Dancing on the Sky

Part One - "Grid of Misery"

Chapter One - "Angels Would Fall

Author: Mizzy

E-mail: PG-13

This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Diane Duane, and various publishers. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Summary: Grief can be a hard thing to come to terms with, sorrow can be a recalcitrant adversary, and hope is the hardest thing to find in the middle of a storm when all you can do is dance on the sky and hope for the best.

Author's Notes: Many thanks to my beta Destiny, who has made 'Dancing on the Sky' a little easier to read, and a whole lot more American sounding.

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The garden of the Callahans' house was falling into a state of disrepair. Nita's father still kept his job of landscaping gardens, to keep the money flowing in and keep the household ticking as much as possible, but their own garden—once a glorious testament to Mr. Callahan's talent—was now as much of a state of disrepair as the weed-covered back garden of their next-door neighbours.

Nita could hear the plants' pain as she walked up the narrow path that led to their front door, and usually kept that trip as short as possible. It was an extra ache on her soul, but one she couldn't bear to deal with. A lethargy which had plagued her since the funeral still washed over her, and showed no signs of letting her rise from its strengthening hold. She'd tried to struggle at first, knowing her mother would have wanted her to be happy, to be able to do what she did before, but she couldn't. She was too tired to do anything any more, and although a tiny part of herself was bursting to break free, the rest of her remained solemn and untouchable.

Dairine had seemed to get over the shock the fastest. The tiny, powerful wizard had locked herself into her room, using her desk to barricade anyone coming in, and had sobbed violently for an entire week before appearing to be as cheerful as before. She'd lately taken to doing various things to cheer her father up, and it seemed to be working. Their dad had been coming more and more out of his shell every day, prompted by his youngest daughter's more optimistic look on life, but just as prevented by his eldest's pessimistic cloud that followed her around everywhere she went.

The truth was, Nita was drowning, falling in her own grief and sorrow, and it was if she couldn't remember how to swim any more.

Shifting her pile of books and homework to one side, and staring at the clock perched on her wall for a long second, Nita pushed away from the desk and got to her feet. Bending down and pulling on her sneakers, she grabbed her windbreaker from the back of the door and slid it on; feeling the reassuring and equally damning weight of her manual in the front pocket of the light jacket. She'd taken it out last night, sitting in the coolness of the clearing she'd discovered her Wizardry in, all those months ago… Right now, she'd been wishing she'd let the book stay in the library, and had returned to her normal life even with the bullies. Surely it wouldn't have hurt so much as this did now…

She'd taken her manual out into the comforting arbor of trees and bushes to practice a little. After a harrowing dream which had plagued the half-hour of sleep she'd actually been able to snatch, she'd been scared that she'd lose her wizardry through lack of use. Just because it had been of no use once didn't mean it wouldn't be useful another time, and Nita didn't want that to happen, for something even more terrible to happen just because she wasn't prepared.

That, of course, got her thinking about what could be more terrible, and she shook herself violently, not wanting to tread down that path . . . Ed, Fred, her mom . . . Too many people were being lost, and Nita remembered with stomach-churning horror the events in Ireland and had to cling to the edge of her chair to stop herself being too dizzy. Loss was something, the manual said, that had to be dealt with. The One's damage raged still and constantly across the universe, and if she hadn't known Timeheart existed, Nita didn't know if she'd be able to cope with it at all.

Looking always towards the heart of time. . .

Timeheart was the only place she'd ever felt quite so at rest, where she'd felt the peace the same as when she'd walked into the huge New York library and stepped reverently along the polished floor, her footsteps echoing in the hanging silence of the building.

Resting her wrist against the edge of her desk, Nita pulled up her left sock that had managed to wrinkle and fade under the top of her trainers, and, pushing her wallet into her pocket, pushed open the door. Feeling faintly hungry, but unable to face the weak smell of some kind of casserole floating up from upstairs, she figured she might run for a while, and maybe pick up a hot dog somewhere.

Moving into the hall, Nita was surprised to see Dairine shuffling out of her room and standing there in front of her huge Lord of the Rings poster that decorated her door rubbing her eyes and looking fatigued.

