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The next morning, Lance and Quin headed to a local game shop to see if they could find another comic similar to Windwhisper while Lily and I set off downtown, well away from the dangers of the slums. At this point, I wasn’t sure I wanted to delve deeper into the lore of the pendants and their connection to the time stones, but if her contact knew anything about them, we might be able to figure out whether or not the time stones would actually do what we thought. How likely was it that they actually could be used to change time? How likely was it that the Coalition could actually rewrite history and remove the Community altogether?
After what I’d seen yesterday...
Certain aspects of the Community needed to stay, no matter how much Lance loved the freedom of the pre-Community world.
“Now, once we get there, let me handle the questions, all right?” Lily glanced at me as we wandered along the bustling sidewalk. “My contact is an information broker, and she’ll jump on any opportunity to get information she shouldn’t have... especially if she can get it for free.” We stopped in front of a giant building. “But we’ve got a lot of information that’s worth something, and we have powers we can use for enchanting, so that’s what we’ll use to trade for info on the pendants. Got it?”
I nodded, but why would anyone withhold valuable information unless they were actively fighting you? Keeping secrets led to problems like beastie creation and hiding the existence of superpowers.
Lily pushed through a revolving glass door and we entered a giant shopping center. A muted roar filled the massive room. People laughing and teasing, chatting and bargaining, the echo reminiscent of a beastie plant—
Yet, for all the echoes and the sheer number of people crossing from escalators to open shops, no memory attack spawned. I mentally reached to the plants covering the outside of the building and took refuge in their calm silence. Was the access to so much nearby foliage helping? If that was the case, shouldn’t I have had fewer attacks before now, so long as I was in Singapore?
Lily arched an eyebrow. “You okay?”
“Fine.” I wasn’t going to complain when I didn’t have an attack.
“This way,” Lily said, pushing through the people. “You okay with taking the elevator?”
I nodded.
We entered a small elevator with faux wood panels for walls. Lily punched in a button. We lurched upward. A few floors later, the elevator stopped.
Ding.
Lily grabbed my hand and pulled me out. I stared at our hands, surprised at the softness of her palm. My cheeks warmed, and I quickly pulled my hand away.
Around us, the floors were covered in a carpet of rich brown and tan rectangles. The walls were mahogany. Warm lights hung from the ceiling in long golden ropes, casting a glow on everything around us. This floor was considerably quieter than the rest of the building. The passersby spoke in hushed tones. Their outfits were appropriate for efficiency leaders: business suits, slacks, and skirts—some shorter than others—and they wore jewelry that glinted under the dangling lights.
No wonder Lily told me to wear the nicest thing I could find, which included having me visibly wear the flower charm. If I hadn’t gone with her advice, we would have stuck out worse than a fire beast in the Community.
Still, I couldn’t complain. My outfit was plenty comfortable. A simple, sleeveless blouse with a pearly sheen, along with a pair of brown slacks. Almost Community. As for Lily, she’d chosen a sleeveless gray, form-fitting turtleneck and a pair of black slacks. She had combed her long black hair straight down... not braided as usual, and she fit in perfectly.
“Jenna...”
I snapped to attention. “Yeah?”
Lily smirked. “You’re staring at me again.”
My cheeks warmed. “Sorry. It’s just... you look different.”
“As do you.” She laughed softly. “Remember, follow my lead. If there’s other customers there, we’ll have to wait to speak to Mei Ling.”
I nodded. Mei Ling was Lily’s contact—an alchemist who posed as a jeweler in order to avoid getting conscripted by the OA. Since Lily knew the passphrases and I didn’t, she’d have to vouch for both of us.
After passing the rounded corner of the curving hall, we came to a shop with glass cases at the front of the store and a round display case at the center. The store’s red walls were adorned with paintings of stylized flowers. A few customers discussed their interests with the attendants behind the displays. Glittery jewelry shined underneath a dazzling array of lights...
So many lights—
I felt the tug of a memory attack, but it passed. Strange. I reached for my flower charm and examined it. Even the charm’s stone petals glimmered under the store’s many spotlights.
“Over here.” Lily pointed out a case of tiny animals made from metal and covered in jewels, like decorative miniatures. “Not everyone comes for the jewelry.”
“I thought you didn’t like statues.”
