Blind God's Bluff A Billy Fox Novel - By Richard Lee Byers Page 0,62
the rest of us played on, I could tell almost immediately that things were different. Everybody was playing against everybody. They weren’t all just gunning for me anymore. That trick had failed, and, shifting gears as fast as usual, each of them had moved on to the next strategy. I still flashed the Thunderbird once in a while, just to be on the safe side, but the cards stayed the same.
At dawn, we all had about the same number of chips. I stood up, yawned—even though I’d gotten up late, it had still been one hell of a long day—and then headed over to where Queen and Gimble were sitting.
Away from the table, the light was dim. I was careful not to step on any of the grub babies on the floor. Although Queen and her people didn’t seem especially worried that someone would.
“I guess I owe you my life,” I told her. “Thanks.”
She inclined her head. “I did it to take back what the Egyptian took from me.”
“Still, I’m grateful. But how did you know to come in right when you did? You weren’t listening outside the room the whole time?” Despite munching disgusting snacks, exposing her private parts, and laying eggs in front of everybody, she somehow seemed too dignified for that. I could imagine her eavesdropping, but not while Timon’s flunkies in the lobby looked on.
“No,” she said, “of course not. But if you live through this, you’ll discover there are many kinds of magic. When I care to pay the price, I can become extremely intuitive.”
“Nice.” Especially for a poker player. I wondered if she’d been using it at the table before the Pharaoh got rid of her.
One of the babies started climbed up my pant leg. I let it. It was even smaller and lighter than a brownwing, so it wasn’t really bothering me. And you don’t score points with any mom by acting like her kid is repulsive. When it got up to my hip, I tried to stroke its pale gleaming head with my fingertip.
It opened up a mouth that already had teeth and snapped at me. I jerked my hand back just in time to keep from getting nipped.
A maid rushed over to get the larva off me. And Gimble said, “We all bite in our own different ways.”
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?”