The Flamingo

I walked into the Flamingo last night. Even just this one casino was huge. I didn't know if I would be able to find anything. Everything was bright and opulent, but the people there seemed...used to everything, as if they didn't want to seem like rubes or tourists.

I walked around, looking at various places where I thought the clue might be, but had no luck. Finally, I decided to go to the roof, thinking that it was at the very top of the Griffith Observatory, so it might be the same here.

I walked into the elevator and pressed the top floor. On the second floor, a man wearing a seersucker suit walked in. He stood next to me and pressed no button. "Sola gratia," he said with a soft voice. "Grace alone. Are you alone, Grace?"

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Names don't matter," the man in the seersucker suit said. "Not when everyone has so many of them. They become things to be used and discarded. Needless to say, I am an associate of your friend the Jester."

"Not my friend," I said. "So you have the clue?"

"I do," he said. "And I will give it to you."

"So why you personally?" I asked. "Why not just leave it somewhere, like last time?"

"Ours is not to question why," he said, "though I suspect they wanted you to meet me, to know that not all of her servants are as...chaotic as the Misfits. Some of us are even subtle."

"So you're a servant of the-"

"Just call her the Wooden Girl," he said. "That's as good a name as any. And yes, though I am one of the few that has a degree of autonomy. Like the Jester. That's why my movements aren't as orchestrated as the Misfits were."

"So you serve her willingly?" I asked. "How?"

"You misunderstand me," he said. "I have a degree of autonomy. I am still entangled by her strings. If I didn't want to give you this note, I would have to do so anyway. Doing things this way is just easier on myself. To resist her is to resist the tide or the wind. If you bend with the wind, it will go far easier than if you stubbornly fight against it and break."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Everything has a reason, Grace," he said. "My reason for being here is this." He handed me an envelope. The elevator dinged. "Good luck, Grace," the man in the seersucker suit said and then walked away.

I opened the envelope and took out the note. On the front it said:

Grace:
I Scream Before Normalcy
9780375703768


I opened it up and this was written on the inside:

33:14,28,1,3,8
157:5,12,17
299:10,9,17,40,14
127:4,8,21,17,1
431:14,24,22
417:16,10,21,4,32

Grace,