The first thing the creature did was swallow a balloon bird.
The second was to make a sound like the sky tearing at a seam.
It had waited for centuries in the upper stratosphere.
It arrived with eyes like heated coins and teeth that flashed through its shifting body.
The city trembled beneath its shadow.
“Did we cover this at Gorythorne?” the redhead asked.
“We should have paid more attention in Air Safety 101,” her friend said.
“Was that a class?”
“Apparently.”
Lincoln produced a small charm in his palm.
“One last fail-safe.”
The charm was bright, fragile, and clearly expensive.
The dark-haired witch studied it.
“What if we’re not the villains in that world?”
“Ye might still become them,” Lincoln said.
“That depends what ye do next.”
The redhead crossed her arms.
“Let’s not get all consequences about it now.”
Lincoln raised the charm.
“Help me mend what ye’ve opened, or I stop protecting yer floating city.”
“That’s blackmail with sprinkles.”
“Aye.
Is it working?”
The creature lunged.
They ran.
The witches rose on their mounts and fired their remaining flash bombs into the mouth.
Light burst over the rooftops.
The creature recoiled, then came on again, trailing strips of dark atmosphere.
“We’re out of flash bombs!”
“Then improvise,” the dark-haired witch said.
Lincoln tossed the charm to her.
“Don’t say I never helped ye.”
She saw its design at once: a stitch made of compressed wishes, strong enough to close a small tear.
The breach above Vexbridge was not small.
“Time for something big,” the redhead said.
“Bigger than big,” said her friend.
“Balloon!”
“Big balloon,” Lincoln clarified, sounding exhausted.
The witches joined hands.
Their old wish thrummed through them, as familiar as breathing.
Latex, helium, and levitation spun into one vast shimmering sphere.
The redhead fed it reckless power.
The dark haired witch bound that power to the nexus, and Lincoln’s charm flashed at its core.
“Let the sky rewrite itself!”
The sphere struck the tear with a sound like a carnival spring snapping back into place.
Reality wobbled.
A balloon dog bounced off a cloud.
A tower stretched and returned to its proper height.
For one glorious moment, the creature folded inward and disappeared behind the closing seam.
The redhead whooped.
“We did it!”
Then the sky made a soft popping sound.