Titans of Chaos

He was wearing her sunglasses when he returned and, without a word, he passed them to me.

"I could have just closed my eyes, you know," I said crossly. "I can see through my lids."

"Gross," opined Vanity.

In a higher dimension, where no mortals could see, I opened my hypersphere and jarred it to set itringing. The concentric pressure waves of not-light radiated out in four directions, fillinghypervolumes rather than volumes. In the sudden gleam, I looked.

"The buildings are interconnected. Two dance floors with lights and lasers. A bar. Basementrooms contain refrigerators, wine cellars. There are offices on the top floor."

"Can you see through lead? Look for a safe," suggested Colin.

"Are you an idiot? I am looking over the sides of things. It doesn't matter what they're made of."

"Anyone look like a god?" Colin asked. "They have ichor inside 'em instead of blood."

Victor said, "Leader, I just noticed the electromagnetic aura concentrated here dropped. Thesignatures are consistent with the standing-wave phenomena Quentin manipulates. Magic."

"Dropped, meaning... ?"

"Something just went away, or reduced output. Doesn't look like a threat."

I winced and bit my lip. In the higher plane, I folded my hypersphere back into a disk, feelingfoolish. "Boggin warned me to be cautious. I might have scared Archer away. If he sees in thefourth dimension, he just saw a spotlight passing over his house here, or if he has a Phaeacian...

Vanity, is anyone looking at us?"

Vanity was signing an autograph for a young man who mistook her for Lindsay Lohan. He wastrying to wheedle her phone number from her when Quentin stepped between the two, letting hiswalking stick rap threateningly near the boy's feet and allowing her to disengage.

Vanity said, "Amelia, that is the dumbest question since the question mark was invented in 500

a.d. Every man here is looking at us, comparing us to his date, and every date is sizing us up, too.

And the boys are staring, wishing they were men. So, yes, a lot of people are looking." She turnedand waved at several tall men in tuxedoes, who were smiling toward her. Over her shoulder, shesaid, "If there is a sniper on the roof, I can't tell, not in a crowd."

Then we were at the front of the line. The doorman was dressed in Lincoln green, with a peakedcap on his head and a clipboard in his hand. The Merry Man effect was jarred by his sunglassesand hearing aid, which made him look like a Secret Service agent from a movie.

"Names?"