“They aren’t statues,” Lily retorted, crossing her arms. “They’re... pretty. Very different.”
“They don’t look that different to me,” I protested before a middle-aged woman approached us. She bowed politely. Her black hair was pulled back into an elaborate bun, her lips red from lipstick. Kind of like how Lady Winters liked to dress—
“May I help you two beautiful young ladies find anything?”
“Beautiful?” I blinked. She was really laying on the flattery.
Lily cleared her throat. “Yes, actually. Is Mei Ling available? My friend and I have an order we’d like to discuss with her.”
“Mei Ling is very busy. Might I inquire as to the nature of the order?”
“Yes. We ordered a jade rabbit for our collection.”
“Of course.” The woman bowed again, and then disappeared into the back room. I frowned. A few of the trinkets did look like they had been shaped from jade, though most were metal.
The woman returned and invited us to follow. She led us to a small back room with two elegant couches and a low, polished table at the center. After providing us with tea, she left.
I glanced at Lily. “What should we expect?”
“We wait until Mei Ling is done with her other customers.”
“Oh.” I sat back and sipped at the creamy tea.
I’d barely finished the cup before a young woman entered and closed the door behind her. She smiled at us, her short black hair cut into a bob. “You must be mad,” she said noncommittally.
Lily grinned. “Mad as a hatter.”
The woman laughed and sat on the couch opposite from us. “Good to see you again, Private Eye.” She poured a cup of tea before gesturing to me. “Who is this?”
“This is my friend...” Lily’s voice trailed off, and I realized she had no idea what to use for my code name. Though we had discussed what we wanted to ask, that particular detail had escaped our notice.
“Kate,” I supplied. Might as well use something I could remember.
“Kate,” Mei Ling repeated. “New to the business, I take it?”
“A promising recruit,” Lily said, an edge to her voice. My heart sank. I understood the reason for codenames given the tendency for telepaths and psychic trackers to get involved in searching for people, but if she didn’t trust Mei Ling, why come to her?
“What can I do for you?” Mei Ling—probably not her real name—sipped at her tea. “Did you have any luck finding the real pendant?”
Lily’s expression soured and she gave the woman an annoyed glare. “Not exactly. But I am here because Kate is interested in the alchemy that made those pendants. The real ones, not the counterfeit.”
“Oh?” Mei Ling looked me over, curious. “Are you looking to buy something, investigating, or do you have a power you’re trying to hide?” Her eyes fell on the flower charm. “Wait... is that Benjamin’s work?”
I swallowed hard. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to wear this thing visibly.
“The necklace you’re wearing” —Mei Ling gestured to my neck— “may I see it?”
I glanced at Lily, who grimaced and shook her head.
I clamped my hand around the charm. “I think I’d better hold onto this.”
Mei Ling straightened her posture, still smiling. “I’m an appraiser. I could tell you what it’s worth.”
“Sure,” Lily muttered, “and handing an information broker a telepathy artifact is a wonderful idea. I’m sure you’d love the free information.”
Mei Ling chuckled. “You’ve gotten smarter since last time.” She turned her attention to where I held the charm in my hand. “A real piece of Benjamin’s work... I can’t believe it.” She paused. “That charm was Lady Winters’ telepathy artifact, wasn’t it? Let me guess, this was stolen at the same time that her Elizabeth pendant was stolen?”
“Uh...” I gaped at her. How much did she already know?
“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone. I doubt anyone’s going to come asking me, anyway. If they do, I’ll make sure I get a decent price.”
Lily twisted her lips in annoyance. “Mei Ling...”
Mei Ling ignored her and remained facing me. “What do you want to know about the pendants? I’ve managed to collect quite a few details over the years.”
“I want to know what they can do,” I said automatically, “and when they were made. How their enchantments work.” Lily opened her mouth as if to say something, then shut it again. Technically, she was supposed to be asking the questions and guiding the conversation, but what was I supposed to do when someone asked me a question directly? Stare at them? “I assume you know about Benjamin since you recognized his handiwork.”
Mei Ling shrugged. “What alchemist doesn’t? He and his wife are the parents of power-based alchemy... at least as modern alchemist-enchanters know it.”
“His wife is an alchemist?” I blinked. Was she a spirit, too?
