A jackalope broke it down for me once:“It’s like—we’re all technically magicians, right? We’ve all got magic. But they took it for theirname.Imagine acting like you’re the only species who drinks water! Or breathes air! ‘Look at us! We’re the air-breathers!’”
Magicians think they’re the only ones with magic because they’re the only ones who can control it. All the other spirits and creatures have rules they have to follow—true limitations. But the magicians can do anything they find words for.
Most of what I know about magicians I’ve heard from otherMaybes. Speakers are hard to track down. You can’t just meet one by hanging out at the neighborhood watering hole. You can’t plant some yarrow and valerian and wait for one to drop by.
Usually you don’t evenknowwhen you’ve met one. They go out of their way to look Normal—which is such a mindfuck because they think ofrealNormals as livestock. Beasts of jargon.
Even if youdofind Speakers and identify them as such, they rarely feel like talking. They don’t want any of their power to trickle down. They don’t want anyone to learn their tricks.
I thought maybe these three were different. Theyaredifferent. What’s a vampire doing with a magic wand? What kind of devil is that Simon guy? (Is he a devil? Or just some kind of sphinx I’ve never seen before? There’s so much I haven’t seen.…)
But my no-scheme scheme isn’t working on them.
They’re going to lose me as soon as they don’t need me anymore. And then I’ll never know their story.…
We stop at a motel on the outskirts of Denver. I was worried about who we were going to send into the lobby—the black guy, the white devil, the Middle Eastern girl, or the pungent vampire. (Probably the white devil, right?)
But it’s one of those dives where every room has its own external door. The witch girl picks a room, puts her hand on the doorknob, and says,“Open Sesame!”It’s that easy.
Then she tries to magic the skunk funk off her friends. Both of them reeked of it when they got out of the truck.
I stand back and watch. “Do you have a tomato-soup spell? That’s the only thing that works on skunk spray.”
“Skunk…”the Simon one says. “That makes so much more sense than badger.”
Once we get in the room, the girl and the vampire collapse onto one of the beds together. (Which I did not see coming, but all right.) And Winged Victory settles on the carpet, against the door. (Maybe his kind doesn’t need sleep.) That’s when I realize I’m their prisoner. Which… fair enough. I’ve been in this situation before. I can still talk my way out of it.
Problem is, I still want to talk my wayinto it.
I sit down on a sunken brown couch. “I can take first watch,” I say after a while, when I think the girl and the vampire are asleep. (I didnotknow vampires need sleep; I’ve never gotten this close before. Maybe this one is a hybrid. Can you be half vampire? Can you catch a mild case? Maybe he’s one of the Next Blood. All the High Plains Maybes are worried about the Next Blood.)
Simon doesn’t answer me.
“I may as well take first watch,” I try again. “I’m still too wired to sleep.”
He sighs. “How’re you going to watch yourself?”
“I keep telling you guys—you can trust me.”
“Why should we?”
“Because I’m a good guy. And I like to help.”
“Because you’re a good guy…” he says. I can’t see his eyes in the dark. “What ifwearen’t?”
That is an extremely solid question. I’ve guessed wrong before.
“Try again,” he says. “Tell me what you want from us.”
“I want to know about magic,” I say.
“You already seem to know a lot.”
“I want to knoweverything.”
“Wedon’t know everything.…”
I’m sitting up now. “I want to know whatever I can. Why are you here? Are you friends? Are you a team? A family? What areyou? I’ve never seen something like you before.”
