“What you are seeing here is those elements rearranged into their distinct base grouping. For example, the red is human blood, the blue is Fae, the brown is Shifter, green is witch. Using a magnifying glass—or better yet, a microscope—I can then determine the percentage of overlapping colors. For instance, equal parts red and green tell me we have half-human, half-witch. Once I have this breakdown, I use a three-dimensional stacking method to estimate the age of the element. The most telling samples came from this area.” L’Runa pointed to the squares that coincided with the corner of the cellar farthest from the door. “They tell a consistent story, in terms of age. Thirty-five years ago, a Fae female, a witch female, and a witch female with shamanic training shed blood at the same time.”
No wonder the cellar had always given me cause to shake in my shoes.
“Another thing I can tell you is the two witches were related,” she said.
“And what about the bear?” I asked.
L’Runa crossed her arms, sighed, then leaned forward.
“Decomposed bear fur showed up all through the samples.” She swept her hand across the entire piece of paper until she hovered over an area closer to the entranceway to the cellar. “Especially here. No bones, no blood saturation. Simply fur.” She placed her other hand on my shoulder. “Someone who lived on the land for a long time spent part of their life as a bear or had a strong connection to bear energy. Which leads me back to the witch with shamanic training.”
“I have no idea who that could be,” I said. “My memories of my mother do not feel connected to bears at all.”
“What about the two visitors at your Blood Ceremony?” Rose said.
“I’m pretty certain the wolf was Tanner.” And the other, less distinguishable presence could very well have been Bear. “Did you find anything else?”
L’Runa shook her head. “No, not on this go-round. Had I more time and larger samples, there is more I could do, including your request to work with memory. If some mystery in here needs solving, I can come to your house and work on site.”
“Thank you for doing this on extremely short notice,” I said. “And so you both know, we’re expecting a confrontation with Fae from the Flechette family here tonight.”
Rose turned away from the table, strode to the door and back. Her skin was clammy where her fingers touched my wrist. “My magic is defensive, Calliope. I can’t meet the Fae head on, but if you need me to stay in case anyone gets hurt, I can do that much.”
Downstairs, the house was mostly quiet. Belle, Néne, Sil, and their protectors were in or near the kitchen, preparing food. I ducked out the front door to check my car. The battery had another thirty minutes before it finished charging, and in my rush to get off my knees and out of the dirt, I’d forgotten to clean up the remnants of my lunch and unplug my cell phone.
Messages. Of course there were messages. Rose letting me know she was on her way. A voicemail from my one of my cousins, who would only call if my aunt was deteriorating.
Or had died. I bounced my forehead against the steering wheel. Having my grandfather appear in my life wouldn’t balance out losing the one person who connected me to my mother. My hand shook as I dialed in to listen to the message.
“Calli, it’s Clyde. Listen, I know this sounds crazy, but Mom has been super lucid all day and she insisted I call you. Like, insisted.” He laughed a little. “I thought she was going to make us check her out and bring her home, but anyways, she said it was very important that I get a message to you. Call me when you get this.”
I pressed the redial icon and held the phone to my ear.
“Calliope! You got my message.” My cousin’s voice wobbled between confusion and joy at the unexpected reprieve.
“Hey, Clyde, yeah, I did.” I felt around for a spare paper napkin to wipe the sweat gathering across my forehead. “What did your mom have to say to me?”
“I wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget. Hold on a sec.”
The smudges on my shirt and the amount I was sweating had me thinking I really should shower before much longer. I couldn’t think at all about what had brought my aunt out of her mental decline.
“I’m back. And I know this is going to sound weird, but I’m doing this for Mom because we’ve had, like, a miracle today. Here goes. ‘Calliope. Your mother asked me to take care of you, and I did the best I could. I had to protect you, and I did so with love. My only regret is I never told you our story in person. Next time you visit, we can talk about everything.’” Clyde let out a long breath. “Okay, here’s where it gets weird. ‘Trust the bear. Let the bear in, let the bear help you, and do not be afraid.’ Do you even understand what she’s talking about?”
“I might,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady and confident when what I wanted was to curl into my aunt’s generous lap and cry for our mutual losses.
“The last part is, ‘When you are done, please send the bear back to me.’” Clyde sighed. “Having Mom be lucid at this stage is a miracle, Calli. I don’t think it’ll last long, but maybe you should come and visit her. Soon.”
“I will,” I said. I had to press my palm to my mouth, breathe in through my nose, count to ten. “And thank you, Clyde. Please give your mom a hug from me.”
Once I collected myself, I rejoined the witches in the kitchen and pulled aside Rose and L’Runa. “My cousin called. The bear is connected to my mother’s sister, Noémi. Which