“Here’s a bit of free information.” Mei Ling took another sip of tea. “The pendants are named for his wife, Elizabeth Calroe. The shields that block powers are named for Benjamin. Legend has it that Elizabeth didn’t trust the power of the pendants, so she made a shield to stop him. But something went wrong when she tried to shield him, killing him and splitting his soul among the five pendants.”
I frowned. “So the shields... they’re from her?”
“Sort of. After Elizabeth killed Benjamin, she went on to create Calroe Industries, the forerunner in shield creation—and the bane of the OA since her daughter, Victoria, currently has a contract with the Camaraderie.” Mei Ling huffed and rested her cheek against her knuckles.
I stared at her. I wasn’t sure how everything connected yet, but Mei Ling had provided me a little more—a lot more—information than I’d expected to find. She’d said that Benjamin’s soul had been split among the pendants. Assuming that was true, and Spectator was another part of Benjamin, was that the missing connection between the two? If they were the same person, was the score Spectator wanted to settle with Elizabeth?
Except, she wasn’t the one in the charge of shield creation now, her daughter was. So having a score to settle with her that somehow involved me and the Coalition didn’t really make sense unless he wasn’t on good terms with the Camaraderie, since Victoria had a contract with them. But I’d seen Benjamin at the Camaraderie base in Cuba, and it seemed he was on friendly terms with them, even going so far as to be excited at the prospect of creating the Legion Spore.
“When did all this happen?” Lily asked. “When did Benjamin become a spirit?”
Mei Ling scratched her chin absently. “I think the alchemical historians settled on 1956 as the most likely year of death.”
“Wait...” I held up my hand. We were looking at this wrong. Maybe it wasn’t the dates were should be worried about. “You said his spirit was split among the pendants?”
Mei Ling nodded.
What if they were both Benjamin... but different parts of him, parts that had different goals? Hence why Spectator hadn’t been seen working with the Camaraderie, but Benjamin had?
Two spirits already. Were there other versions of Benjamin? Three, to be exact?
What if the time stones worked on the same principle? From what we could tell, each housed a spirit. What if it was different aspects of the same spirit that had been split apart? What if Spectator was interested in the stones because of that, and not for time travel? Was there some way the stones could make Benjamin whole again?
“When did Benjamin get his powers?” Lily asked, interrupting my train of thought.
“Hard to say the exact day,” Mei Ling said, “but most historians guess it was in 1955. That’s when Dr. Sanders, one of the Calroes’ friends, was confirmed to have powers. Since he was the first person ever confirmed to even have powers, it makes sense that they got their powers around the same time.”
Lily leaned back against the plush couch. “Could the Calroes have really created something as powerful as the pendants in such a short amount of time?”
“That’s the thing that negates what the other historians think about when they got those powers. A lot of us suspect that powers have been around well before the 1950s, as evidenced by the occasional enchanted artifact that shows up with old carbon dating. But most of the ones we think might be enchanted are usually too worn out to still work, so it’s hard to say. So they may have had longer than formerly believed to create those pendants.”
I exchanged glances with Lily. There was a good chance the time stones were among those artifacts, and not that they’d been placed there by a time traveler. Even if the pendants had some effect on time, it was possible that they had other powers we couldn’t even begin to guess... but that Spectator knew. He obviously had some connection with the sphinx guardian.
“Mei Ling...” I started, “after Benjamin died in 1956, and his soul was split among the pendants, when was the next time he was seen? And when he was seen... was he the same person?”
She smirked. “You’re approaching the limit of your free info. Anyway, no one documented a meeting with him again until 2012... around the same time that the pendants might have first been reunited.”
“Why does it matter if the pendants were reunited?”
She shrugged. “An artifact hosting a spirit has to be whole for the spirit to exist. If the artifact is broken, they die... at least until it’s repaired.”
Lily’s eyes widened. “So that’s why they wanted the pendants back together so badly!” She stared at me, started to open her mouth, and then shut it quickly. “Remind me to tell you later.”
I gave her a confused look since Quin had already confirmed that they needed the pendants to finish the Legion Spore project, before it dawned on me that the reason for wanting those pendants back might have been two-fold. Spirits weren’t a fan of electricity. If Benjamin was housed in the pendants, he might have been wounded when I used the electric spear to wound Lady Winters and steal the pendant.
