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Besides that neon yellow bikini, he’d never seen her in anything but jeans and a tee-shirt. She wasn’t dressy the way he liked. He liked women with long hair, too, and hers was short.
    “Not any more.” She took a long drink that was full of fuck you . “I’ll get you another one if you want.”
    “I want mine.” He met her eyes, and that river of quiet that ran through her flipped him upside down worse than ever.
    She handed him his beer, and he took a drink, too, without wiping the mouth first. “Telos said some interesting things while you were busy ignoring us.”
    “Like what?”
    “Like maybe I’m trying too hard.”
    “Yeah?”
    She shrugged. “Yeah.”
    He drank more beer and handed her the bottle. “Take the rest of the day off.”
    She took the beer and drank. Without wiping the mouth of the bottle. “I don’t think that’s what he meant.”
    “Why are you bothering me with this?”
    She shrugged and handed back his beer. “I don’t know. Because even though you hate me–”
    “Angel, it’s not personal. I hate all humans.”
    “Same difference.” She eyed the beer, but he kept it because he knew it would bother her. “Maddy feels bad for me every time I fail. To be honest, it’s a little wearying. You’re not just going through the motions, but you also don’t feel bad for me when nothing happens.”
    “I don’t feel a thing about you.” He took a pull on his beer. “Except for not liking humans. Or witches.”
    “Sure.” She met his gaze. She was brave to be looking at him like that. “But you still want me to get better.”
    “Don’t get your hopes up. I swore an oath. That’s all it is.” It wasn’t, but she didn’t need to know that.
    She studied him for a while, and then took the beer. Because he let her. He watched her drink and thought about yellow bikinis and then about the lack of them. They switched off with the beer again. “The reason doesn’t matter, does it?”
    “So?”
    “So. What if it’s not because I can’t? What if it’s because I keep trying the way everyone says to, but it doesn’t work because that’s not how I am?”
    He leaned an elbow against the counter behind him. Well, shit. “Okay.”
    “Most of the street witches, when their magic comes on, if it does, they either cope, go insane, or die, right?”
    “That’s what I hear.”
    “I didn’t go insane or die.”
    He toasted her with his beer. “You’re a survivor.”
    “That’s right. I coped.”
    He stared at her. Really stared. Round face, but with cheekbones that made her interesting to look at. Big, dark eyes. Pretty eyes. Brown skin that looked smooth as silk. He’d do her in a minute, he really would, and since he was being replaced with Telos, he didn’t have to worry that dirty sex with her would fuck up everything else.
    In a low voice, she said, “I am not like other witches.”
    “No.” He blinked a couple of times, and everything shifted. All the off about her magic fell into a different place. “You’re not.”
    “I think” –She licked her lips– “I think maybe I’m like one of those optical illusions where you have to make yourself see the other image. Which way is the lady spinning? Is it two vases or one face? Some people look their whole lives and never see the other way.”
    “Show me.” He put down the beer. “Show me what you mean.”

six

    She’d have moved away except Palla was so vivid right now she couldn’t think straight. Palla, she knew, was formidable when he decided to pay attention to you. The way he’d decided to pay attention to her now.
    “Show me.” Flecks of color swirled across his eyes. She’d seen that effect dozen of times now, but it still took her aback. When his eyes were like that, he was holding power. Ready to use it, and like always, she could not feel it when any other witch would have. “Not like you’ve been doing. Do it the other way. Maddy’s not here, so you better give permission first. I don’t