“I’m sorry,” I said to her. “Katie and I didn’t want to upset you, but you need to know. She’s here and she loves you.”
“Stop.” Mom held up her hand. “Don’t you see how much you’re hurting her?” She put her hand around Joanne’s. “There, there.”
I took a step forward. “I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.”
Mom glared at me. “It’s not the truth. It’s some version of the truth that you concocted in your head, but there is no such thing as ghosts, or the Dark Place, or witches. All of this is just a figment of your imagination.”
“I told you they’d never believe you!” Katie shouted, nearly in tears herself. “Look what you did to my mother. This is why I didn’t want to tell her!”
“I didn’t do anything. I just told the truth. Tell her! Just show her!”
“I can’t!” Katie said. “Frank drained my power when he took my ectoplasm. I couldn’t show her if I wanted to show her.”
“The rift,” I said. “Let’s show her the rift.”
“Who are you talking to?” Mom asked.
“Please, Mom. Come with me. I can explain everything. Please, if you ever trusted me before, trust me now.”
Mom looked over at Joanne. “Are you going to be all right here?”
Joanne nodded. “Yes, it’s just a lot. Go, go.”
“I’m staying here, with my mom,” Katie said.
“No, I need you with me,” I said.
“You can handle this on your own. It’s a big rift with ghosts and fire. If she can’t see it, she’s blind.”
I held Mom’s hand as we walked through the woods. She didn’t say much, but I could tell her mind was rolling at a million miles a minute.
“This is going to prove it. You’ll see.”
I pulled her forward, until we reached the clearing with the hole inside of it. Ghosts were pouring from it and blue fire shot out from where it ripped open the sky.
“See!” I said, pointing at the rift.
But I could see in her eyes that she couldn’t see anything. There was no wonder of fear in her eyes, just pain and sadness.
“Oh, hija,” she said, turning to me with tears in her eyes. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you the help you need.”
Chapter 32
“I’m not crazy,” I said, sitting across from Doctor Rachel in her office. My mother had driven me to an emergency appointment the morning after my “breakdown”.
“I never said you were crazy.” Doctor Rachel didn’t look up from her notepad, where she was writing notes. “I think you’re in pain though, and the type of pain you’ve experienced could cause any number of things.”
“Just ask Frank. He’ll tell you.”
Rachel flipped through her notes. “Ah yes, the owner of The Witch’s Brew, right?”
I nodded furiously. “That’s right. He’ll tell you everything.”
Doctor Rachel placed down her pen. “But we did talk to him, Anna, and he told me he’s never heard of you.”
“That’s impossible.”
“What’s more impossible?” Doctor Rachel said, leaning in. “That there is a world of magic that nobody else sees but you, or that you’ve been suffering from a bit of delusion?”
“I don’t know what it says to you, but I know what I saw.”
Doctor Rachel sighed. “Everybody thinks their reality is the right one, but nobody else in your life has seen these things. You realize that, don’t you?”
“Katie has. Samantha has.”
“Yes,” Doctor Rachel said. “Samantha. Do you know where she is, Anna?”
“Of course I don’t. If I knew where she was, I would tell you. If I knew where she was, I would go save her myself.”
“This…Hilda, the one who abducted her. You said you saw her in the diner?”
“We talked to her in the diner.”
“And the next day she abducted your friend?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
Doctor Rachel paused for a moment. It looked like she was gathering her thoughts. “You know this is a safe space, right?”
I scoffed. “That’s what you say, yeah? I’m not sure I agree, though.”
“Well, there are some exceptions to that rule. When I think somebody might be a danger to themselves or others, or if I think they might have information pertinent to an ongoing investigation, then I have a duty to call the police.”
“Okay,” I said. “And why are you telling me this?”
Katie flew inside the room before she could answer. “She’s saying it because there are two police officers here who are going to escort you to the station for questioning.”
“What!” I said, turning to Doctor Rachel. “You’re having me arrested?”
“Not arrested,” Doctor Rachel replied. “Just evaluated, and the police want to ask you about Samantha. Maybe you can help them track her down.”
“Some safe space this is,” I spat. “I thought you cared about me.”
“Sometimes the people who care about you do things for your own good, even if you don’t think they are right.”
I stood up. “Whatever. This is stupid.”
“I told you not to tell them,” Katie said as I walked out of the room.
“I should have listened to you,” I told her.
“You should always listen to me,” Katie said. “I give the best advice.”
“Anna,” Doctor Rachel said, watching me. “I hope they find your friend.”
“No,” I paused at the door and looked at her. “You don’t. If you did, you would have just let me go. I’m the only one who can find her.”
Chapter 33
“How long are you going to keep me here?” I asked the officer who had been taking my statement for the last several hours.
“Until the things you’re saying start to make sense to me,” the officer replied.
He was snarky, very snarky, and vain. Every few seconds he caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of his computer monitor and smiled at his reflection. He wasn’t a bad-looking