"Hey, Dari," Nita said lightly, not trusting herself to say anything more. Dairine stopped rubbing her eyes and blinked slowly back at her sister, looking smaller than ever in a baggy promotional T-shirt for Scooby Doo: The Movie and looking as if she hadn't slept at all.

"Nita," Dairine acknowledge swiftly, taking in her sister's apparel quickly. "You going out?"

"No," Nita replied, feeling more than little frustrated, "I'm going to jog around the living room in circles."

Dairine pulled a wry face at Nita's sarcasm. "At least one thing hasn't changed about you. You gonna go see Kit? 'Cause I have a box of dog biscuits." She frowned at her sister's expression. "Don't look like that, Neets, they were giving away free samples yesterday at the mall."

"Hm," Nita replied indifferently. "I suppose I can drop it by."

Dairine narrowed her eyes for a second, and Nita thought she was frowning for a long moment until there was a soft pop! and a small box of Butcher's Chicken-Flavored dog biscuits appeared out of nowhere.

"Show off," Nita muttered fondly, reaching out, taking the biscuits and ruffling Dairine's hair before turning her back and starting down the stairs.

"Dad's doing casserole, I'll save you some if you're hungry later," Dairine called softly. "Don't eat too many hot dogs."

Nita flicked a two-fingered insult in her sister's direction as she disappeared out the front door and pulled it shut behind her. Wrapping her jacket tighter around her shoulders, and staying still on the main step, she let her gaze drift around the drooping plants, and the golden leaves gently splayed all over the path. Fall was one of her favourite seasons; although the world was dying a little in preparation for the new biting cold of winter, the entire world seemed ablaze in the fall months. Golden browns and yellows and orange in a blaze of colour that swept across the horizon and seemed to liven up the slow life of the suburban areas of Long Island.

Lowering her head, Nita pushed past the plants and their wounded cries for help, and hurried round the corner of the block until her house was out of sight. Checking the low position of the sun in the sky, and placing the time at nearly 5 pm in the afternoon, Nita stayed still, undecided as what to do. The manual suggested keeping in top physical condition for any future wizardry, and Ronan, in his rare letters from Europe, had told her how he'd taken up jogging every day. Nita almost wished she lived in Ireland, with its green roving countryside and the beautiful accents, and then was glad she lived in America. America was, as yet, uncorrupted by wizardry, and the stains that magic left on the area weren't so widespread as in older countries. Mind you, with the amount of wizardry she'd been doing lately, it wouldn't be so much of a problem. Kit would have felt restricted by the restriction of wizardry—he had felt restricted in the tumultuous events there—he was more of a free spirit, like Nita in so many ways, and enjoyed the freedom of life as well as acknowledging its restrictions. Thinking of Kit brought a small lump to her throat, and she felt the vague feeling of remorse welling in her chest. He didn't deserve the way she'd been treating him recently, what with Ronan, and her mother, and generally pulling apart from everything and everyone. She wanted it to be like it was before so much, but it could never be as it was.

Never.

Deciding on a quick run before she dropped off the biscuits to Kit's, she shoved the box in with her manual and started to jog lightly. Before long, she increased her pace along the fall-tainted streets, splashing through drifts of the golden leaves that reached in some places up past her ankle. Almost a dull blur, Nita only slowed down as she realised she was near the block where Kit lived. Stopping by the blue metal post box on the corner, Nita leaned against the cool surface as she fought to regain her breath. She wouldn't normally even be out of breath, but as she checked her watch and the darkness that was slowly falling from the sky, she realised she'd been running for at least thirty minutes.

After waiting for her pulse to return to normal, Nita made sure her manual and the biscuits were still in place. Taking a deep breath, Nita lifted her gaze and let it move until she could just see the Rodriguez house and felt a rush of brief, irrational panic. Swaying slightly on her feet, Nita swallowed and walked tentatively along the sidewalk. Her partnership with Kit was something she relied on for her wizardry. Although she knew wizardry was possible by itself, by herself, Nita didn't like it when she had to do it alone. It just seemed that tiny bit emptier, just that bit . . . weird.

Suddenly she almost understood what it was like for her father . . . Something that was two and suddenly now was one, without being able to do anything about it or stop it from happening . . .

