Bridget didn’t argue, even though the only way they were really alike was their shared love of Swords and Shadows. Instead, she went into the kitchen and grabbed the Subaru’s keys from a hook. She was allowed to use the car for grocery shopping or anything that required her to haul cargo or be out after dark—or for emergencies. And this definitely felt like one.

Once they were in the car, Bridget’s feeling that the world was tilting off its axis continued. Yesterday learning that her feelings for Ajay were one-sided. Today receiving Bob’s odd message. Then seeing her house and her mom through Ajay’s eyes. And now she was driving him to Bob’s in her dad’s car, the two of them sealed off from the world in a capsule made of glass and steel. All the parts of her life were coming together in ways she’d never expected.

“When was the last time you were at his house?” Ajay asked as she merged onto the highway.

“It was just that once, right after I met him. My dad wanted to make sure he was normal.”

Ajay made a humming sound. “I guess I’d wonder about some grown man who wanted to hire my twelve-year-old daughter.”

“Well, Bob’s not normal, but he’s definitely not creepy. And my dad was relieved when he realized Bob wanted to do it all by email. For the first couple of years, he occasionally read Bob’s emails to make sure he wasn’t sneaking any weird things in. Which he wasn’t.”

“So back up—you’ve only been to his house once, and you remember how to get there?”

“I have a good memory.” She felt oddly defensive. “It’s why Bob hired me in the first place.”

The farther they got from the city, the more things spread out. Huge houses on acreage alternated with farm fields that lay fallow at this time of year.

By memory, she turned down one road and then, a mile later, another. Now there weren’t any other cars on the road besides her dad’s. But when Bridget turned into Bob’s driveway, she had to hit her brakes. What had once been a long road was now bisected by a black wrought-iron gate.

“This wasn’t here before.”

AJAY

Put Your Hands in the Air

The gate was about eight feet high, made of wrought iron twisted into abstract shapes. In the middle of each swinging gate was a large S set in a circle. And then Ajay realized the shapes were really wings and horns, echoing the unicorns in Swords and Shadows.

Bridget turned off the engine, and they got out of the car. The air was still and cold around them. Ajay felt oddly small and exposed.