Page 13 of The Seven Miracles of Beatrix Holland
“Probably just light-headedness.”
Cordelia was right. That was all it was. No matter that she’d never come close to fainting before. This was a day for new things, apparently. Grateful for the way the air seemed to fill her lungs completely again, she turned to face Cordelia, who had moved her own chair close to hers.
“You’re my twin,” said Beatrice.
Cordelia nodded.
Now that her brain had been handed back to her, Beatrice took a moment to stare at this woman. After all, this was whatBeatrice was normally good at—clear judgment and rational thought.
Cordelia’s nose leaned the slightest bit to the right—there, that was different. Living in a town chock-full of fake noses, Beatrice had always been idiotically proud of her perfectly straight snoot. Cordelia’s lips were maybe a touch fuller? “Your freckles.”
Nodding, Cordelia said, “They’re in different places than yours.”
“It’s soweird.” It was like seeing a constellation hung in the wrong part of the sky.
Cordelia rocked herself backward, and Beatrice felt glad for the increased distance. At the same time, she wanted to reach forward to grab her twin’s hands. Cordelia’s fingers were curling in and out of fists, and somehow Beatrice knew she wanted the same thing. Just to be on the safe side, she stuffed her own hands into the pockets of her jeans.
Cordelia said, “I did 23andMe. And Ancestry.com. Anything that would take my spit and give me a result, I signed up for. I waited.”
“It never even crossed my mind.” Dad said that the two of them were all each other had.We’re all we need, Button.His parents had died when he was young—but, Jesus,hadthey? He had no siblings, or was that just what he’d said? An electrical storm flashed at the base of her skull. That anger was going to boil over soon, but right now, she didn’t need to stoke the heat. “I thought Dad and I were alone.”
“Did you really feel alone? I mean”—Cordelia looked down at her hands, the ones that looked like Beatrice’s, but covered with silver rings—“I just kept waiting for you.”
I was so lonely.But she’d rather die than say it out loud. “What’s our—what’s she like?”
“She’s incredible.”
Minna said, “Incredibly difficult.”
Reno gave a snort-huff sound.
Cordelia went on as if she hadn’t heard them. “She’s powerful, and opinionated, and brilliant. She knows everything. We co-own Which Craft, but she can be a little possessive of it. It’s weird that she’s not here, honestly, but she’ll be back any minute. Are you ready to meet her?”
Absolutely not. No way.
But a door in the back creaked, and a loud voice filled the air. “Ah, sothisis why my ears were burning! Andyou. I should have known.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Women and gender-fluid people have more power, as a rule. Men can be powerful, too. Sure. But I find they’re sometimes less willing to try as hard.
—Evie Oxby, Reddit reply to “Can men do magic?”
Astrid’s eyebrows drew together into a magnificent wave that crashed in the middle of her forehead. “I heard two different female owls cry this morning, seven minutes after sunrise. Now I know why.”
Beatrice stared, but found Astrid difficult to focus on. Rather, she was made up of so many disparate parts that a singular focus felt impossible. She was tall, wider at the hip than either Beatrice or Cordelia. Her hair was the reverse of theirs, stark white with one dark stripe, and it was piled on her head, speared with something that appeared to be an actual twig. She wore a long red-and-black tunic that was a goth-hippie mash-up with a black mesh bodice, bells dangling from a cord at the neck, and snakeskin print on the sleeves. Below the tunic hung a longer black linen skirt adornedwith tulle ruffles. She escaped looking like the village witch with a perfectly applied slash of crimson lipstick.
“Hello,” Beatrice managed.
“And where did you come from?”
“Your uterus, apparently. Forty-five years ago today.”
The left side of the eyebrow wave crested. “Is your father still alive?”
“Last time I spoke to him, yes.”
“Mmmm.” She narrowed her eyes. “I knew he’d finally break. Always the weak link, that man.”