But, for the love of the Community, that shot down my idea of Spectator and Benjamin being different aspects of Benjamin. I’d seen Spectator before the Camaraderie had a chance to get all the pendants back together.
Unless, as we suspected before, he was a time traveler.
Mei Ling cleared her throat and smiled innocently. “Look... I can’t give away all my information for free.”
“But—”
Lily held out her hand, presumably to stop me from arguing. “Are you looking for any particular powers for your enchantments?”
Mei Ling delicately returned her teacup to the table. “What do you have to offer?”
“You know mine already. Kate is a plant elemental with enhanced speed.”
“Speed?” Mei Ling’s eyes lit up briefly before she returned to her usual calm demeanor. “Been a while since I had an enhanced speed user come through, but then... it’s not high on the list of requested powers. But I’ll tell you what: help me enchant a few pieces of silver, and I’ll spare a few more pieces of information.”
I glanced between Lily and Mei Ling, wary. “What exactly does the process entail?”
“You’ll feel like you’re using your powers, but you’ll be helping me enchant an artifact instead. You’ll be tired afterward, but it’s nothing terrible.”
“Will I still be able to use my powers?” I hadn’t gone through all this to lose my powers now.
Mei Ling laughed. “It’s not permanent. You’ll have full access to your powers by the end of the day.”
I crossed my arms. “How do you plan to use the artifacts?”
“Depends on who buys them.”
I twisted my lips. I didn’t want something I helped make being used for the wrong purposes. But, on the other hand, information was useful. I sighed. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
“Wonderful.” Mei Ling smiled. “We can create the artifacts and then—”
“Oh no, you don’t,” Lily cut in. “Information first. Then we’ll create the artifacts. I didn’t let you down last time, and I know how tired she’ll be after enchanting those things. I want her mind sharp.”
The two of them stared each other down, Lily with a determined glower and Mei Ling with a smirk, before the information broker finally bowed her head with a smile. “Fine. We’ll create the artifacts after this.” She turned to me. “Do you want to know more about the pendants or about spirits?”
“I already know that each of the pendants has a different purpose,” I said. “Ruby for power, emerald for growth... that kind of thing. But this flower charm seems to use a specific stone for specific powers. Are the pendants like that, too?”
Jim had several theories on what the pendants could do, and Quin had elaborated. But I had yet to find any real proof.
“The pendants are meant to be used as a whole, not individually,” Mei Ling clarified. “They’re a tool for alteration. Enhancing powers, slowing down time, making portals... they’re even used in the creation of beasts.”
“They’re what?” I gripped the edge of the couch, rocketing forward before I could stop myself. “How?” There was no way they could be used in the transformation of every beast. That was impossible. There were too many facilities for that.
“Huh. That struck a nerve.” Mei Ling stirred a cube of sugar into her tea. Took a sip. Taunted me with the fact that she knew something I didn’t.
Lily facepalmed before steering Mei Ling’s attention back to her. “How does that work? Their whole... involvement with beast transformation?”
Mei Ling smiled. “I can’t explain all of it; I’m not a pharmaceutical biologist. For now, suffice it to say that adominogen isn’t natural. It’s used to block powers, but it’s also a key component in the creation of beasts. Hence why an overdose of the drug causes people to act... beastly.”
I stared at her. Adominogen was used in beast creation? “How... how are the pendants involved?”
“Like I said, I’m not that kind of scientist. I don’t know the exact details. But at some point in the drug’s creation, the Camaraderie uses radiation from the pendants to give the drug the properties it needs.”
“So if you were to take the pendants from the Camaraderie,” I said, piecing together the information, “then they couldn’t make beasts.”
Mei Ling shrugged. “You’d have to wait for their adominogen stockpile to run out, first. Besides, they’ve probably found a way to make adominogen without the pendants by this point—unless they only need four pendants for the process, which doesn’t seem to be the case. Good luck getting those things away from them a second time. Ask Private Eye here... they’re not easy to get a hold of.”
Lily’s cheeks turned pink, but neither of us mentioned that I actually had managed to steal one of the pendants for a short time. Apparently Lily didn’t want to confirm that fact and, at this point, I wasn’t sure whose side Mei Ling was really on.
