the time or ability to explain things to both of them. Especially since I barely understood what was going on.
“Cordelia, you can have any snack you want if you’ll give us a few moments to talk.” I looked at Beatrix. “And we’re going to get to the bottom of this.” I walked to her and gripped her hand. “But I am so happy you are here.”
She smiled. “Me too. It’s been…weird.”
“You have no idea. Just give me a moment to get the tea.” I released my grip and returned to the kitchen.
Cordelia trundled after me, climbing into the snack cupboard to find something to her fancy. From inside the cupboard, she asked, Is that Beatrix?
“Yes. How did you know?”
You talked about her a little with Grey while I eavesdropped.
“Admitting to it so freely?”
She climbed out of the cupboard, a bag of biscuits in her hand, and shrugged. Also, I think her disappearance was when I knew to come to your house.
“You think that spurred it on?”
Something had to. Things were changing. Fate was moving the wheel. I could feel it, so I followed it.
“Is that a familiar thing?”
She shrugged. Maybe.
With any luck, Beatrix might regain some memories of her time as a raven and have some answers. Because that was some serious magical business. Hopefully, she’d know something.
I finished making the tea—with way too much milk and sugar, just the way Beatrix liked it—and took the mugs to the small table.
She sat, staring at the wood grain, her gaze somewhat vacant. When I appeared in her peripheral vision, she jerked and looked up at me, her eyes clearing.
“Remembering more stuff?” I set the mug on the table.
She nodded. “I spent a lot of time in the air and following a woman around. She had”—she waved her hand around her head—“ever-changing colorful hair.”
“Eve.”
“That’s her name?” She nodded thoughtfully. “That fits. Like Adam and Eve from the garden.”
“Not quite.” Did I explain now that Eve was Fae?
“Okay, sure. But, I mean, she reminded me of life. And nature. There was, like, a light that glowed around her—an energy that made me feel good. Comforted. Like it kept me from being pulled into the darkness.”
“Do you think the darkness was…death?”
“Maybe.” She sipped her tea, thinking. “I honestly have no idea, but it felt like she was helping to keep me near you. I could feel you, and that’s where I wanted to be. What’s going on?”
“Well…” I didn’t actually have an answer to that, but I could start at the beginning. “You know my weird ability to see things?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s magic. Not rabbit-in-the-hat magic, but real magic.” As quickly as I could, I filled her in on everything that had happened after her death: me, my magic, coming to Guild City, meeting Mac and the rest of the gang. Grey.
Occasionally, she looked over at Cordelia, who had finished off her biscuits and sat clutching the empty bag.
Finally, I finished my tale, or as much of it as I thought was relevant.
“Holy crap.” Beatrix looked down at her now cold tea. “You’re serious?”
“Totally.”
She drew in a deep breath. “That’s amazing.”
“Wait until you see the city.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle it.”
“You will. I’m sure.”
She nodded. “I hope so. I guess it all makes a weird kind of sense. I wasn’t fully myself. I just knew that the woman—Eve—felt good to be around. Then, when you arrived, it was like I’d been waiting for you. Time passed, and you became more and more familiar to me, like my memory was returning.”
“And that’s why you turned up the other morning and took me to the Shadow Guild tower and showed me where the book was.”
“Yes!” Her eyes flashed with the excitement of memory. “That day, it was like all the pieces were falling into place. I knew you would save me, and that the answers were there.”
“Was it my magic that would save you?”
“It had to be, right? This whole place runs on magic, from what it sounds like.”
“That’s true.” And I had been coming into my power more and more.
“I could feel your power growing,” she said. “It made you more familiar to me. Like I was tied to you. Like I’d been tied to you since the moment I died, but I didn’t remember until you gained more of your magic.”
“And Eve?”
“She helped, somehow. Her power kept me on this plane until you showed up.”
I leaned back in the chair. “I truly have no explanation for this.”
Beatrix shrugged. “Well, I think you