Feeling the sting of tears again, welling and threatening to splash onto the sidewalk below, Nita told herself off sharply and rubbed her eyes with her sleeve. She couldn't stop crying, not now, not when she lay awake in bed wishing and hoping and dreaming helplessly, and somehow it wasn't even seeming to do any good. People always said to let grief run its full course, and that crying helped, but neither of those options seemed to do anything at all.

Forcing the tears not to come, she clenched her hands and unclenched them, letting them fall by her side. She didn't know if she could face Kit, but she had to do it sometime, and something her mom always said came back to her. Whenever I first attended ballet lessons, it was combined with gymnastics, and I was hopeless at the asymmetrical bars . . . But every time I fell down, and hurt myself badly, I had to get back up, else I would have never got back up . . . And eventually that skill helped me get the job I'd always wanted . . . Nita remembered how her mom would dance for her in the kitchen, a little performance just for her, and she felt that indefinable sense of fatigue again. She remembered asking her mom why she didn't use the falling off a horse allegory everyone else used, and her mom had replied with how she despised routine and clichés. Normally she'd say this while doing her usual four o' clock preparation of vegetables.

Straightening herself again, and wondering how hard it could actually be, Nita forced herself to walk the few remaining meters to Kit's front door, and was about to lift her hand to rap smartly on the door when the door flew open and she stumbled a little. Looking upwards, her cheeks stained red in the embarrassing rush of acute awkwardness, Nita came face to face with her wizardry partner.

Kit looked at her, the soft look of concern changing to one of mild amusement, and Nita blocked out the sudden rush of thought that she heard from him. He was worried, unsure of how to react, worried about her, a little desperate to understand why she blocked him out of her life . . .

"Carmela saw you coming from the upstairs window," he said offhandedly, jerking his head to where his older sister lounged in the hallway, in tight black pants and a baggy Rayearth t-shirt.

"Hello to you too," Nita said with a brief smile, feeling awkward as she stood on the doorstep. Kit sensed her discomfiture and stood to one side, gesturing for her to come in.

The smell was the first thing that hit Nita as she walked in through the door and kicked off her shoes, leaving them in a mess next to Kit's neatly ordered sneakers that stood along the row of the family shoes. A spicy smell filled Nita's nostrils, and the bustle of pans in the kitchen made Nita realise Mrs. Rodriguez was cooking one of her spicy dishes; probably something Indian considering the pile of Indian Recipes next to the phone on the small table in the hallway.

Kit smiled at her reassuringly, and Nita self-consciously removed her windbreaker, hanging it on one of the spare pegs. Lifting the box of biscuits out of the pocket, she turned round and waved them vaguely at Kit. Kit looked at the label and pulled a face.

"Chicken? Oh man, he'll be hyper for a week." He took the box and grinned at her. "Fantastic."

"Did someone mention chicken?"

A cheerful face appeared at the doorway, a foot or so off the floor, and Nita was almost floored by Ponch. The huge black Labrador-cum-border-collie-cum-whatever-he-was bounded at her feet, and Nita scratched behind his left ear.

"Oh man that's great Kit doesn't know how to do this… aw… Nita I missed you."

Nita straightened up with a reluctant grin. "I missed you too, Ponch. I've just not been myself recently…"

"Understandable! What's this about chicken?"

Nita nodded at the box in Kit's hand. "The mall was giving away free samples of chicken dog biscuits."

"Butchers?"

"Yes."

"Givemegivemegivemegivemegiveme!"

Ponch started to jump up and down, knocking the box in Kit's hand to the floor and Kit bent and picked it up before Ponch could rip it up.

"Let's go out in the garden," Kit suggested, glaring sternly at Ponch as if to say 'you bounce up at my hands one more time and no more food for you for the week.'

Ponch got the message, and considering it was Monday he bent his head down low and stopped wagging his tail; following Nita and Kit as they stepped outside into the Rodriguez's back garden. The small backyard was carpeted in a sheet of gold and red that sparkled as the last rays of sunlight danced across them, and Nita took a moment to enjoy the sound that they made as they walked over them to sit down on the rickety bench Mr. Rodriguez had constructed a few months ago and wasn't safe for anyone to sit on after Ponch had jumped on it a few times.

