"Are you stirring up trouble?" asked Samas walking up behind us.

"No. I'm just soliciting opinions," I answered.

His large drunken form teetered precariously over me. "How ironic, I was just about to solicit an opinion from you about my offer."

His question brought anxiety to the forefront of my clouded mind. "It's too soon Samas. I need some time to think about it and some space to breathe. I'll get back to you later, fair enough?"

"Agreed," he said with disappointment, before staggering off toward the ransacked banquet tables.

"What was that about?" asked Ramsay.

"A business proposal," I said, getting up. "I'll be back. I need to walk around a minute."

I placed the cane under me and stumbled from column to column toward the back of the room. Auda and Chance were the only players left at the table. The lesbian wine girl sat humbly in a chair next to the Egyptian, a defeated expression showing on her face as she watched the game, uninterested.

Mr. Ing hovered around the table looking at the players’ cards and perked up noticeably as Poppy walked toward him, a petite young woman walked next to her. I forced my eyes into a squint to make them obey. When they walked into the ring of torches circling the poker table I saw what it was about the young woman that had caught my eye. Her body and face were normal, but the back part of her head, the cranial cavity, was radically underdeveloped, giving her a distinctly alien, yet childish appearance, like having a human face on an ape's head if such a thing were possible.

"Is she for me?" Mr. Ing asked in an excited voice.

Poppy nodded seductively.

"Then you truly did bring something for everyone. Tell me where in the world did you find such a beautiful little pinhead?"

"Shhh," Poppy held her finger to her lips. “She doesn't like that word, use microcephalic."

Ing nodded knowingly. "What's your name little one?"

"Monika," she said in a happy childlike tone. "Are you drinking again?" she asked quixotically as though she'd known him.

A startled expression came over his face as he looked at Poppy then back at her. "No I'm not drinking, I've been good. Let me show you," he said stroking the blond hair on her abbreviated head as he led her off into the darkness.

"Evan! Evan!" Ramsay shouted hauntingly across the room's expanse. "We have a surprise for you."

I turned away from their disappearing silhouettes and made my way back toward the noise, wondering if what my drunken eyes had seen really happened.

The music had stopped and the entire crowd stood in a circle around the place of honor where I'd been reclining. I parted the crowd to find Kress standing over the two Gypsy girls I'd singled out earlier. They were both naked. Every member of the crowd had a Gypsy or staff companion on their arm.