The Flight of the Silvers (Silvers #1)(21)

The moment Amanda looked into her coal-black irises, an emergency barrier sprang up in her mind. She refused to find the woman familiar.

The stranger launched from the wall and walked a casual circle around Amanda. “Look at you, my pretty rose. How tall you’ve grown. How red. Did I foresee this? I believe I did, though now I spy you black in many futures. The color doesn’t suit you.”

Amanda’s heart pounded. She took a clumsy step toward the utility door. “Listen, I need to—”

“You don’t remember me, flower? It hasn’t been that long. Or perhaps you choose to pretend.”

Amanda noticed the woman’s strange inflections, her over-pronounced d’s and t’s. Whether it was an accent or an affectation, Amanda didn’t know. She didn’t care. The vault was open now. She remembered.

The woman shined a crooked grin at Amanda’s gaping revelation. “Ah, now she recalls.”

“Who the hell are you?”

“Ask me nicely,” the stranger insisted. “Ask my name.”

“What’s your name?”

“None of you ever ask my name. Thirty-three circlets and not a single . . . Wait, did I not give you your circlet?” She scanned Amanda’s bare wrists, then winced at herself. “Forgive me, child. I grow careless at the end.”

Like a skilled magician, the woman rolled her wrist and produced a large metal loop in her hand—a thick silver bracelet, shiny and featureless. She deftly balanced it on the tip of her finger.

“It’s so exciting. I’ve seen a terminal fold before but never from the surface. The air crackles with ionization. I should really take samples. Esis.”

“What?”

“My name. My first name. I’d tell you my last name, but my wealth insists on guarding it. He overplans, as always.”

“Look, uh, Esis—”

The bracelet fell to the concrete. Amanda watched it roll in a circle and settle on its side. By the time she looked up again, Esis’s expression had completely changed. The smile was gone. Her dark eyes narrowed. Now she glared with furious umbrage, as if Amanda had just spit on her.

“You stupid, stubborn girl.”

Esis grabbed ahold of her hair. Her voice dropped two octaves.

“Why do you have to be so difficult? Why can’t you do what you’re told?”

Amanda writhed in her grip. “Let go of me!”

“Do not entwine with the funny artist. I grow tired of telling you this. You entwine with your own, you won’t be a flower. You’ll just be dirt.”

“Let GO!”

Amanda broke free and stumbled back to the wall. She pointed a trembling finger at Esis. “You’re insane.”

“And you’re ungrateful. I save you and save you, and yet you never follow the strings.”

“Just leave me alone!”

“Not yet.”

“Fine. I’ll leave.”

Amanda hurried back to the building. She felt a sudden hot breeze along her side and heard what sounded like a flat drumroll. Before she could process the new stimuli, Esis stood right in front of her, blocking the door with her limber form.

“Not yet.”

Amanda jumped back with a shriek. This woman just moved twenty feet with the speed of a gasp. That’s not the kind of thing crazy people do, her muddled thoughts insisted. That’s the kind of thing crazy people see.

“What are you?”

With a coy smile, Esis slung her ponytail over her shoulder and stroked it like a pet. “A wife. A mother. A French Canadian, by ancestry. Oh, and I’m a doctor. Unlike you, I finished my schooling. Curious how you and your sister both dawdled on this world, living far beneath your potential. Perhaps on some level you knew it didn’t matter. This is all just prelude.”

Amanda’s whole body trembled. She took another step back. “Please leave me alone.”

“I will,” Esis replied with new empathy. “But first you need to don your circlet. It’s rather crucial. In three minutes, you’ll know why.”

A thin white tendril suddenly sprang from Esis’s palm. Like a frog’s tongue, it seized the silver bangle on the ground, yanking it back into her grip. Amanda’s eyes bulged with horror.

The bracelet split apart into four floating corners. Esis gently guided the pieces over Amanda’s fingers, tickling her with static. They reunited around her wrist with a loud metallic clack. The seams melted away. The bracelet contracted to fit snugly over her skin.

Amanda fought a high scream. “W-what is this?”

“A life preserver,” Esis replied. “That’s twice I’ve rescued you now. I don’t expect your thanks, being as ungrateful as you are. Just remember my warning about the funny artist. He’s not for you. Silvers don’t entwine with Silvers.”

She swept her hand in a lazy circle. A round white portal bloomed on the concrete wall.

A half moment passed before Esis’s upper half abruptly resurfaced. “Sorry, child. Forgot to mention. Don’t move. You’ll want to stay at ground level. Trust me on this.”

Amanda pressed her palms to her wincing eyes, trying to will the universe back into order. By the time she dared to look again, Esis and her portal were gone.

She huddled against the wall and pressed her crucifix to her collarbone like a broken call button. There was no divine wisdom to be found on the other end of the line. Suddenly her Lord had nothing to say.