Kit kept his hands occupied dropping Ponch some biscuits and avoided Nita's gaze as he played with the flap of the box. Ponch rolled on his back and wagged his tail furiously, and Nita tickled him fondly before turning to face Kit.

"I'm sorry --"

Blinking furiously, Kit's head lurched up to meet Nita's confused gaze, and she flushed brilliantly while Kit was the one who looked embarrassed this time.

"Well, at least we're back to trying to talk at the same time," Kit said lightly, flicking one of the biscuits into the leaves.

"Chickenchickenchickenbiscuits! Oh man this is paradiiiise," Ponch cooed as he pounced for the biscuit and sat chewing it contentedly in the whirlwind of leaves he'd created in his enthusiasm.

"I missed that," Nita said frankly.

"Me too. But it's not like you --" Kit stopped suddenly, the tip of his ears going bright red with embarrassment.

"What?"

"Forget it," Kit replied, his voice thick with mortification. "It's nothing."

Nita raised her eyebrows slowly, her silvery eyes darkened with confusion as she moved her gaze to lie on Ponch again. The black mongrel was now chasing his own tail and chattering hyperactively about chicken.

"So…" Nita let the word trail off, and she cursed her own ineptness.

"I guess I should say thank you for Dari," Kit said eventually, breaking the awkward silence.

Nita turned to Kit again, her curiosity beating her sudden ineptitude at making a decent conversation with her best friend. "Huh?"

Kit grinned. "Showing the usual Nita level of understanding." Nita scowled. "I was at the mall yesterday when I ran into her, at Starbucks. They were giving away free samples of vanilla coffee. I did wonder why she asked what Ponch's favourite biscuits were, though…"

Nita frowned in concentration before gaping at him in astonishment. "What? But she lied… Aw, man, am I going to give her a talking to when I get home… Doesn't she know how dangerous lying is, even when you're not speaking in the Speech? This is just like her, taking it fast and recklessly on the big things as well as the small things --"

"Hey, slow down." Kit held up his hand to stop her babbling, and Nita blushed again, wondering if she'd ever get back to her normal colour after all the blushing and the crying. He cocked his head to one side, in thought. "Did she lie to you?"

"Yes!" Nita replied, instantly, before rethinking over what her little sister had actually said. "Well, no," Nita admitted finally, "but she made it seem as if --"

"Exactly," Kit replied, rolling his eyes. "The same way I know you do, and I do, to answer a teacher vaguely when they ask if you've done your homework or not."

"I would never lie to a teacher or not do my homework," Nita retorted, her voice laden with sarcasm before she slumped. "I didn't just miss this," she added, waving her hands round at Ponch, at the backyard, "I missed you."

If Kit was stunned by her sudden, brutal honesty he didn't show it. Instead, he turned to her and gripped her hand tightly. "Me too." Nita smiled back, feeling as if a small weight had been lifted off her shoulders, and opened her mouth to speak when a sloppy tongue licked at her elbow.

"Hey!"

"Sorry," Ponch apologised, nuzzling against her arm, "you just forgot about me."

"I missed you too, Ponchlet."

Ponch growled in his throat, a small rasping sound that told Nita he wasn't too mad at her, before pawing at Kit's knee. Kit rolled his eyes to the firmament and pulled out one biscuit before snapping the box shut firmly. "One more only," Kit admonished his dog, dropping it at his feet. Ponch pounced on it, and dragged it over to by one of the bushes, licking at the biscuit and seeming determined to make it last. Happy growling sounds emanated from his direction as Nita and Kit watched him devour the biscuit, but were soon join by a loud rumbling sound, and Nita sunk her head in her hands.

"You hungry?" Kit looked amused, and put his head to one side as he looked at Nita. Nita nodded slowly.

"I was just going to pick up a hot dog or something," she explained, patting the wallet in her pocket as if that explained everything.

Kit took a look at her, then one speculative look at the kitchen window, which was steaming up. "Mind if I come with you?" He pulled a face. "I think my tongue might burn off if I have to eat one more Indian dish."

Nita waited in the hallway, sliding on her windbreaker and tying her trainers again as she waited for Kit. Loud Japanese music floated faintly from up in Carmela's room, one of the growing signs of her addiction to Japanese anime, and Nita recognised it faintly as the theme to Lodoss Wars.

