Aunt Jo pulled the dripping baggie out and examined it with a wrinkled nose. “Did ya pull this off?”
“I found it in some bushes. Whatever this is, it’s in a dead body,” I said. “Whose is it?”
She raised an eyebrow. “What makes ya think I know?”
“The hair is red.”
“Lots of people got red hair.”
“But we have it specifically. You said that some of the others had been attacked. Maybe one of them got taken.”
Aunt Jo sighed. “No knowin’ that.”
Flames burst from her hand and consumed the baggie. I gagged at the stench of burnt plastic, hair, and flesh. Her gaze remained narrowed on mine, and she wheeled closer to me.
“It doesn’t matter who the daimon is wearing,” Aunt Jo said. “Ya can’t take it on like this. We’re gonna have to force out that blockage, even if it takes all night.”
She grabbed my wrist with her thumb resting on the tattoo and twisted my arm so the elbow came in. I slipped from the chair and was forced to my knees. She placed her forefinger, middle finger, and thumb on my crown. Heat and pressure built up in my head, and lights of orange and red flashed before my eyes. I bit back a cry and balled my hands into fists.
“That’s it,” Aunt Jo’s voice sounded far away. “Yer a strong girl. This should be nothin’.”
Endure, my mother had said, but how long had she? She’d been gone for weeks on that last mission. Every day, I waited on the porch after school until the sun had disappeared. Then Aunt Jo would pull me in, claiming that the wolves would get me, not that there were any wolves close to where we lived. Still, I would sit in my little alcove window and stare out of our driveway, just waiting. The night she’d come home, I’d raced down the stairs in my nightgown and flung open the door.
My wrist was burning where’ Aunt Jo’s fingers touched me. I went limp with only her hand to hold me up. The strobe continued to flash in my eyelids and it felt as if my head was going to explode.
“Keep fightin’ Cassi girl. We’re gettin’ somewhere.” Aunt Jo’s voice floated from somewhere around me.
My mother had stood on the edge of the light when I flung open the door. I’d wanted to run into her open arms, but the burning on my wrist had kept me clinging to the doorframe. Come to me, her voice echoed eerily in the night. I took two steps forward before Aunt Jo yanked me back into the house. She stepped in front and spread her arms wide, blocking my view. A high pitched laugher shot through the night. Aunt Jo seized up, twisted her back to the side, and went flying off the porch and into the darkness. My mother stepped forward with a grin on her face and her eyes glowing a pale yellow. Some silent wind had sent her hair flying around her.
I squeezed my eyes shut, and tears ran down my cheeks. Something in my head broke, shifted, and dissipated away through my crown. Still the pressure remained. I pulled at my bonds, but Aunt Jo’s hands held tight.
“Enough,” I cried. “Let me go.”
“Not when we’re so close,” she yelled. “Whatever this is, ya need to face it.”
My mother had opened her arms again. Come to me and we can go far away. I whimpered with my heart pounding in my chest. Something wore my mother’s face, but it wasn’t her. That smile held no warmth. The night lit up with fire, and it hit my mother full on in the side. She screamed, and I with her, as she stumbled out of the porch light. The flaming figure had streaked away through the dark until it had become a speck in the distance. That was the last time I had seen her.
The buildup in my head exploded. It felt as if something heavy and dark passed through my crown. There was too much, and it traveled down to exit through my brow. I yanked myself from Aunt Jo’s grip and fell backwards. Millions of pins and needles raced across my skin, and my wrist burned as if it was on fire. Even the sweat on my face seemed to steam. I panted and blinked as the room came back into to focus. A small raised patch of skin in the shape of a thumb marred the tattoo. I sat up and nearly fell backward again as a dizzy headache settled in my brain. I braced myself with one hand and gave Aunt Jo a bleary-eyed glare.
“You burned me,” I said.
“Needed to,” she said. “And it worked. Ya should be feelin’ things like normal soon. It’ll heal.”
I shakily pulled myself to my feet and headed to the door.
“Where ya goin’?” she asked.
“Away from you.” I slammed the door behind me.