Maya Serpentine's Arc

Chapter 2 of 5

Maya rolled the burned map into her pack with the water flask and a strip of soft cloth for the serpent. The green line Sylpha had drawn still glowed on the workshop floor, bright and patient, pointing at the door. Maya stepped toward it. The serpent tightened on her wrist and would not loosen. She tried to slide a finger under its coils and it pressed harder, thin body cool against her pulse. She understood. The road did not open for her yet. Sylpha's price came first, and she had put it off long enough. She climbed to the roof where Jolt kept her nest. Patched tarps in graffiti colors sagged between the beams. Jars hung from twine, each one labeled in Jolt's blocky hand, and bottle-cap chimes ticked in the wind. Jolt sat on a striped cushion cleaning her slingshot. She looked up and grinned. "You brought a bag. We going somewhere?" Maya sat on the cushion across from her. Her mouth was dry. "I made a spirit," she said. "Three years ago. Before you. I named her Sylpha. She remembers everything I say. I've been summoning her and hiding her from you for a year." Jolt set the slingshot down. She did not speak. Maya kept going. "She knows where the garden is. She'll take me there. Her price was telling you." The chimes ticked. A jar labeled Toxic Love swung once and settled. Jolt's face did not move for a long moment. Then she said, "A year." Maya nodded. "A year," Jolt said again, flat. She picked up a bottle cap from the floor and turned it in her fingers. "You love her?" "I did. I do. I don't know." "That's three answers." "I know." Jolt flicked the cap into a tin cup. It rang. "Go," she said. "Get your garden. We'll deal with the rest when you're back." Maya reached for her hand. Jolt pulled it away, not hard, just enough. "Not yet," Jolt said. "I'm not throwing you out. I'm not hugging you either. Go." Maya stood. On her wrist the serpent uncoiled in one smooth slide and settled loose along her forearm, its weight suddenly ordinary. She climbed down from the nest. At the workshop door the green line was still waiting. She stepped onto it. Behind her, on the roof, she heard a jar break against a beam, one sharp pop, then nothing. She did not turn around. The road held under her feet and pulled east.