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“It’s all right,” Sin whispered She held the fruit up to Mae’s lips and said, “Taste”
Mae leaned forward, ue, cool and sweet as a promise of love or adventure
“And now you’re feelingwith a wink and popping a piece of fruit into her own mouth
“Can I have some more?” asked Mae, and was startled: That hoarse voice did not sound like hers
“No,” said Sin “You ate too much last time You were all messed up”
Mae re with Nick in the shadow of trees, her whole body straining into his
Sin shook her head as if she could read minds “Nick always needed more than the rest of us,” she said softly “Guess noe knohy”
Because he wasn’t human, and he had never cared about Mae
Sin tucked her knife into the sheath that must have been hidden under the frail white dress, which looked as if it concealed nothing but Sin’s body, and that not terribly well She sainst her back pleased her
“So let’s see if you can really ian “Let’s dance”
Theout of nowhere until Mae saw the ruined wall Drummers were hidden there like an orchestra concealed in a pit; other people were playing the guitar and the flute, all the instrue blend of harmonies There were three people in front, and they were all singing different songs One was about Tintagel, and one about the Goblin Market—the chorus was “Co a stream of nonsense words Mae didn’t even understand
“Taw, Cenio, Tah, as Sin took Mae’s hands in hers
Mae expected the She led Mae into the su but separate, their hands joined over the place where their circles met
Mae felt the difference as soon as she entered the circle; the ground beneath her feet changed soed with electricity and she had to balance along a hu was louder now Mae wasn’t able to make out any of the words It had all becoled with the sound of the sea
Sin winked at her again and let go of her hands
“I call on the shadow in the forest who lures travelers to die far fro with all the other sounds, i her lover back to bed “I call on the dream that turns people from real love and warm skin I call on she who drinks blood and rises from the ashes I call on Liannan!”
As Sin spoke, she began to dance, and the lines within the circles began tolike the spokes on bicycle wheels, and Mae had to move with them The blurred lines shone beneath her, and she felt as if she had gone dancing on the web of ropes after all, dancing balanced above a dark abyss, just a stu destruction
Hair lifting in the night wind, Mae grinned
Sin was spinning in the corner of her eye, a blur of white silk and white fire, better than Mae could ever be, but that was all right Nick had been better too Seeing so so as not only beautiful to watch, it was exhilarating and inspiring It was a challenge
The lines between the demon world and the human spun so fast that they see haze like a veil between the worlds A veil that could be torn The circle seemed al beneath Mae’s feet The singing sounded almost like a distress cry, tense hush had fallen on the audience, and Mae could hear her own and Sin’s harsh breathing forether
Mae put her hands up over her head the way Sin had on the cliff edge, added a hip sway just for fun, and danced
The dance caht or a piece ofas the pulses in her own body slowed She stood panting and thinking that she’d loved doing it, that she loved the whole Market, and she kneay to keep any of this
She’d alerous and overwhel from the point where their circles touched and blazed fire
The deoddess wrapped in a shi cloud
Then lowing around the de in a cloud bank
Mae had never seen a demon who appeared as a woman before
She didn’t look much like the demon Mae and Nick had summoned last time Mae had seen Anzu twice, and both tiolden beauty under a shadow of rage and wings and claws
Liannan was soft and shining and lovely, her red hair drifting around her as if it was a second cloud, dyed fiery shades by a sunset nobody else could see Her eyes glealass balls waiting to tell Mae’s fortune
The talis like a bee trapped under her shirt That hen Mae noticed that Liannan’s skin hite not in the way human skin hite, but in the way paper or china hite, too slow of her hair suddenly seerew to lure their prey
“It’s the beautiful dancer again,” said Liannan “And you brought a little friend”
Mae felt disoriented for a moment after she spoke, and then realized why: Mae was used to hearing people use tones when they spoke, use real voices But Liannan wasn’t talking to Mae, not really The ic was The lines of co Mae knohat the demon meant
All demons were silent, except one
“I’m not that little,” Mae snapped, and then realized she possibly shouldn’t be talking back to a demon
Liannan’s eyes swung to her She shtly, her mouth a vivid red slash in her white face, like blood on snow
“If you’re not happy with your body,” she said, tracing the outline of Mae’s shape in the night air, “I’ll take it off your hands”
Her fingersit, and after an instant in which Mae could not quite process what she was seeing, she recognized why: Liannan’s fingers were icicles, catching the fairy lights and reflecting them back in a dozen brilliant colors, sharp as blades
“Think I’ll hold on to it for a while,” she said, a little breathless Unexpectedly Liannan was reaze sometimes felt like this, as if you could hold time while your heart ran a race “Thanks”
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“It’s all right,” Sin whispered She held the fruit up to Mae’s lips and said, “Taste”
Mae leaned forward, ue, cool and sweet as a promise of love or adventure
“And now you’re feelingwith a wink and popping a piece of fruit into her own mouth
“Can I have some more?” asked Mae, and was startled: That hoarse voice did not sound like hers
“No,” said Sin “You ate too much last time You were all messed up”
Mae re with Nick in the shadow of trees, her whole body straining into his
Sin shook her head as if she could read minds “Nick always needed more than the rest of us,” she said softly “Guess noe knohy”
Because he wasn’t human, and he had never cared about Mae
Sin tucked her knife into the sheath that must have been hidden under the frail white dress, which looked as if it concealed nothing but Sin’s body, and that not terribly well She sainst her back pleased her
“So let’s see if you can really ian “Let’s dance”
Theout of nowhere until Mae saw the ruined wall Drummers were hidden there like an orchestra concealed in a pit; other people were playing the guitar and the flute, all the instrue blend of harmonies There were three people in front, and they were all singing different songs One was about Tintagel, and one about the Goblin Market—the chorus was “Co a stream of nonsense words Mae didn’t even understand
“Taw, Cenio, Tah, as Sin took Mae’s hands in hers
Mae expected the She led Mae into the su but separate, their hands joined over the place where their circles met
Mae felt the difference as soon as she entered the circle; the ground beneath her feet changed soed with electricity and she had to balance along a hu was louder now Mae wasn’t able to make out any of the words It had all becoled with the sound of the sea
Sin winked at her again and let go of her hands
“I call on the shadow in the forest who lures travelers to die far fro with all the other sounds, i her lover back to bed “I call on the dream that turns people from real love and warm skin I call on she who drinks blood and rises from the ashes I call on Liannan!”
As Sin spoke, she began to dance, and the lines within the circles began tolike the spokes on bicycle wheels, and Mae had to move with them The blurred lines shone beneath her, and she felt as if she had gone dancing on the web of ropes after all, dancing balanced above a dark abyss, just a stu destruction
Hair lifting in the night wind, Mae grinned
Sin was spinning in the corner of her eye, a blur of white silk and white fire, better than Mae could ever be, but that was all right Nick had been better too Seeing so so as not only beautiful to watch, it was exhilarating and inspiring It was a challenge