“Is that the only time you’re quiet? Because this is the first time you’ve shut up since I woke up.”

Houjin stopped and turned around. “Why do you care? You haven’t been listening.”

“I’ve been listening some. But now you’re mad, and it’s making me squirrelly.”

“I’m not … mad,” he argued, calculating the worth of the word, and discarding it. “I’m worried.”

“About me?”

“Hell no. Something else. I’ll tell you later.”

Rector said, “Fine,” and this time when Houjin continued down the hall, Rector followed him. He caught up and found himself worrying, too, but not knowing why. There were so many goddamn things to worry about in this place, it was hard to tell them all apart.

Houjin reached a pair of huge metal doors, painted with a mural that looked fresh from a museum, with seals, orcas, and eagles presented in shimmering pastels. He would’ve stopped to stare, but Houjin pushed against the doors and they split down the middle, cutting the scene in two.

“Yaozu’s quarters are this way. They used to be Minnericht’s, but Yaozu moved in when Minnericht died.”

“Took over the guy’s home and business both, did he?”

“Look at this place. Wouldn’t you?”

The floor was marble, peppered with lush rugs in a variety of bright colors. Rector wasn’t sure if he should step on them or not; they looked foreign and expensive. Then again, if you were going to put something on the floor, you had to expect people to walk on it, didn’t you?

Guided by this rationale, he quit avoiding the rugs and started watching his surroundings. He noticed for the first time how high the ceilings were, and how they were covered with ornate tin tiles. “This place,” he observed, “is too pretty to be underground.”

“Underground people don’t deserve pretty things?”

“I didn’t say that. I meant it’s unusual. Don’t get your dander up.”

“I don’t know what that means,” Houjin admitted.

“It means don’t take no offense, ’cause I didn’t intend any.”

“All right, I won’t. And … we’re here.”

They entered a large room with a fireplace and a table that might’ve been used for dining if it hadn’t been covered with books and candles. A pair of reading spectacles were folded neatly atop a stack of papers.

“We’re where?”

Houjin answered vaguely. “This is where he takes visitors. I’ll be waiting in the lobby.”

“The lobby? Where’s that?” Rector didn’t like the soft tremor of panic in his words, but there was nothing to be done about it now.