together.”

“Kill them, you mean.”

Mae took a deep breath and thought of the magician she’d killed for Jamie, thought of the bloody knife she’d washed and kept in a drawer she never opened. Then she thought of why she’d done it, and whether the nightmares were worth it.

“Yes,” she said steadily. “That’s what I mean.”

Nick and Jamie would both be safe, and Alan and Merris would not be able to make choices that would ruin them.

Sin gave a tiny nod. “I just wanted to be sure you knew that.”

She tapped her fingers against the top of the kitchen counter, and then fished her phone out of her jeans pocket and tossed it at Mae. Mae caught it neatly.

“Put your number in it,” Sin said. “I’ll ask some people. And I’ll let you know if we have a plan.”

Mae remembered Jessica the messenger, and that she had known how Mae danced at the Goblin Market. A tourist could have talked. Or there might be a spy at the Market. “Be careful who you talk to.” Sin nodded as if that went without saying.

Sin’s phone was plain and cheap. Mae thought of her own phone, which slid open and was tiny, shiny, and covered in stickers with slogans and castles and cupcakes on them. Sin loved Merris. She had no mother.

She was risking so much more than Mae was.

“Thank you,” Mae said.

She keyed in her number and then threw the phone back to Sin, who caught it and smiled, one of those beautiful showpiece smiles, as if she was throwing Mae a red flower.

“Don’t thank me,” she said. “Just keep your part of the bargain.”

When Mae went back into the garden, she found Jamie curled up like a cat in the grass.

“I think I would like to go to sleep,” he said.

“Come on,” Seb said, sliding his sketchbook into his pocket and offering Jamie a hand up. “I’ll take you home.”

They drove home in companionable silence, the engine humming and the sun shining through the windows. The air had turned amber and slow as honey, and Seb was humming as he drove. Jamie was lying down in the backseat, his breath slow and regular, and Mae half shut her eyes against the sunlight, her lashes cutting up the world into shadows and gold.

Seb pulled up outside their house, wheels crunching on the gravel, and he reached out and touched her hand.

“Mae,” he said, and she looked down at his tanned arms with the shirtsleeves rolled up and went still. “I wish every day could be like today.”

“Hold off on the making out until I’m out of the car,” Jamie said hastily, diving for the car door.

They did not kiss. Mae sat staring at him.

Word on the street is that Gerald’s invented a whole different kind of mark, Jessica the messenger had said. Thorned snakes, eating their own tails.

You’ll find the answer on the body of a boy you know quite well, Liannan had said, and laughed.

Now she knew why Seb always wore long sleeves.

The mark that meant the wearer was a magician, and one of Gerald’s, was burnt black against the pale flesh inside Seb’s elbow.

18

The Girl’s Guide to Battle

Seb gave her one horrified look and then shoved her out of the car. Mae rolled into her driveway and sprang to her feet too late to catch Seb. All she got was a spray of gravel in the face.

She turned and ran into the house, up the stairs, and into the music room.

“Jamie!” she said, and he winced and looked up from the sofa with guilty eyes. “Did you know Seb was a magician?”

“Yeah.”

“And you didn’t tell me. Why?”

Mae could hear how hard her voice sounded, how unforgiving, and she could see how distressed Jamie looked, but she was so sick of being stupid, and he’d as good as lied to her.

Again.

“Same reason I didn’t tell you about me.”

“Well, I don’t understand that, either!” Mae said hotly. “You told me right away when you figured out you were gay. I thought we told each other everything.”

“It’s not the same!” Jamie almost shouted. “Being gay doesn’t hurt anybody. This does!” He took a deep breath as she stared at him, then swallowed and went on shakily, “I remember how scared I was you’d find out about me.

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