“Why do you think they only have four pendants?” I asked. “They had all five pendants when they created the Legion Spore. If they need all five pendants to create adominogen, they aren’t limited now.”
Her eyes widened. “How much do you know about the Legion Spore?”
Lily jumped between us. “I don’t think you’ve got enough information to pay us for that trade, okay?”
Mei Ling ran a hand through the back of her short hair and smirked. “Sorry, honey. Your information isn’t worth as much as you’re thinking. I could probably make a minor trade, if you really wanted to, but— “
For the love of efficiency—
“That wouldn’t be for us to give,” I said sharply. I wasn’t sure if it was or not and, to be honest, I didn’t care if we did give her that information, but I didn’t want to end up with another memory attack if I went into the details. “We’ll stick to the enchantments.”
She picked at her nails and shrugged. “Your loss. Anything else you want to know?”
I exchanged glances with Lily, then nodded. “Any chance you have documents with those details about adominogen and how the pendants are used to make it?”
Mei Ling snorted, probably annoyed that we weren’t sharing information about the Legion Spore. “Sure, if you don’t mind helping me make another artifact.”
Better that than another memory attack. “Deal.”
“Kate...” Lily twisted her lips. “Are you sure you want to do that? You’re already going to be exhausted from the first two.”
“I’ve finally got access to new information about how beasts are created. I’m going to—”
Lily rammed her elbow into my ribs and flashed me a glare that I was pretty sure meant that she wanted me to be quiet. She turned to Mei Ling. “At this point, we still have one more piece of information we can ask about, correct?”
She pouted. “Yes.”
Lily glanced at me, then back at our informant. “The pendants are known for slowing down time, and you said Benjamin’s spirit is tied to the pendants. Do you have any information that suggests he could control or travel time?”
Mei Ling shook her head. “Not that you haven’t already mentioned.”
I frowned. Benjamin had become a spirit. But most of the spirits I’d encountered, such as the sphinx and the dragon... those weren’t normal humans. They weren’t even real creatures. How had they been tied to their artifacts? I tugged at my flower charm, the thought nagging at me, burning at the back of my mind like I needed to ask. “Is it possible to create a spirit? Not simply tie a person’s spirit to an artifact... actually create one?”
Mei Ling blinked, then burst out laughing. “Oooh, now there’s a question us alchemist-enchanters have been trying to answer for decades. This will be your last bit of information until after you’ve made the artifacts and agreed to further payment. The short answer is yes. The long answer is that no one who tries knows what the hell they’re doing.”
She took a long drink of tea, and then sat the empty teacup on the table. “If an alchemist-enchanter wants to create a spirit, they need jade. That’s why part of my passphrase involves the jade rabbit. It’s long been told of the rabbit who served at Chang’e’s side, mixing an elixir of immortality and, traditionally, that’s what alchemists have searched for: eternal life.”
Immortality. How long could a spirit live for? Had Benjamin... an alchemist... been searching for immortality when he created the pendants? There was no jade involved with the pendants, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t succeeded on some other level. The dragon statue we’d encountered in Japan had jade eyes. Though I’d never seen its original form, the sphinx had green eyes.
Spectator also had green eyes.
Could Benjamin have created Spectator in an attempt to become immortal? Was that why there were two of them? Was that why Spectator was so fixated on the concept of a gamemaster? Because he had been created as a pawn in someone else’s game?
I stared at Mei Ling, unsure of what else to say or what else to ask. “Thank you,” I murmured. “That was helpful.”
Mei Ling smiled. “Good. Unless you have any more questions, why don’t we get started making those artifacts? I’ll bring in a few pieces of silver jewelry for us. The first one will be small, to give you a feel for what you’re doing. You can keep that one if it works; it won’t count toward our quota. Okay?”
I nodded, my mind numb from information overload. I needed to take time to process everything, to work out how everything connected.
Mei Ling left the room and closed the door behind her. Lily propped her elbow against the back of the couch. “Did you get what you came for?”
I now knew more possible ties between Spectator and the time stones, and while I hadn’t learned much new in regards to the pendants and time travel, I now knew a way to cut off the Camaraderie’s means of creating more beasts.
“I think so,” I whispered. “And possibly more.”
Possibly so much more.
