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Who wouldn't want to know* It's just that there doesn't seem to be any way of knowing without someone else's paying for it, someone who didn't want to get involved at all.'

'Does it have to work that way?'

'Perhaps not. But it always seems to. One person has already been killed for that charm, which was certainly crafted as a way to enter into the springs of the sea.'

'I think,' said Thales, 'that people just don't want to die.'

'I think it's more than that. A Promethean longing. Why should the gods hog fire for themselves? Particularly as nongods feel the cold so much more keenly. Why do you keep staring at me?'

Thales was taken aback. 'What?'

'Particularly when you think I'm not looking.'

'I ' Thales's gaze moved nervously around the room, avoiding the Doctor, finally settling on the table top. 'I'm sorry. I haven't meant to be rude.'

'No offence taken, but I would like to know why. Do you recognise me from somewhere?'

'I thought perhaps I did.'

Where?'

Thales raised his rheumy eyes. 'Do you think we've met?'

Thales didn't seem familiar to the Doctor at all. Not that that meant much.

'We might have, and I might not recall.'

'Perhaps we haven't,' Thales muttered. 'Perhaps it wasn't you.'

'When?'

Thales gestured vaguely. 'In a dream? I don't know. I thought I knew your face. Never mind. Why were you asking all those questions earlier about Dupre?'

'I've been invited to one of his little gatherings later tonight.'

'Oh; said Thales. 'Oh dear. Well I don't think you'll get any diseases or anything like that.'

'That's reassuring.'

'It's a waste of time, though.'

'Time,' said the Doctor, 'is something I have a lot of.'

Chapter Seven

This Party's Dead

Rust took Anji to a little bar and restaurant in the lower quarter with a sign out front of a carved alligator, smiling and sated. Inside, the walls were brick, the floor was ballast stone and the music was lively and loud. Rust found a table by the big front window, whose wide sill was set with a dozen different bottles of red and green hot sauce.

'Too loud for you?' he yelled. He leaned across the small table and spoke in a more normal tone, 'This OK?'

'Fine!' she said too loudly, then, quietly, 'Fine.' She looked around. Jammed in a far corner, the band made up in volume what it lacked in size. The musicians were both black and white, and so, although white by a large majority, was the clientele. Though there wasn't much room between the tables, a few people were dancing happily, some by themselves. A large blackboard on the opposite wall listed the menu.

'It gets livelier later on,' said Rust, as if apologising for dragging her to a dull party. "There's not so many people eating, and they move the tables to the side.'

'Great,' said Anji, then added hastily, 'Not that it's dull now.' Oh, this was silly. She was acting like a girl on a first date. She was a sophisticated adult. She could make conversation. She looked around again, coolly, and heard herself say, 'They certainly build a great deal with brick here.'

Apparently not noticing what a dorky remark this was, Rust said, 'Well, there's no stone in the area. A bad fire a couple of hundred years ago took care of the oldest wooden buildings. They built with wood uptown - that's the upriver end of the city. Some damn fancy houses'

With relief, Anji found a topic of conversation. 'I visited a plantation today.'

'Which one? Oak Alley? Laura?'

'Laura? I love the names here. Those streets named after the muses. And Perdido - that means "lost", doesn't it? "Lost Street". Sounds like a map error.'

Rust smiled. 'Not "lost" as in "misplaced", "lost" as in "lost soul". This is a Catholic city. So which plantation did you see?'

'I don't know the proper name. It was ruined, just some brick left. It's referred to as "the drowned plantation". Do you know about it?'

Rust frowned slightly. 'Where is it?'

'Down 90, about half an hour from town. On the right. You don't really notice it if you're not specifically on