Another Faust by Daniel Nayeri

someone as heavy as Christian lumbered past. Bicé gasped for new air, starving for food, terrified that she could never fully escape the governess. The bodies were alive again. She was still afraid to turn the light on, afraid of all the noise. But she was relieved. Even though every squeak from a door hinge, every rustle of a skirt, jolted her, at least she wasn’t alone anymore — alone with the dark. She’d have to clean herself up before she went out. She’d have to face the motion of time again, but that wouldn’t be so horrible. Because at least the world of the living was a devil she knew.
    When she opened the door, Madame Vileroy was waiting. Bicé didn’t say anything. Madame Vileroy held out a glass vial. Bicé snatched it from her hand and swallowed the deep green sludge that slowly crawled out when she tipped the bottle. She looked at the governess, annoyed that she’d stood there to watch her drink it all.
    “Well?” she said.
    And Madame Vileroy said, “Good,” and walked away.

    At the breakfast table, the four others looked tired, as if the night had gone too fast. Christian felt as if he’d closed his eyes to sleep and opened them a second later for his alarm. Belle was staring into a hand mirror, looking for bags under her eyes. Victoria took pills to keep her alert since she had stayed up studying or filling out scholarship forms.
    “You slept late,” said Valentin when Bicé walked in.
    “Very,” said Bicé. She grabbed at the bacon, eggs, and pancakes. She spoke to herself in Farsi as she chewed some smoked sausage.
    “Great,” said Victoria. “Now we can go to school with a mumbling cab driver.”
    Belle hit Victoria in the arm and mouthed, “Stop it!”
Leave her alone or else,
she thought, in case Vic might be cheating.
    “Hey, Bicé, let’s go to one of those Korean nail salons, and you can tell us what they’re saying behind our backs!” said Belle.
    “I think she’s speaking Arabic,” said Valentin. He slipped a hand into his pocket.
    “All right, fine, let’s go to an
Arabic
salon.”
    Suddenly Valentin broke out into hysterical laughter. Belle, Victoria, and Christian looked at him like he was crazy. “That was hilarious!”
    “What?” said Belle.
    “Oh, man, sometimes I’m too nice to you guys.”
    “You little rat!” Victoria whispered to him, grabbing his collar. “I know what you did.”
    “No, you don’t,” he whispered back.
    “Uh, yeah, I do. I just heard you play it over in your head.”
    “What, what is it?” said Belle, trying to hear what Vic and Val were talking about.
    “Don’t do that again, Val. I’m serious,” whispered Victoria, crossing her arms.
    “Oh, come on, it was just a joke.” Valentin leaned close and touched Victoria’s chin, trying to win her over. Valentin was convinced that Victoria was the most sexually repressed girl in the world and that given the right circumstances, he could change her point of view on a lot of things. But she pushed his hand aside.
    “If you keep playing like that, Bicé will know. And if she knows, she could ruin things. Is that what you want?” Victoria said through clenched teeth.
    Christian looked up from his food. He’d been eating the whole time, content to stay out of another fight. But Victoria and Valentin looked very suspicious just now.
    Valentin scoffed at the false memory of what could have happened in a thousand possibilities for a future that only he could see — and Victoria could cheat off.
    “I only wanted to know what Bicé would do if she knew our secret. I went back and changed it.”
    “Maybe so, but it’s dangerous.” said Victoria, “Remember, she can play with time too.”
    “Hiding is different.” Valentin seemed insulted. “She can only make things stop. It’s not the same. Besides, don’t you want to know how she reacted?”
    “I saw it . . . in your head.”
    Belle touched her cheek. For some reason, her flesh was raw — where she may have been slapped