So You Want to Be a Wizard, New Millennium Edition (29 page)

Nita squinted up at the pinpoint of brilliance, unwilling to look away though her eyes leaked tears of pain. She’d thought, that afternoon, that living through the loss a second time would be easier. She was wrong. The tears kept falling long after the star went out, and the Moon found its light again, and the wind died to a whisper.

She got over it again after a while, and finally went inside to go to bed, unsure she wouldn’t have more of it to do when everything was dark and quiet. But But she was wrong about that too. Exhaustion beat down grief so fast that Nita was asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow under which she had hidden the
Book of Night with Moon….

*

The place where the two of them stood was impossible, for there’s no place in Manhattan where the water level in the East River comes right up to the railed path that runs alongside it. There they stood, though, leaning with their backs against the railing, gazing up at the bright city that reared against the silver sky, while behind them the river whispered and chuckled and slapped its banks. The sound of laughter came down the morning wind from the apartments and the brownstones and the towers of steel and crystal; the seabirds wheeled and cried over the white piers and jetties of the Manhattan shoreline, and from somewhere down the riverside came the faint sound of music—quiet rock, a deep steady backbeat woven about with guitars and voices in close harmony. A jogger went by on the running path, puffing, followed by a large black-and-white dog galloping to catch up with its master.

Are we early, or are they late?
Kit asked, leaning back farther still to watch an overflying Learjet do barrel-roll after barrel-roll for sheer joy of being alive.

Who cares?
Nita said, leaning back too and enjoying the way the music and the city sounds and the Learjet’s delighted scream all blended.
Anyway, this is Timeheart. There’s nothing here but Now…

They turned their backs on the towers and the traffic and the laughter, and looked out across the shining water toward Brooklyn and Long Island. Neither was there just then—probably someone else in Timeheart was using them, and Kit and Nita didn’t need them at the moment. The silver expanse of the Atlantic shifted and glittered from their feet to the radiant horizon, endless. Far off to their right, south and west of the Battery and past the Twin Towers, the Statue of Liberty held up her torch and her tablet and looked calmly out toward the sunrise as they did, waiting. Nita was the first to see the dark bulge out on the water. She nudged Kit and pointed.
Look, a shark!

He glanced at her, amused.
Even here I don’t think sharks have wheels…

The Lotus came fast, hydroplaning. Water spat up from its wheels as it skidded up to the railing and fishtailed sideways, grinning, spraying them both. On its wildly waving antenna rode a spark of light. Nita smiled at her friend, who danced off the antenna to rest momentarily on one of her fingers like a hundred-watt firefly.
Well,
Nita said,
is it confusing being dead?

Fred chuckled a rainbow, up the spectrum and down again.
Not very.
Beside him, the Lotus stood up on its hind wheels, putting its front ones on the railing so that Kit could scratch it behind the headlights.

We brought it,
Kit said.

Good,
said the Lotus, as Nita got the bright
Book
out of her backpack and handed it to Kit.
The Powers want to put it away safe. Though the precaution may not really be necessary, after what you did.

It worked? He’s changed?
Nita said.

Fred made a spatter of light, a gesture that felt like the shake of a head.
Not changed. Just made otherwise, as if he’d been that way from the beginning. He has back the option he’d decided was lost—to put aside his anger, to build instead of damn…

Then if he uses that option—you mean every place could be like this some day?
Kit looked over his shoulder at the city and all the existence behind it, preserved in its fullest beauty while still growing and becoming greater.

Possibly. What he did remains. Entropy’s still here, and death. They look like waste and horror to us now. But if he chooses to have them be a blessing on the worlds, instead of anger’s curse—who knows where those gates will lead then?…
The Lotus sounded pleased by the prospect.

Kit held out the
Book of Night with Moon.
Most delicately the Lotus opened fanged jaws to take it, then rubbed its face against Kit and dropped to all four wheels on the water. It smiled at them both, a chrome smile, silver and sanguine—then backed a little, turned, and was off, spraying Kit and Nita again.

Fred started to follow, but Nita caught him in cupped hands, holding him back for a moment.
Fred! Did we do right?

Even here she couldn’t keep the pain out of her question, the fear that she could somehow have prevented his death. But Fred radiated a serene and wondering joy that took her breath and reassured her and filled her with wonder to match his, all at once.
Go find out,
he said.

She opened her hands and he flew out of them like a spark blown on the wind—a brightness zipping after the Lotus, losing itself against the dazzling silver of the sea, gone. Nita turned around to lean on the railing again, and after a moment Kit turned with her. They breathed out, relaxing, and settled back to gaze at the city transfigured, the City preserved at the heart of Time, as all things loved are preserved in the hearts that care for them—gazed up into the radiance, the life, the light unending, the light….

*

The light was right in her eyes, mostly because Dairine had yanked the curtain open. Her sister was talking loudly, and Nita turned her head and quite suddenly felt what was not under her pillow. “You gonna sleep all morning? Get up, it’s ten thirty! The Sun went out last night, you should see it, it was on the news. And somebody blew Up Central Park; and Kit Rodriguez called, he wants you to call him back. How come you keep calling each other, anyhow?” Halfway out the bedroom door, realization dawned in her sister’s eyes. “Maaaaa!” she yelled out the door, strangling on her own laughter. “Nita’s got a
boyfriend!
”

“Oh, jeez, Dair
iiiiiiiine!
”

The wizard threw her pillow at her sister, got up, and went to breakfast.