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I have been known to say that the devil gave me my first violin It’s not even a lie

So far, the tap tap is the only hint that this puppethere, but on closer exa from his jacket pocket like a handkerchief And on it,faht Now, seize the devil It is forhad left any real doubt For a ht wrap aroundout of a fairy tale, and the city looks strange and new and full of secrets, shadows as sharp as if they’re laid down in paint, and light…light like haloes and phosphorescence, fireflies and ani its crossbar off theframe, and I wonder: What now? I runNothing I even take out the little handkerchief note, but there are no other words on it There seeh, so I ease open the drawstring and look in I half expect there to be a tiny child curled inside being abducted to hell, but there’s only paper Of course, when I draw the paper out, it is not ‘only’ paper Nothing about this night is ‘only’ or ‘just’ Everything is gilded and strange and ethereal, and so this is an origaold I turn it over, looking for writing on it and finding none, and have just concluded that I have to unfold it when…

…it takes flight

It takes flight

The origami butterfly lifts into the air, and I could almost tellit between s beat once, sending it into a graceful upward spiral so that I tipastonishingly alive…and then it’s apparently released by whatever power lifted it, and it floats back down to me

I’m almost afraid to catch it – ho did it do that? How did she do that? – but I do catch it It’s a trick, I tell ic’ – the kind in quotes Of course Because that’s the only kind of ic there is

There’s a string tied to it or so that puppeteers know about, and which has now vanished, leaving no trace Vanishing puppet string Is that a thing? I don’t think that’s a thing I turn the butterfly over and over infor an explanation, but there’s none to be had Well Except one

Magic

The kind not in quotes

A little war come s – not out of any deter: My brain is an inhospitable environment for belief, but I’ve always said – and reallyif those unseen things were real (and dragons, too, please), and of course death would be less of a bummer if there were a heaven (hell not so ht now, though, to soree, it feels like the pH balance inneutralized Hopeful self is sitting on rational self’s chest

I unbutton the devil puppet’s coat If there’s a radio controlinside him, the natural balance of my mind will be restored If not, who knows?

Under the coat I find a wire are The puppet’s body is a se, and where his heart would be there is a tiny yellow canary on a bird swing, rocking gently to and fro I wouldn’t be surprised if it chirped, or flew It doesn’t, though, and I feel through the rest of the puppet’s clothes for soht account for that tap tap of his leg at the glass, but there’s nothing He’s wood and wire, just a puppet, and that tapping leg just hangs froe, no internal control device at all Only the puppet strings could have s were slack

Curious (You know, if curious means ‘impossible’ or ‘freaky’ or…‘indelibly awesoht or solobe that’s been shaken, and glitter is swirling around in it like unmoored stars

I unfold the butterfly On the white underside of the origami paper I find a rhyme and a s poison as bait,

ood at riddles The Devil’s Stream is the canal where the Vltava flows around the Kampa, the island on the Malá Strana side of the river As for ‘my counterpart,’ it could mean Zuzana’s counterpart, but I don’t knoho that would be If it’s the devil’s counterpart, though, it would be an angel, so I search el in that area but co poison as bait,’ I coood at riddles after all Fortunately, there’s the schematic, which shows a street, a tiny red X inscribed on it A new destination, right back the way I just ca the devil in the crook of

Her

8

Thank God for Murdered Monks

He came

He caht, I sag against the wall ofplace – behind a lace curtain in the foyer of the building across the street – feeling as spent as if I’ve actually been conjuring spells and not just holding colored beads betweenbreath

Mik came to find et too flustered around hi like sustained eye contact, and without that, it’s kind of hard to gauge interest But watching hi like a creepy serial killer, I could actually focus on his face long enough to believe that…he looked interested Didn’t he? Well, he always looks interested, he’s that kind of alien, but just now he looked…dazzled