Traven shakes his head.

“I give up. I don’t care about the world or any of this anymore.”

“You were right,” says Nefesh. “He is a sentimentalist. Okay. I’ll tell you. Up in the lobby. Is there still a Christmas tree?”

“Yes,” I say.

“That’s where the Qomrama is. The ornament at the top of the tree.”

“Merde,” is the first thing I hear, then more curses echo around the room.

“I told you you’d hate me,” says Nefish.

I really want a drink.

“So, we could have been in and out of here in twenty minutes?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“This really is a nightmare,” says Traven.

“Keep it together, Father.”

I go to Candy and wipe off the last smears of blood on her face.

“Okay. The fucking thing is on the tree. How does it work?”

Nefesh comes across the surface of the water to the steps and walks out of the pool.

“Oh. I don’t think I’m going to tell you that.”

“It’s not going to do us much good against the Angra.”

“We’ll see if they make it this far. I’m not convinced. If they do, maybe then I’ll tell you.”

“All of this is very interesting,” says Vidocq, “but we’re lost. We’ve come a long way and have no idea how to get back to the lobby.”

Nefesh points out to the spa area.

“Just go up the broken escalator, then up a set of stairs. You’ll be right there.”

“That’s impossible,” say Traven. “We must have come down at least eight floors to get here.”

“You went through the old tunnels? Down those funny spiral stairs? Did you happen to notice that there’s some strange magic lingering around this place?”

Candy says, “Maybe that’s why Aelita left the Qomrama in here. It’s easy to get in but hard to get out.”

“That’s part of it. But I think the chapel might have been calling to her,” says Nefesh.

“What chapel is that?” I say.

“On the other side of that wall is an adorable little chapel that was supposed to be used for weddings.”

“Wed in a shopping mall. How wonderfully American,” says Vidocq.

“It’s why I like the baths. They’re right next to the chapel. And part of the wall is missing, so I can ease out into the ocean and drift among the seaweed and fish from time to time.”

I say, “I don’t get it. There’s a fast-food wedding factory so Aelita decides to leave the most valuable object in the world?”

“No. I think what called her is the chapel inside the chapel. Some clever boots brought in stones from an ancient Angra temple and built a small shrine to one of their gods right into the chapel wall.”

“The shrine called to Aelita and the Qomrama without her knowing it,” says Vidocq. “I wonder if whoever built it also built the spiral stairs?”

I say, “Do demons come through the shrine?”

“All the time. Another reason remaining incorporeal is convenient.”

“I wonder if they collapsed the mall. The Angra might not like a Burger King on their sacred soil.”

Nefesh shrugs.

“Who knows with those things? Ancient gods. Mysterious ways. If I can’t figure it out, how could you?”

“Are you going to rot down here or pay Mr. Muninn a visit?” I say.

“Now that you busybodies have found me, I don’t suppose I have any choice.”

“Do you know where your brother Chaya is? You might tell him to go to Muninn too.”

“If I knew his whereabouts, do you think I’d tell you?”

Candy pulls on my arm.

“Forget it. Let’s go.”

I follow her for a few steps and turn back to Nefesh.

“Every time I meet one of you little Gods, it’s a ray of sunshine on a rainy day. Thanks for keeping the streak going.”

We head back to the lobby to find the broken escalator. We’re almost to the door when I hear Nefesh clear his throat.

“Thanks for the cigarette, Sandman Slim. And by the way, when I said one of you isn’t what he seems, I wasn’t talking about the mechanical man.”

“What does he mean?” says Traven.

“Forget it. He’s fucking with us because it’s all he can do. Play around in our heads. He can go to Hell or rot down there. Either is fine by me.”

NEFESH MIGHT HAVE been playing mind games when we left, but he told the truth about the way out. Up the dead escalator. A U-turn onto the stairs and we’re back in the Gothic rain forest of Kill City’s main lobby. The Christmas tree is straight and huge, a fungus-covered evergreen where there should be a giant banana palm or kapok.

“What do we do now? Nefesh said the Qomrama is all the way at the top,” says Traven.

Candy looks at me.

“You’ve used it before. Can you summon it or call it down or something?” she says.

My gut aches. I’m dizzy but I don’t want the others to know right now.

“Even if I knew how, I don’t think I have any hoodoo left in me.”

“You’re still here,” says someone from across the lobby. “I thought you’d all be gone by now. Or dead.”

It’s Hattie. Her tattered robes are in even worse shape than they were before. Her hair is wild and dirty. Her face is scratched.

She says, “Are there any Shoggots left?”

“A few, but not enough for you to worry about. Sorry about your kids.”

She nods.

“So am I. You’re trying to get up the tree. Why?”

“The thing we came here for is at the top.”

She smiles at us like the fools we are.

“You come all this way to end up back where you started. Ain’t that a kick in the backside.”

“It’s a kick, but I was thinking somewhere else.”

She looks Vidocq and me over.

“You’re too big to climb it. It’s rickety. You’ll bring the damned thing down on top of us.”

“I won’t,” says Candy.

She looks up the length of the tree like she’s climbed it a million times.

I say, “That’s fifty feet. You sure about this?”

She zips up her jacket. Pushes back her hair.

“Can any of you grow claws?”

“Take this,” says Vidocq. He hands her a white filter mask. “I thought these might come in useful. You don’t want to breathe any of that foulness into your lungs.”

“Thanks.”

Candy flips up her jacket collar and heads for the tree. On the way, curled claws extend from her hands as she goes Jade.

“Brave girl,” says Hattie.

“Yes. She is.”

“Foolish.”

“You live in a garbage dump, lady. You don’t get to pick and choose who’s a fool.”

The tree creaks as Candy climbs. Shaggy branches shake, sending down a storm of pine needles, dust, and fungus. I cover my eyes and mouth but still get a mouthful of the gritty, dirt-flavored mess. The others choke and go into racking coughs around me.

I look up through the bad air. Candy is climbing along the trunk, so I can’t see her, but the moving branches show me where she is. Jades are fast and strong. She’s already more than halfway up. The top of the tree sways as she gets higher. Wood snaps and pops in ways that inspire anything but confidence. Branches and glass ornaments crash to the floor.

“Are you all right?” yells Brigitte.

“Don’t bother,” I say. “She doesn’t talk when she’s Jaded out.”

The tree stops shaking. A branch at the top moves. There’s something silver on the end. The branch bends back toward the tree trunk.

“She’s found it,” says Hattie.

The treetop sways as Candy goes farther out onto the limb to drag it backward. There’s a loud crack and the whole top of the tree comes loose like it’s on a hinge, slamming into the lower branches, upside down but intact. Something falls through the branches. Not falls. Shoots like a bullet and crashes into the lobby floor, kicking up shards of marble and concrete like shotgun pellets.

I run to where it came down, not breathing. Not thinking. My head swims as I go. I stumble but I don’t stop.

In a crater two feet wide and three feet deep lies the 8 Ball. The others crowd around me. I look up at the tree. Branches shake, but this time they’re headed down. A few seconds later, Candy emerges from under the tree and sprints across the lobby, turning back to herself. She’s covered in a fine film of dust and spores and her hair is matted with pine needles. She runs her hand through her hair and shakes her head like a dog, sending dust everywhere.