Page 60 - DivineSparkRising II-TheMirrorofSilenceFinal

Divine Spark Rising
out her hand in that polite European way, as if
stopping an acquaintance to ask the time.
Her palm was mirrored.
Carolina grabbed Henry’s sleeve. They moved
as one, the choreography of people who had run
together before. The woman’s mirrored palm
caught a reflection of a shop window reflecting
another reflection. It was ridiculous and beautiful
and lethal. The air around her smoothed.
“Don’t meet her eyes,” Carolina said. “Listen to
your feet.”
The woman spoke backward gently. The words
did to Henry’s stomach what a ferry does to a man
who never was meant for boats. A clock behind
them ticked and the clicks fell into a different
pattern—two short, one long—like a code for sleep.
A bus whooshed by and threw spray into the
woman’s face. She did not blink. People wah-wah-
wah’ed around them like a radio between stations.
Henry picked a sound on purpose—the scratch
of his zipper—and followed it through the air.
Carolina did the same, tapping her metal pen
against her analyzer: tic-tic— pause—tic-tic. Sera
would have made a better song of it, but they did
what they could.
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