"Well," Nita thought with a rueful grin, "having a psychotic sister helps sometime…"

"Not often."

Nita looked upwards, startled, to see Kit looking at her with an appraising glance. Sometimes stray thoughts leaked out to your partner, and Nita shrugged. "Well it does," she defended out loud, as Kit reached for his shirt off the peg next to where Nita was stood. It was the red checked shirt he was so fond of wearing, and he pulled it on unbuttoned over the casual white t-shirt he was wearing, free of any sci-fi or anime logo or picture. Kit was pretty reliable when it came to clothes, and actions, and reactions . . . He was the stable, dependent one of the two.

"A far stretch from last year. When did he start becoming the responsible one?" Nita's mind asked herself, as Kit bent down to lace up his shoes. He came up and waved a ten dollar bill in her face. Nita screwed her face up and frowned at it.

"Mom was so psyched you came over that she says I have to go out and stuff my face." Kit shrugged unremorsefully. "I don't think I care all that much."

Nita grinned. "Anything but Indian, right? I guess it would be futile to say I fancied a kebab now?"

Kit pulled a face. "Yuck. I'd rather eat that then that gunk I ate at that alien travel station." Kit held his stomach in remembrance. "I'm going to follow Peach's advice and not eat anything on an alien world until I know exactly what's in it first."

"Good idea."

Nita pushed the door open as Kit yelled a quick goodbye in Spanish, and the two exited the house, walking amicably next to each other along the sidewalk. The world was now a sullen grey, but there was still more than enough light to see by, and Nita reckoned they had about an hour before it grew dark enough to need a flashlight. If it grew that dark, both she and Kit knew the handy spell that would cause enough light to float around them and not be seen by anyone else, and Nita was confident that that much of her wizardry still worked.

They walked the sidewalk in mostly silence. Kit inquired about her studies, Nita inquired about his family, and by the time they reached the small array of local shops a mile up the road from the mall they were chatting again lightly like they used to; with small differences. Nita still had the grey flush of grief washing over her, and Kit noticed it in her mind when the casual thought or two dropped out. Kit was still obviously walking on eggshells, not wanting to ruin what they had; a temporary alliance that was shaky at best, and would hopefully not be temporary for long.

The small fast-food takeout was pretty much deserted apart from the tired looking girl behind the counter, and she took their order for two hot dogs each, some fries for Kit and a diet soda for Nita in her stride, taking their money and giving them their food after a minute or so. The tiny outlet was a struggling local place, and one Kit had been frequenting, as part of an anti-capitalization attitude. Besides, the Oath made them try and protect all Life, and for the family that owned the outlet the business was their life, and was all that was keeping them from the streets.

Kit headed out of the place first, and Nita followed him in silence to the end of the path, where a narrow bench covered in graffiti was. They sat down and nibbled at the greasy hot dogs in silence; Nita only started to speak when the hot dogs were consumed and she'd opened her diet coke.

"So, have you seen anything of Tom and Carl lately?"

Nita had missed the two Seniors too, and although they were probably less tangled in her emotions than Kit was and theoretically easier to approach, she couldn't even bring herself to visit or call them. She'd seen Carl a few weeks back, when he'd visited them to offer condolences, and to support Dairine through a sticky trial of wizardry. Some of her robots had discovered transit gating, and a couple had wandered onto the Saurian home world. Nita remembered one of the little life-forms with fondness, one Dairine had brought home and nursed to her father's amazement. Gigo, yes, that was his—it's—name.. Trust Dairine and her computer jokes.

Kit chewed on one of the lengths of fried potato. "Yes, the other day. I was having a . . ." Kit waved a fry imprecisely at Nita, and she took it and wolfed it down before he could do anything. She smiled impishly at him.

"Having a . . . what?" Nita prompted.

"Spelling problem," Kit finished, with a scowl at her interruption. They both winced at the old pun.

"What was wrong?"

Kit shrugged. "My name has changed, by a few symbols or so . . . Just the other day, I went up to Copernicus . . . To tell you the truth, I was hoping you'd be there and we could talk." He shifted uncomfortably. "Anyway… On the way up it was the same as before, mostly, but while I was up there I traced out my name, and . . . there was a new symbol, tacked onto the end."

