From her hiding place, Kite could hear her voice, magnified by magic.
“I bring a message from the children,” Clytemnestra announced, floating up into the air.
The sound waves were so strong that Kite felt them rattle across her essence. The other creatures felt them, too. Carriages screeched to a halt. Witches froze on their way to or from the Coven, arranged on the steps like statues. They turned to watch the abomination, who was crackling with energy, with electricity, eyes glowing like flames. She looked like a demon-angel, a baby monster. Her voice was strong and could not be ignored.
Kite knew Clytemnestra had been working on the spell for a long time. This message would be heard throughout the world.
Every witch would know what happened here today.
“The rule of the Coven is ending. The children have risen, and we bring chaos, freedom, and anarchy. When the Witch Lord is ready to meet our demands, she can find me in the Labyrinth. We are not afraid,” she went on, “and we are no longer in hiding. Welcome to the end of the world — and the beginning of a new one.”
A glint of bluegreen in Clytemnestra’s hand began to sizzle, the strand of hair going up in the smoke. The trigger.
The main square exploded.
Thirteen
THE HEALER
The bike was waiting for them. Tav let their hands run over the leather seat, inhaling the scent of gasoline and lavender. Their Kawasaki Vulcan 900 was their most prized possession. Tav’s cruiser was reliable, loyal, and it got them where they wanted to go. It was black and chrome, with an aquamarine mermaid spray-painted on the fender. Cam liked to make fun of the design and had taken to calling the bike “your girlfriend,” “Starbucks,” and “Ariel.” “Ariel” was Cam’s favourite. Tav liked to think it was a reference to Shakespeare’s imprisoned spirit in The Tempest, but Cam insisted that was an affront to both Hans Christian Andersen and, more importantly, to Disney.
To Tav, the sea monster was a masthead, and a symbol of their freedom. Their bike was their ship, and it turned the city into an ocean. It opened up the world to them, offered the freedom and adventure that Tav imagined explorers used to have when they risked their lives sailing the seas to discover faraway shores.
But while those fifteenth-century voyagers had carried genocide and slavery with them, Tav would carry vengeance and justice.
A sliver of guilt cut through the pleasure that riding always gave them. They had left Cam behind, again. They knew he hated that. Tav didn’t want Cam anywhere near the Hedge-Witch’s manipulations or machinations. But they had another reason for leaving him at the apartment — they wanted to be alone tonight. The apartment was crowded with bodies and magic and feelings, and Tav needed time to breathe before the next attack.
It felt like a very long time had passed since they had last gone for a midnight ride with their thoughts. Sometimes when they were anxious, it helped to talk it out with Cam over a beer or an espresso. But not even Cam could help Tav with the burden they now carried.
The bike purred to life, and Tav sped off into the night, following the familiar pathway to The Sun, letting nostalgia mingle with heartache. The moon was slipping into a waxing gibbous, shadow and light coming together on the surface of the dead rock. It was beautiful.
Flashes of memory burst through the solitude.
Eli’s waist under their hands, her skin soft and warm.
The made-girl’s breath in their ear, whispering their name.
Foreheads pressed together, yellow eyes burning with intensity.
Tav’s knees tightened around the bike, a shiver wracking their body. Tav had dated around and was well known in the queer scene. They’d had crushes on dozens of girls, taken them on dates and kissed them in the back seats of their moms’ minivans, got lipstick stains on collared shirts. It was fun, and exciting, and Tav had spent their fair share of nights thinking about ripped jeans and a sharp collarbone. But nothing had lasted long, had ever meant much. Tav slipped in and out of relationships like jackets — a new one each season.
They had never felt this way about anyone before.
Maybe it was the weight of growing up different, of growing up sharp as a needle, but Tav never let anyone get too close. Tav learned to smile and laugh while their nails cut half moons into their palms; learned how to flirt and tease and buy shots for pretty girls. Learned to shrug it off when the girls left with their white boyfriends or girlfriends. And since the ghost, since discovering magic was real, they’d stopped showing up at the gay bar, stopped going to drag shows, and cheering on their exes at roller derby. The only people they saw were Cam and the Hedge-Witch. They’d even started avoiding their parents, not wanting to deal with the disappointed looks and tense hugs.
With Eli they could be themselves. They could be angry, sad, flawed. They were allowed to want impossible things. They were allowed to do impossible things. And the way Eli looked at them when they used their magic — like they were special, like they were someone Eli wanted to touch, or maybe taste.
That look kept Tav up at night.
A few bats fluttered overhead. Tav liked the company of other nocturnal animals. They had never been very good at sleeping, had often gone for walks at 3:00 a.m. It was the safest time to go walking alone.
Eli wanted Tav. But maybe it wasn’t them at all. Maybe it was just the magic she wanted to fuck. Maybe when the wounds between worlds had been healed, Eli would go back to the City of Eyes and leave Tav behind. Maybe when
