Todd was the one who read to Letiche when Lanying and Auntie Chen worked on her hair. They had already dyed it pink and were now twisting it into long braids like Aaliyah. He only put the book down when Lanying brought up the big mirror. Letiche was usually quiet and inexpressive, which made the rare smiles from her all the more precious.

She was not the only one getting a makeover. Todd was not there to see it, but right now, Uncle Deimos was undergoing scarification. His torso would be inflicted with hundreds of deep cuts that would each be filled with smoke, clay, and oil. Todd was invited to see the process, but he turned it down in favor of sitting in an air-conditioned hotel room.

Now that Letiche was done, Chen opened the portal in the mirror that Lanying held up. Todd carried Letiche through the misty glass and exited out of the waterfall that Uncle Deimos was meditating under. The cuts were still open but they were bled out by the waterfall. Down the slope in front of them was a vast forest and river. Behind them was the tabletop mountain the water fell from.

“Where are we?” asked Todd through Little Birdie because waterfalls are loud.

“Devil’s Canyon, Canaima National Park, Bolívar State, Venezuela, Guiana Shield” said Uncle as he took Letiche into his arms.

“It’s beautiful,”

“I know, but I need you for what’s down that way.”

‘That way’ was down by the river. A villa tucked away in the forest.

“You can have a house in a national park?” asked Todd

“I want you to incapacitate that villa like you did in Tartarus.”

“Really? It’s pretty hot out here already. It’s a wide-open space. We’re so far away too.”

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“Does that mean you can’t do it?”

“No, just calculating out loud,” said Todd as he raised his open palm. The villa was engulfed in a chromatic haze that spread out to the perimeter of the clearing. Since the sun already baked this canyon, anything inside the haze would be broiled to the brink of heatstroke. After a moment, Todd lifted his hands away and the haze dispersed. “There, no one should be left standing after that.”

“Then let’s go,” said Uncle.

Uncle carried Letiche with him into the waterfall. Thankful that they weren’t going to walk down the rugged mountainside, Todd followed suit. They came out the other side into a dining room. A full dining table had collapsed in their seats, some onto their own meals, and spilled their drinks on the way down. The guards at the doors had tossed their guns away but were on the floor all the same. The maids dropped their platters a made a mess on the tile floor. The haze was gone, but the sweltering heat remained. Letiche was the only source of cool air in the villa. Todd picked up a pitcher of water and splashed it on the maid that they passed by.

“You didn’t tell me there were, like, normal people here,” said Todd as they went up the grand staircase.

“Are the guards not normal people?” asked Uncle Deimos.

“No, I mean, Yes, I mean, I thought I was just clearing the way.”

“The way has been cleared.”

“But Auntie already had the portal lined up. So she must know the place already, right?”

“She does.”

“Do you know the person living here?”

“I do,” said Uncle as they came up to a grand door.

“So why did you need me to do this!?”

“Because they already know what I can do. They need to see what you can do,” said Uncle.

Uncle slammed the door open. Inside, a whole security detail was tearing off their clothes and gasping for air. The pink mist that perfumed from Letiche was their only reprieve. At the desk at the end of the room was a man in a tuxedo. He was gasping for air like the rest, and his panting quickened at the sight of Uncle. The man pushed off the desk to sit up straight.

“Bertucci, Bertucci,” said Uncle, as he touched the globe on the desk, “you already know what this is about.”

“If-if” Bertucci was still catching his breath and wiping his brow, “if you had asked, I would have given you anything.”

“I shouldn’t have to ask. I gave you everything and all I needed in return was one thing.”

“She’s harmless. I didn’t think—”

“I didn’t ask you to think,” Uncle brought his fist to Bertucci’s ear then unfurled it, “Tell us where she is.”