Nita sat up. Extra symbols could be the work of the One, or of the Powers informing you of a change either in you or an upcoming change. Either way it was extremely dangerous. "So you called them?"

"Yeah," Kit said. "Tom came up. He looked a little pissed, and Carl explained later that it was because I'd interrupted one of his flashes of inspiration. He says it took Tom hours to get back into the mood for writing, and even Tom admitted it was a good thing I called him when I did." Kit shrugged, and frowned at the saltiness of the fries before continuing. "After he'd calmed down."

"Ah," Nita said lightly. "Oops."

"Oops," Kit repeated, pulling a face. "I don't know if he's forgiven me yet."

"Reminds me of the time I called him when he'd just been in the shower," Nita giggled. Kit laughed out loud, ruffling his hair impatiently with one hand.

"I guess annoying them is unavoidable at times," Kit said ruefully. "You hurt the ones you're closest to, of course . . ."

The words floated into Nita's consciousness like a heavy weight, and even she couldn't mask her look of sudden sadness quickly enough for Kit not to notice. Kit stared at her slowly, and then looked brutally annoyed with himself as he realised what he'd said.

"Neets."

Nita had to look up at his serious tone, and Kit grabbed her hand, squeezing it tightly enough to stop her from pulling away but not so tight as to stop blood flowing.

"You couldn't do anything," Kit said firmly, his dark eyes shining with emotion and honesty. "No-one ever can. This is the One's curse to life, and we can do everything we can to defeat Him but we can't stop it from happening. It sucks, I know, it all sucks so much, but we can't do anything but fight against Him so He never wins."

Nita smiled, feeling suddenly weary and slightly light-headed. "You're right," she relented.

Kit let go of her hand, and leant back, looking slightly more composed. "As I always am," he returned, lightly teasing.

Nita stuck her tongue out. "You wish." She looked suddenly thoughtful for a second. "So what happened with the symbol?"

"Symbol?"

"The extra one you found on Copernicus."

"Oh." Kit frowned, his expression suddenly dark. He bowed his head and studied the pavement. "It was from the Powers, not Him." He didn't have to say who He was; the stark image of the Lone One, in all His forms, filled Nita's head starkly, and she shook the images away forcefully.

"And?"

"I kept it," Kit replied, his tone forced.

"Did the manual have any idea what it was?"

A guilty flush covered Kit's cheeks, and he squeezed one of his hands tightly, pressing so hard his knuckles turned white. When he spoke, his voice was so quiet Nita almost couldn't hear him. "Yes."

Nita studied her friend worriedly. It seemed Kit was having some kind of internal struggle, and he opened his mouth to speak when Nita squeezed his shoulder lightly.

"You don't have to tell me," she replied softly, "and I couldn't make you lie to me."

A grateful smile flitted over Kit's face. "I will tell you, when it's time, it's just too—" Kit floundered for the right word.

"I understand," Nita broke in with a sympathetic half-smile.

"No," Kit responded, his face still dark, "I don't think you do. But it's a start." He offered her a tentative smile, and she smiled back, a little shaken by Kit's abrupt mood change and wanting to hide it. To be honest she was just so pleased that she could talk to him, and it didn't hurt so much as she'd imagined it would. 'Get back on the asymmetrical bars as soon as you fall off, Nita . . .'

Thinking of her mother's advice, Nita pulled out her manual from her jacket. "You know, I had a dream the other night that I'd forgotten all my wizardry, but . . . I was being stupid. I think all I was scared of was losing my best friend."

Kit didn't say anything; just grinned widely at her. "I was scared too," he admitted softly, as Nita fondly flicked through the pages of her manual, feeling a small smile curve her lips when she remembered the day she'd gone to the library after receiving her manual. She'd expected a fine, or a warning, for stealing the book but the librarian hadn't remembered she'd taken it. Must have been part of the wizardry . . . Nita had thought at the time, relieved her source of knowledge wouldn't disappear or cost her $60 a year in fines. She flicked to the familiar page of the directory listings, seeing Dairine's name printed neatly above her own, with "STATUS: On hiatus (at home)" printed in the flowing script of the Speech. Flicking down to her own name, Nita felt the rush of warmth that her name was in the directory, then suddenly felt the sudden prick of fear and panic. Her mouth dry, Nita stared at the words printed under her address, and then, panicked, flicked to Kit's entry in the R section.

