Dead Man's Deal The Asylum Tales - By Jocelynn Drake Page 0,96

dangerous, it didn’t send a chill through me like the Styx or Acheron did.

“Done!” Chang said with a thump of his cane on the ground.

“Can I drop it off in a few days? I don’t exactly carry the waters with me.”

Chang smiled at me and waved one hand as he pushed to his feet again. “I trust you. You’ll drop it off. You’re a good boy, Gage.”

I followed as the little old man started back down the path that we had taken to the bench. Looking around, I couldn’t tell how long I had been in his garden. This was no change in the intensity or slant of the light. Time seemed frozen here, and despite the garden’s overwhelming beauty and tranquillity, I was ready to leave. But it was always like that when I visited Chang. He was an amusing little man, with a wicked grin and a gleam in his eye, but if you thought too long about it, you started to realize that he was probably the most dangerous thing on the planet and I didn’t have a fucking clue as to what he really was.

Chang paused when the hallway came into view from the edge of the path. He turned and looked up at me thoughtfully. “It really is for the best,” he said.

“What is?”

“You leaving your Tower,” he said, leaning close as if he were whispering a secret. “You never would have been happy in a greenhouse. You have too much mischief in your soul.” He reached up and lightly tapped a knuckle on the center of my chest as if he were knocking on my soul.

I smiled down at him. “Thanks.” The small sadness I had felt earlier when I thought of the life I had left behind drifted away. I stepped around him as I continued toward the elevator and his two guard dogs. I never told Chang what I was or where I came from. The man seemed to always know, though it was only recently that he openly spoke of it. But then, I wasn’t really surprised that he knew. The man knew everything and owned a little piece of everything. I figured that as long as I stayed on his good side, I didn’t have to worry. If Chang was pissed, the whole world was going to burn.

I paused at the doorway and looked back at the lush greenery and blooming flowers stretching out as far as the eye could see. Chang was right about me. I wouldn’t have been happy for long in the greenhouse. When I was a child, I think I clung to it simply because it represented a safe haven away from Simon Thorn and the bleakness of my apprenticeship. Now I had a different kind of haven in the world, and it needed my protection.

But the first thing I needed to do was check in with a special cat to see if she could offer any insight on the elf procreation problem. If I knew it was caused by a spell, it would mean I could give this Mother Nature/Gaia something more to work with.

Two months ago, I discovered there was a Grim Reapers’ union. Now? A real Mother Nature. I hoped this world didn’t get any fucking stranger than it already was. My brain couldn’t take much more.

17

I PAUSED OUTSIDE of Diamond Dolls and glanced up at the sky. It was early evening, but it felt like it should have been later after the time I’d passed in Chang’s private garden. A woman gave me a dirty look as she walked past me, her narrowed eyes jumping from my face to the front of the strip club. I fought the urge to flip her off as I shoved my hands in my pockets and trudged down the street.

Yes, Diamond Dolls was one of the sleaziest, dirtiest, most run-down strip joints in the city, but it also happened to be the easiest entrance into Chang’s. I might not be fond of the place, but I looked far less conspicuous walking into Diamond Dolls than through the other entrance in the dressing rooms at Layla’s Bridal Boutique.

With Gaia’s card tucked in my back pocket, I tried to relax with the reassurance that I had a lead on how to fix the elves’ little problem. Unfortunately, Chang’s promise that the goddess would know when I was ready was gnawing on my ass. I was pretty damn ready now. Arianna’s warning that time was running out had me