“Are we leaving soon?” Holly asked. She and Hazel sat at the kitchen table, sipping tea as a lantern cast fitful shadows along the darkened walls.

Hazel closed her eyes. “For the hundredth time, no. It’s still too early.”

“It’s night outside. How is that too early?”

“I told you, we need to wait until past midnight.”

“But why?”

“Because that’s how this particular magic works, that’s why.”

“But why do we have to sit here, drinking tea? I’m bored. And tired.”

“Because it’s impossible waking you up early for anything once you fall asleep. And we’re sitting here drinking tea because I like sitting here and drinking tea before I visit Mother. It gives me a chance to think.”

“About what?”

“About how nice it is to have some quiet without my younger sister pestering me.”

“If you’d let me sleep, I wouldn’t pester you,” Holly murmured.

“No, you’d just conveniently oversleep until it was too late to visit.”

Holly turned quiet and stared into her cup.

“It’s past time you saw her, Holly. I’ve been keeping you away from this mess for far too long.”

Still staring at her cup, Holly nodded. “I know, and I want to. It’s just… what if she’s different?”

“She’s dead, Holly.” Hazel took care to keep her voice gentle. “Of course she’s different.”

“What if she doesn’t remember me?”

“She talks about you every time I visit. She’ll remember you.”

Holly took a deep breath and drank some tea. “Now is it time?”

Hazel sighed. “Well, let’s see. It’s been about three minutes so… no.”

---

The night passed excruciatingly slow. Between Holly’s restless impatience and Hazel’s own worries, every minute crawling by felt more like an hour. She almost cheered once the little clock on the mantle struck twelve. Holly had dozed off while resting her head against the table, so Hazel shook her awake and pulled her out the door.

Arm in arm they walked in silence as they made their way down the wooded path. Holly dragged her feet and made more noise than Hazel was comfortable with. Even so, she was glad Holly was there. It was nice not having to walk down the darkened road alone.

The brambles overtaking the cottage had thickened and become more lush since the last time Hazel had been there. She knew she should trim back some of the growth, but this was a garden she didn’t know if she had the stomach to tend.

They slipped past the waterlogged door and into the cottage.

“Go start a fire in the hearth there,” Hazel said. “I’ll crumble the cake.” She poured water into the basin, then pulled a cloth parcel from her pocket and unwrapped it. She broke off a piece of the rhubarb cake and popped it into her mouth. It was more tart than sweet—invigorating, really, which she welcomed at such a late hour. She crumbled the rest of the cake into the water.

Once the fire was lit, Holly came and stood next to her. “Now what?”

“Now we wait.”

“For how long?”

“It depends.”

“On what?”

“I don’t know, Holly. It just does. Sometimes she’ll appear quickly. Other times she won’t. She’s trapped by a product of dark magic. It’s not exactly a specialty of mine.”

Holly tightened her lips and narrowed her eyes. “How did you know how to find her here? She got sick and died, Hazel. She should be gone. How did you know she wasn’t? How did you know about any of this?”

Hazel swallowed and looked away. “I don’t know,” she whispered.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

Hazel shook her head, still unable to look at Holly. “I don’t know. It was just a… a feeling I had that if I came here at a certain time and did a certain thing, that I’d see her again. I don’t know how it works, and I don’t know how I know, but I do.” She forced herself to look at Holly. “What does that say about me that I knew those things?”

Holly’s mouth worked soundlessly awhile. “I… I don’t know. It doesn’t have to mean anything, does it? You’ve always been the smart one. Maybe it’s just you being smart, that’s all.”

“I have a natural inclination towards Wyr magic. That’s what Pyrus told me. I’ve been practicing it at a rudimentary level without any training. That almost never happens.”

“Because you’re smart, that’s why.”

“What if it’s the same with necromancy? Our father’s a necromancer. What if I’m like him? What if I’m able to work this horrible, dark magic without any training at all?”

Holly looked away as she took a step back. She wrung her hands. “No. That’s not true.”

“Then why aren’t you able to look me in the eyes?”

Holly swallowed but said nothing.

“Are you tormenting your sister again?” Willow said as she warmed her hands by the fire.

Hazel looked at her and then at Holly, who kept her gaze pinned to the floor.

Willow approached and reached out and touched Holly’s hair.

Holly jerked away. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked at her mother, then she resumed staring at the floor.

Willow moved over to the bowl and leaned over it as she breathed in. She wrinkled her nose. “Rhubarb,” she said, turning towards Hazel. “You know I don’t like rhubarb.”

“It was all we had, and you didn’t want honey cake, so…” Hazel shrugged. “It’s better than nothing.”

Willow looked at Holly, but Holly wouldn’t meet her gaze. She turned back towards Hazel. “So how have the two of you been? Any exciting news?”

Silence hung between them as Hazel tried to think of what to say. Holly didn’t seem like she wanted to talk at all. So Hazel said, “We might know where Father has gone.”

Willow clasped her hands and tightened her jaw, her expression still. “I see. And where would that be?”

“Sarnum.”

Willow’s expression remained cold. “I’ve heard that place is a sty. I don’t envy you if you go there.”

“You’re not at all concerned with the news that we might know where Father is? You don’t care?”

“You know my thoughts on the matter. Do we really need to have this argument again?”

Hazel looked away shook her head. “No. I suppose not.”

Willow moved back to the fire and put her pale hands near the flames. “I want to know about the two of you. What have you been up to? Do you have any stories, Holly?”

Holly clenched her hands together, but she said nothing as she avoided her mother’s gaze.

Crickets chirped, and in the distance, a frog croaked.

“I became a Wyr witch,” Hazel said.

Willow smiled though it seemed weary. “Really? How nice.”

“I need to go,” Holly said and hurried out of the cottage.

Willow’s smile faded as she stared at where Holly had gone.

“Give her time, Mother. This was her first visit here. It’s difficult for her.”

“It’s difficult for all of us,” Willow said.

Silence lingered between them. “I should go. Make sure Holly is all right.”

Willow nodded.

Hazel took a deep breath. “I don’t know when we’ll be back. We’re going to be leaving for Sarnum soon. So…”

“Have a nice trip.”

“Is that really all you’re going to say?”

Willow continued to stare at the waterlogged door. “Be sure to throw out the cake crumbs before the rats come in.”

Hazel lifted her chin and set her jaw. Then she tossed the cake water out the window and walked out of the cottage.