Wow had something that looked like a fishbowl, though as Nick looked at it, he realized he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen a fish bowl that was actually round. Most of them he could think of had two flattened sides and two rounded ones. This was a perfect sphere, except for the opening on the top… or maybe the bottom.
Wow set it down on a stand with the opening over a tealight candle. She lit the candle, and placed the picture of Karrie in a clip over it. Instantly its edges began to curl, and smoke began to fill the ball, writhing weirdly within.
Wow stared at the curling shapes, and then announced, “Three questions.”
“What is that, some kind of rule?” Nick asked.
“It’s how many questions I can get you from this picture,” Wow said. “If you had more of them, or a better one, you might have been able to get more.”
“Aw, hell… did that count as a question?” Nick asked.
Wow rolled her eyes.
“If it had, you’d be down to one now, wouldn’t you?” she said. “Three questions about your daughter, Mr. Brown.
“Hmm… did she… leave of her own volition, or was she taken?” Nick asked. It seemed important for him to know that.
“She went with her man under her own power, without threat or force,” she replied. He swore under his breath. She lifted her eyes from the smoky orb, and said, “Forgive me for saying so, but you’re asking questions like a lawyer, not a father, Mr. Brown. Are you looking to find her, or nail the bastard who took her from you?”
“How… how is she?” Nick asked, in a slightly contrite voice.
Wow consulted the ball.
“Not good,” she said. “Not hurt, exactly… but… drugs? Yes, something went very bad with drugs.”
“Is… is she…” Nick
“Wait!” Woe interjected. “Don’t ask that. I can find her for you alive, but only if we don’t know that she’s dead.”
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“I can find her for you alive, but only if we don’t know that she’s dead.”
I love it! And it makes perfect sense.
By the way, whenever I remember about the exactly 333 words in each chapter, I am impressed that you can do this without sounding contrived.
yeah, it’s a real accomplishment… though I still wonder WHY 333…?
I’m liking the feel of the story so far. The every day objects used in such outside-the-normal ways. Fishbowl scrying. Awesome.
Is Woe related to Schroedinger?
“Is Woe related to Schroedinger?”
Just about sums up my thoughts there. I’m very interested to see how that theme plays out.
I remember another story where the main character used, I think they called it quantum magic. every outcome of events possible did happen, he just chose the one he found more favorable. there could be similarities.
i love Woe!! i love the humour in this
This story is fascinating and I’m starting to like most of the characters.
And… …NovaSeer… …because trying to get a story out that’s twice as long, with Alexandra’s other workload would be beastly.
Browser crshed before I got to add this. *sob*
I really like Tribes. Even better than MU. Heh, you might say ‘It appeals to my interests’. I love urban fantasy, and dystopian futures as well. This kind of dark slightly grimy sense of life is like some sort of literary lure. Admittedly, we are only seeing one side of Jericho, there has to be another level of social strata, where people regularly drive Audis and make money.
We just don’t see much of it here. In many ways, Nick Brown reminds me of woshisname from Neverwhere, only tangentally connected to this entire other world living in the underbelly of things, but becoming more conneted as he experiences more. With him having been tribe, and leaving that part behind him, there are also more than a few shades of Hook in as well, especially with them both being lawyers.
Interestingly enough, despite this being a fantasy, it is not fantastic. More, I think, it is surreal, with the common juxtaposed with the fantastic. Fishbowl scrying. It’s that sense that I love too, combined with the point of view—everything is alienated, estranged, outside the common reference, both of each other, and us as the reader, but the style of narrative. With MU, it is deeply personal, each story is told, oberserved, we see most of the life through the viewpoint of Miss Blaise. Here, there is such a lack of intimacy, they don’t even have personhood until they introduce themselves, taking that first action.
I loves it. Thank you.