Until. Until Kite stole her name from the human world on her coming-of-age quest and joined the Coven. Until Eli had become the deadly ghost assassin she had been designed to be. Then the dreams and plans stopped. One day, Kite would rule the world. One day, she would be the person Eli was running from, instead of to. The ache in Eli’s chest grew.
“Any final questions?” The lightness had returned to Cam’s voice, although he kept his eyes on his coffee. “What kind of moustache wax I use? Why I have a Darth Vader night light in the bathroom?”
She turned the mug around in her hands. It had a picture of a walrus on it and read “You Arctickle My Fancy.”
“Why do you need to get inside the Coven?”
“I’m sorry.” He looked down. “I can’t tell you.”
“Another hex?”
He shrugged sheepishly. “The Hedge-Witch doesn’t trust you.”
“Smart woman.”
Back to the City of Eyes, to the Coven, to the truth about her creation, and maybe her future. The knives at her waist glittered with anticipation. She shouldn’t have been excited, but she was.
“Fuck,” she said and finished her coffee. Cam was smiling. He felt it, too. “You may not be able to tell me your goal, but I want to know your plan up front,” she said, turning to face him. “Any surprises, and I’m out. I may just be a weapon, but I’m a nearly flawless one, and I know this world. You don’t. I want all the details you can give me. And once we’re in the City of Eyes, I’m in charge. I’m not following your orders.”
“Understood.”
“Good.” She rose and took Cam’s half-finished cup of coffee from him. She could get used to having coffee every morning. To giving orders instead of taking them. The thought made her dizzy with possibility — she was strong and alive and a little out of control. Focus, she told herself. “Take a shower. Get dressed. And then we let you make your mistake.”
Seventeen
Tav was waiting for them at an all-you-can-eat sushi bar.
“I ordered two of everything,” they said.
Cam grabbed the tablet and tapped rapidly on the screen. “You know I only like salmon rolls.”
Tav rolled their eyes. “You better eat fast.”
“Don’t I always?”
The server was already bringing over trays of food. Eli stood, feeling awkward and out of place under the bright lights of the restaurant. She was amazed at how much time humans spent eating. Their organic bodies needed a lot of energy to survive. Eli ate sometimes. But she also suspected parts of her body photosynthesized while other parts just existed.
“Sit,” said Tav to Eli. “I promise I won’t make you take a blood oath.”
“Just a saliva one with a runaway witch.”
Tav shrugged. “She makes great espresso.”
“Where did you stay last night?” asked Cam between mouthfuls.
“The Hedge-Witch let me crash. She thought it might be a little tense at our place.”
“Wait,” Eli broke in, glaring at Cam. “This is your roommate?”
“Only for the last eight months or so. Great place, right? So much character.” Tav smoothed their spikes into place.
Understanding dawned on her. “You don’t work for the Coven.”
“No.” Cam had the decency to pretend to look ashamed.
“The Hedge-Witch sent both of you to recruit me. It was a trap.”
“Hey, you could have said no,” said Tav. “It’s not like we kidnapped you.”
“Well, you could have told me the truth last night,” she told Cam. “Or this morning.”
“I thought you’d be less angry after you ate,” he said. “Salmon roll?”
Eli pushed the plate away. “You caught yourself a witch’s pet. Congrats. So, what’s your plan?”
“Do you have the key?” asked Cam, glancing at Tav.
Tav leaned back, putting their hands behind their head. “Have I ever let you down?”
“Well, there was that time at the poetry reading —”
“That was one time!”
“We were tracking a ghost.”
“She had a full leg tattoo, Cam.”
“My point exactly. You get too easily distracted by pretty people.”
Eli didn’t like where this conversation was going. “Then I guess it’s a good thing none of us are particularly pretty,” she said. “The key to where?”
Cam reached for another salmon roll. “To where? To your world, of course.”
“Of course.”
Tav leaned forward, elbows on the table. They were wearing the same scuffed leather jacket. It had tassels. On anyone else it would have looked ridiculous. Eli found herself leaning in to catch the sound of their voice.
“The Hedge-Witch doesn’t think we’re being tracked, so the Coven won’t be expecting us. Were you followed?”
“Please.” Cam popped a piece of fish into his mouth.
“Did you bring the supplies?”
Cam nodded.
Tav turned to Eli. “Do you have everything you need?”
Eli smiled. She thought of the bone and pearl blades that resonated with the sound of her body. They were glamoured to be invisible, but the weight on her hips and waist was comforting. She felt the affinity between things, the meeting of the animate and the inanimate. She felt power humming through her bloodstream. “I am everything I need.”
“That’s the look,” said Tav, “that drew me to her.” They spun their keys around their fingers once, a flash of silver, and then gone. It felt like a sign.
Eli’s heart was racing in her chest. It was like the first time she had killed a ghost. Back when her understanding of death and heroism was shaped by reading Harlequins and Sailor Moon manga the children stole from the human world.
“Can we go now?” Cam’s plate was empty.
“Not yet. I have questions for the assassin.”
“Is this the interrogation?” Eli raised one eyebrow. “You didn’t bring any tools.”
“I don’t need any. If you want to get back to the witches’ world, you’ll answer them.”
Eli leaned across the table, picked up Tav’s plate, brought it to her mouth, and took a bite. After she chewed and swallowed, she smiled at Tav. “Then I hope you ask the right questions, human.”
If Tav was disconcerted, they didn’t show it. They narrowed their eyes at Eli. “How did you get to be stuck in the human world?”
Eli’s spine stiffened. “I failed.”
“You let the ghost go?”
Clark Kent glasses with broken lenses. Feathers falling like snow. Sirens. “I couldn’t find the mark.”
“Have you failed before?”
Eli fixed them with a fierce stare. “I’m an assassin. We don’t fail.”
“Except you did.”
Eli glared at them but said nothing.
“So, you can’t go back, not really, until you complete the mission.”
Eli hesitated and then nodded. “Until I kill the mark.”
“And the mark is a ghost?”
Eli hesitated. “I am a ghost assassin. I was made to kill ghosts.” Even to her own ears, the words sounded flimsy.