“Let’s get you inside,” Kessian said. “Warm you up.”
With lightning reflexes I didn’t think she’d have the capacity for in her current state, she grabbed Kessian’s wrist. His face went white like it hurt, and in a moment of self-reflection, Amelia softened her grip.
“I have things to tell you. Things I saw, knew.”
A terrible hope arose. “The others. Laurelie, Dad, everyone the wraith ever took. Can they be brought back, too?”
She shook her head. “Not themselves anymore. You know how caterpillars become goop in the cocoon before they become a butterfly?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“No!?” said Kessian.
“It’s like, the longer you’re in there, the less you’re … well,you. The more you’reeveryone. I—I’m Amelia, but for a little while I felt like Laurelie, but mostly the strid.” She shook her head. “But that’s not what I need to tell you.”
“There’ll be time,” I said.
“No! I’m already forgetting.”
Kessian said, “Tell us inside.”
“It wants to go home,” she said as we helped her up the stairs into Lunaris. “I—Itis a people and a place, but it’s lost its identity.”
My familiar had laid out warm towels and fresh clothes. Amelia had to be convinced to change. I pushed her through the door to my bedroom. She kept babbling as I closed it to give her privacy.
“Someone poisoned it. I should know who, but his face is a monstrous blur. It didn’t want to remember. It didn’t want to think of him.”
“So it’s a man?” I said.
“I think so? The strid. It’s sick, and taking people makes it feel a little better, but also makes it sicker, but it can’t stop.”
“I’m listening,” I called to her from the kitchen while pulling tithes out of the first-aid kit under my sink.
“It took me to this place. Somewhere in the water. It looked like … I don’t know how to describe it, and the picture’s not as clear anymore. Was it ever? It’s like a dream I’m trying not to forget. And I have to tell you. It feels important.”
“Keep going,” I said. “Maybe talking about it will jog your memory.”
Kessian pulled his trousers down so I could run a healing spell over the slash marks left on his leg. They closed, leaving behind pink scars.
“Grandad’s house was there. We—I kept visiting it. Something about time. Something about the clocks …”
The door burst open. Kessian hurriedly pulled his torn trousers back up. Amelia, drowning in the T-shirt and pajama bottoms I’d loaned her, came out, rubbing her head and grimacing as she tried to remember the rest.
“Take me to Grandad’s house.”
“Your family will want to know you’re okay,” Kessian said.
“This can’t wait! I’m afraid I’ll forget it all. Please.”
I grabbed my keys. Lunaris had fired up the engine before I’d crawled into the driver’s seat.
We pulled up outside Grandad’s house ten minutes later. It still had the stench of smoke to it and a blackened smear fanning up from the burnt-out window. I’d barely parked before Amelia was clambering out the door, rushing up and lifting a plant pot for the spare key.
“Clocks. Clocks. Something about time,” she kept saying as she fit the key in the lock and pushed inside.
The smoky smell hit us harder as we entered. Amelia walked up to the grandfather clock, running a hand along the glass. “No, no, not that one.”
She walked a lap through the living room, dining room, and kitchen. The clocks were countless. If she required a specific one, I wouldn’t know where to begin. She went up the stairs at a harried pace. I took my time in case Kessian needed my help, but he doggedly clung to the railing and used his cane.