"Kit, did you know we were on active status?" Nita turned her gaze, eyes wide and slightly horrified, slightly edgy with that rush of anticipatory wizardry that would make a difference, however small, somewhere in the Universe, to Kit's gaze. The Hispanic teenager stared back at her, confused, and he pulled his own manual from its permanent residence at his side, to stare in horror at the directory listings.

"This was not the case an hour ago," Kit said, his voice trembling. "This is new."

"Dari's not on active," Nita said, biting her lip as she flicked back to her name again and the printed words "STATUS: On active duty" underneath, the words that had brought her to the brink of death and complete destruction of the world more than once. "She's going to be pissed."

"She's not the only one," Kit replied. "Mom's been worried her powerful brujo wouldn't be able to deal with another errantry, but she might be happier knowing you're on the case too."

Nita nodded casually. "Yeah, and dad knows that this is really important . . . What with me and Dari on the job he's more than used to it by now . . . So, what do we do?"

"Go see Tom and Carl?"

"At this time of the evening?" Nita looked worried. "Doesn't Tom normally write best in the evenings?"

Kit grinned, with a tint of what Nita would almost describe as malicious. "Hey, it's not annoying unless you do it twice."

Nita rolled her eyes heavenwards, before checking her watch and their position. "It's not far to the clearing where we met," she said lightly. "We can transit from there to their backyard, ten minutes tops."

"Good idea," Kit said. "Let's go."

Dropping his paper into the garbage can by the bench, Nita crushed her can and dropped it into the aperture of the can. The metal fell with a satisfying clunk, and, running, they dashed down a few sidewalks before pushing their way through the bushes into the small concealed wood area.

Nita moved over to a large section of uncovered soil, and picked up a slightly soggy stick. Kit found one almost the same, and they began to trace the circle from memory, as they'd done it so many times. It was so routine they could easily construct it for a solo voyage in their heads, but it had been a while since they'd done any joint wizardry, and they both etched out the usual circle and the variables and constants without even discussing it. Joint wizardry was an experience that was highly individual, and was usually accompanied by a sense of adrenaline that was washed out soon with the power used. Nita bent down and scrawled out her name neatly, not wanting to get it wrong and suddenly appear in Tom and Carl's back garden with a bass voice and only one leg. She checked out one or two of the symbols in her manual, the ones for loss and grief, and added them with a frown. While it would have been nice to be free of the grief forever, it was not a good idea to wipe out some aspects of yourself. Changing your name like that invited the Lone One into your life forever. Getting up after four minutes of pouring over her name, Nita rubbed dirt off her knees and found herself face-to-face with Kit.

"You finished?" Kit asked, looking at the finished scrawl of her name curiously. Nita nodded.

"Swap?"

Kit nodded, and they changed position in the circle to check each other's names, a definite precaution in case any untoward symbol crept in without the caster knowing about it. Nita frowned at it carefully, wanting to keep Kit as he was, and stood up fully satisfied after two minutes. Kit was still frowning over a couple of the changes she'd made, matching the symbols up in his manual and finally coming up, satisfied, and Nita took the time to stare at the completely new symbol on the end of Kit's neatly structured name. It was almost like a triangle, with an X symbol on the top and a curly swirl through the middle. She didn't have much time to contemplate it though, and pushed it guiltily out of her mind. She shouldn't have looked at it so closely, Kit obviously felt it was a private thing and he would tell her when he was ready.

"We ready to go?" Kit asked, more for the ritual of the saying of the words than the necessity of saying them. Nita nodded, and Kit leant over, scrawling the curves of the eight-shaped Wizard's knot. They looked at each other, and, holding onto each other's arms for support started the spell. It gathered up power around them, and they spoke the words faster and faster, in perfect union, their voices raising and circling them in a powerful unison of their power, then they suddenly disappeared. No sign of their presence there remained apart from a couple of footprints leading into the clearing from the bush, and even they disappeared an hour later, when in the safety of darkness rain washed the footprints away.