In the bathroom of Senator Macht's house.
Klein was debating whether to relieve the pressure from all the drinks he had consumed or wait another minute or two when Will Auceptin's usual baby form appeared in the mirror.
With little time to spare, Klein skipped the pleasantries. He told Will that the "buyer" who wanted his umbilical cord blood had offered terms for an exchange.
Wrapped in silver silk, Will asked in a clear voice, "What are they?"
Klein recalled his meeting with Bernadette and said, "Two offers. You can choose either one.
"The first is a look at the Wheel of Fortune card. The second is a way to briefly recover some of your strength while you're weak."
Will Auceptin fell silent for a second, then chuckled. "So it's Bernadette.
"My hunch was right. I'll get something good out of this."
Then he sighed. "What I'd really like is a third offer: help me get rid of that stupid snake."
"She?" Klein froze, immediately catching the implication in Will's words.
Will clicked his tongue and said teasingly, "Bernadette became a Sage a few days ago... Don't you read the papers?"
As if a newspaper would report on an Angel. What reporter would have the nerve? Despite his silent grumbling, Klein thought back over the recent news and The Tower's request for protection on Tuesday. "The Trier Earthquake?"
"So you're not completely in the dark... Without Bernadette and your friend Abner, at least a hundred thousand people would have died in Trier. And because she stopped a catastrophe involving a high-level existence, Bernadette advanced to Sequence 2." Will sucked on his finger as he spoke.
Startled, Klein couldn't help asking, "What exactly happened there?"
"How would I know? I'm not a Beyonder of the Omniscience Pathway... I can only see