Rituals (Cainsville 5)

"Mallt-y-Nos," Alexios said, then whispered, "I don't think she's paying attention."

"Hearing loss," Helia said. "It happens when you get old."

"Unless you're us." Alexios cleared his throat. "Let's clear this up." He put out his hand, as his skin thickened to tree bark. "See? Dryad."

Seanna fell back. "Wh-what-- What did you give me?"

Alexios reached to catch her, but his hands were still covered in bark, and she kept staggering away until she hit the couch and toppled onto it.

"Well, that was ill-advised, agori mou," Helia murmured. She walked over to Seanna and crouched beside her as the woman tried to rise from the sofa. "You've taken a lot of drugs in your life, Seanna. They've done things to your mind. You're prone to hallucinations. In fact, everything you've seen and heard today? It's all in your mind. It's very sad, but we found you like that and contacted your son, and he brought you here to Cainsville. Do you understand?"

I expected Seanna to tell her where to go. Instead, she nodded dumbly, her eyes wide.

"Compulsion?" I murmured to Alexios.

He nodded. "It works best when the recipient wants to believe, which Seanna obviously does. You said she was fond of fae lore, so I thought I was making the right move. Apparently not."

"Muggles," I said.

He smiled. "Half-bloods can be even worse. Either they want the answers, or they really don't. I misjudged."

"I started it." I looked at Helia, still calming Seanna, and lowered my voice further. "How is Helia? I know she said dryads heal fast, but I've caught her wincing."

"We..." His smile faltered. "We don't heal quite as quickly as we used to. Nature can be eager to reclaim her own when she feels their time is waning."

"You mean--?"

"Helia will be fine. Thank you for your concern, though. You are very kind, even if you fear you are not."

Ricky put an arm around me in a quick embrace and murmured, "If you want to talk to Seanna, now's the time. That compulsion seemed to work like a double shot of Valium."

He was right. Seanna was listening to Helia and nodding, paying full attention. For the first time, that animal glint in her eye had faded.

Even when I walked over, she only looked up, curious. Watching her, I got a glimpse of the woman she could have been. Grace said Seanna lacked something. She was right. Call it a soul. Call it a conscience.

My spina bifida was a failure of completion, a side effect of my fae blood. The bone and membranes around my spinal cord had failed to form fully because I had DNA that did not naturally assume a human shape. In others, fae blood manifested as a missing finger or rib or organ. In Seanna, it went deeper, and maybe that meant we should treat her lack of a conscience as we would a physical defect. But even if that was true, I could not excuse her for what she did to Gabriel. I just couldn't.

"I need to talk to you, Seanna," I said.

"You are...?"

"A friend of your son."

She frowned at the word "son." That relationship--that obligation--was such a foreign concept that in this state, she didn't even seem to know what I meant by it.

"I know Gabriel," I said.

She nodded. "You're Gabriel's girl."

"Right." I bent before her. "Who told you to come back to Illinois?"

Across the room, Ricky frowned. Then he nodded, realizing I was playing a hunch.

"The woman," she said. "She wanted to get back at Gabriel for a case he defended. I didn't care what her reason was. I liked her plan. She promised if I followed it, I'd get all the money I need to retire. I'm getting old. It's time to retire. And Gabriel owes me. If it weren't for me, he wouldn't be where he is."

Even in her compliant state, she said that. Which meant she actually believed she'd played some role in Gabriel's success. Tempering steel through fire.

I took a deep breath. "Describe this woman."