Ann sat down on the bench beneath the overpass. She seemed unconcerned about the dust and city grime. 'The important thing to do now,' she said as if continuing some other conversation, 'is to decode what Bridget said.'
I sat down, stretching my legs out. 'She said that even she didn't know what she meant.'
She stared up at the grey concrete overhead. 'The blood was the blood of the Maiden, the Virgin. A girl's first menstrual period. She said that it was the First Blood and linked it to the cycles of the Moon. That was pretty explicit. The cramps I experienced confirms that. Severe menstrual cramps, and I'm nowhere near my own period.'
I nodded politely and watched the traffic speed by. I wasn't too interested in women's medical problems.
'Dell,' she said finally, 'We're going to encounter a lot of things that seem strange or inconsequential on the surface. We have to be aware of
The phenomena that a lot of people call `magic' consist of methods to unlock selected portions of the human mind. Once open, these parts of the mind can perform astonishing feats and induce powerful changes in the outside world. After what happened to us, you can't deny that there are certain people who can see things that others can't.'
I didn't like it. It sounded too self-consciously mystical. 'I could still be tripping on the drugs,' I said.
'Not many people see an RTD bus stop on acid.'
'Could be a bum trip.'
'Dell-just because most people can't integrate a variable across an interval doesn't mean that a mathematician is a magician simply because he can.'
'It would have a thousand years ago.'
'Yes, but we see the difference now. The mathematician has merely been trained to use a part of his mind in a specific manner. A... whatever you want to call her-a witch-is trained to manipulate a different set of symbols for the same purpose: to understand and utilize nature.'
The bus arrived. I flagged it down.
Ann stood and stretched like a gold and turquoise cat. She wasn't concerned with any reply I might have made. We were both tired.
The bus lumbered off the freeway and slowed. It was an aging thing, wary of its movements. It hissed and grumbled to a halt, its brakes creaking like old muscles.
Ann paid for both of us. I picked seats near the rear exit. The only other passengers were an old woman behind the driver and a young bum behind us. The old lady wore a rotting brown cloth coat and held a paper bag full of paper bags to her chest. She muttered quietly to the outside world, damning it for her grief.
The young man sat reading a trashy pornoplaque, the cleanest thing about him. Sweat stained his denim jacket in twin circles under his arms. He chewed on something that occasionally dripped past his lips into his ruddy beard, disappearing from sight.
After several minutes of uncomfortable silence, Ann asked, 'Do you believe in god? Really believe?'
'No. It wasn't part of my upbringing.'
'Do you believe in satan?'
'It's a package deal, sister. I don't believe in either one. If I need to see the devil, I only have to look as far as a local precinct house where a cop beats out confessions. Or a government office where nicely dressed agents take your money to line their pockets. Or the city streets where some punk would kick his grandmother's head in for a quarter.'
'Humanity's not all that bad, Dell.'
'Sure,' I said, 'I know-somewhere there glows the pure fire of truth, reason, justice, and hope.' I drew a cigarette from my pack and lit it. 'I'd like to find it someday.'
The old lady at the front looked at me and pointed at the No Smoking sign. She coughed into her hand, looked at it, and wiped it on her coat.
Ann didn't notice. She smiled at me. 'You may have your chance yet.'
'Yeah. And pigs may fly.' I gazed out the window. 'Speaking of which, that police helicopter's been circling Van
