clean as is possible without hygieia, I return to the living room and chat with Fluffster until it's time for me to leave.

One day you should come when I'm sleeping,the domovoi tells me as I head for the door. I'm curious to experience your powers.

"Deal." Unable to resist, I pet his heavenly fur. "See you later."