Chapter 25

Carl, Donut, and Mongo leave the ghommid village and travel southwest through Havana toward the suburbs, collecting cards and searching for saferooms while preparing for an upcoming Faction Wars planning meeting. They discover that Mordecai has secretly hired attendants for the vulnerable changelings, including Ruby, spending over 1,000 gold per day from their funds.

Carl reassures Donut about their plan to help Katia reach the flower, though he acknowledges the tiara's constraints remain a concern. Donut reveals that Samantha is trapped in a spider's web and that Prepotente is lonely. Carl learns they have only hours before a Faction Wars planning meeting on the ninth floor. The group heads southwest from the ghommid village, consulting a tourist map to navigate Havana. Donut mentions she blocked the catgirl nun-killer after sending her threatening messages, which Carl warns could drive her into hiding. Carl notes his new fire-step boon from Emberus but worries about its safety. They travel through the city, kill low-level mobs for cards, find a clear freeway stretch, and use the royal chariot to move south quickly through the suburbs. In a saferoom that appears to be a coffee shop run by a bopca named Vitasy, Carl asks about Desperado Clubs and is directed south. Zev warns them the meeting is five minutes away. Upon entering their safe space, they find Mordecai with a pink bow and lipstick smudged on his face. After Donut teases him about makeup application, Mordecai reluctantly admits he cannot see his own reflection due to being a cyclops. Carl notices strange modifications to hand controllers and learns Mordecai has secretly hired six attendants—the vulnerable changelings including Ruby, the armless girl from the fifth floor—at a cost of over 1,000 gold per day, paying himself from their supply budget. Despite Donut's confusion and accusations of embezzlement, Carl approves of protecting the changelings, though he insists they discuss it further upon returning.