orenda [leo valdez]

ix. Piper is Abusive but Right

When the rest of the group finally woke up, Kira just wished they would go back to sleep.

Jason ordered that they keep moving, though, so they packed up their camp, and moved towards the south tunnel.

It seemed to go on forever, and Kira was started to wish she had gotten some sleep. Leo offered to give her a piggy-back ride, but Jason had given her a look, and she just blushed and said no.

They found polished steel elevator doors, each one engraved with a cursive letter M. Next to the elevator was a directory, like for a department store.

"M for Macy's?" Piper guessed. "I think they have one in downtown Chicago."

"Maybe it's for Maniac Who Wants to Kill Us?" Kira offered, but no one agreed.

"Or Monocle Motors still?" Leo said. "Guys, read the directory. It's messed up."

Parking, Kennels, Main Entrance: Sewer Level

Furnishings and Café M: 1

Women's Fashion and Magical Appliances: 2

Men's Wear and Weaponry: 3

Cosmetics, Potions, Poisons & Sundries: 4

"Kennels for what?" Piper said. "And what kind of department store has its entrance in a sewer?"

"Or sells poisons," Leo said. "Man, what does 'sundries' even mean? Is that like underwear?"

Jason took a deep breath. "When in doubt, start at the top."

Kira groaned.

The doors slid open on the fourth floor, and the scent of perfume wafted into the elevator. Jason stepped out first, sword ready.

"Guys," he said. "You've got to see this."

Kira touched her ring, watching it grow into her trusty sword.

Piper joined him and caught her breath. "This is not Macy's."

Kira gave Leo a look before they joined the two of them side-by-side.

The department store looked like the inside of a kaleidoscope. The entire ceiling was a stained glass mosaic with astrological signs around a giant sun. The daylight streaming through it washed everything in a thousand different colors. The upper floors made a ring of balconies around a huge central atrium, so they could see all the way down to the ground floor. Gold railings glittered so brightly, they were hard to look at.

Kira saw normal stuff like shirt racks and shoe trees mixed in with armored manikins, beds of nails, and fur coats that seemed to be moving.

Leo stepped to the railing and looked down. "Check it out."

In the middle of the atrium a fountain sprayed water twenty feet into the air, changing color from red to yellow to blue. The pool glittered with gold coins, and on either side of the fountain stood a gilded cage—like an oversize canary cage.

Inside one, a miniature hurricane swirled, and lightning flashed. Somebody had imprisoned the storm spirits, and the cage shuddered as they tried to get out. In the other, frozen like a statue, was a short, buff satyr, holding a tree-branch club.

"Coach Hedge!" Kira cried.

"We've got to get down there." Piper said.

A voice said, "May I help you find something?"

The group jumped back to face a woman. She wore an elegant black dress with diamond jewelry, and she looked like a retired fashion model—maybe fifty years old. Her long dark hair swept over one shoulder, and her face was gorgeous in that surreal super-model way—thin and haughty and cold, not quite human. With their long red-painted nails, her fingers looked more like talons.