Cold dampness surrounded me, formed a grave to hold my body for all times and assured me that it would drown me in its frigid depths. I rejected my death with an unsteady breath. I had too many people to take care of now, Alaric and Tia. I had people I had things to say to now, things that mattered, like Malia. And I had mysteries to unravel, like Kain and his past.

I started awake with the cold fading the moment my eyes opened. Blankets wrapped around me kept me from moving, but also held the last vestiges of cold at bay. A pit in the center of my stomach growled and demanded food.

Malia patted my head. “Are you awake, hon?”

I slid my arm through the blanket prison and cupped her cheek. “You’re here. I’m glad.”

The chill reached me when my arm left the comfort of my blanket cocoon, and I faded out of consciousness again.

The second time I awoke, I did not remember my dreams. A fire flickered and snapped a few feet away and the smell of woodsmoke reminded me of the warm house we’d foolishly left in a panic. But this time when I opened my eyes, the chill could not reach me. Pillows softer than anything manmade cradled my head and I looked up to find Malia sitting next to me, my head on her lap. She stared into the fire and hadn’t noticed me waking yet.

Of all the people I would have regretted losing, Malia meant the most to me in the moment and I hated to confess that I knew next to nothing about her, only that she was strong, passionate, and intelligent. I might have elevated her onto a pedestal somewhere along the line.

“Hey.”

Malia jumped at my greeting. “You’re awake! And you’re okay!” She bent over m with widened eyes and rosy cheeks. “I’ve been worried about you, hon.”

Gods I loved it when she called me that. I should have said that to her. “Thanks. What happened? Where are we?” My good intentions about asking after Malia’s past evaporated before my present curiosity.

“We found some other survivors. They let us stay with them.” I shifted in Malia’s lap. A pair of children Tia’s age sat on the other side of the fire with their hands on their knees staring at me. In a moment of panic, I checked myself again. I was still covered with blankets, so I wasn’t accidentally flashing a bunch of kids.

I relaxed into my blankets and regarded the kids. They wore layered clothing, multiple shirts and coats, and matching woven hats. “This is Kyle and Ricky.” Malia motioned to them and the two boys stiffened.

“Our moms are right outside with your cowboy friend! They’ll be back anytime!”

“Hey runts!” The door opened and admitted a small flurry of snow. The tall red-headed man who stepped into the room blew into his hands. “What’s all the noise about? We got sleeping guests!” His voice was louder than it needed to be too, but I was already away so it didn’t matter to me how loud he was. Brushing off his pants, he leaned over and checked on me. “Oh, she’s awake. Good.”

Malia beamed at the newcomer and my stomach sank at the sight of her look. He winked at her as he bent over and laid a series of logs next to the fire. “Thanks Jeremy.” The way Malia spoke made me sit up and cover myself with the redundant blankets. I didn’t need them, my shawl had started working again. But they’d shield me from my own churlishness and from the warm welcome Malia offered Jeremy.

“How you doing, miss?” He turned from stacking logs and extended his hand to me. “Name’s Jeremy. I’m Kyle’s older brother.”

Malia’s smile broaden as she turned to me. “Jeremy’s been a big help in the last few days.”

“Sh… crap,” I glanced over at the two boys on the other side of the fire. “How long was I out?”

Malia’s expression darkened. “Three days. You woke up a few times delirious and we managed to feed you some broth. But other than that, you’ve been out.” Her hands rose to her shoulders as if to drive off the chill Jeremy had brought in.

“Where are we?”

Jeremy planted his fits on his hips. “Why, we’re in the lap of luxury! This here’s the Smith family auto-shop! I’m the proprietor, Jeremy Smith.”

Malia snorted at his announcement, but I felt lost in the weeds of in jokes and references. “Oh, that’s nice.”

“Trust me, it’s better than outside with the… newcomers.” Jeremy’s gaze flicked to the door from where he’d come. The two boy covered their mouths with their hands and shook as if Jeremy had opened the door and beckoned the cold back in.

Though we burned a fire in the middle of an open concrete slab, no smoke gathered in the room. I needed something new to focus on, so I tried to find the chimney the smoke escaped from. Nothing presented itself. This was one of the lessons I remembered from my mom and dad. People died all of the time from poorly ventilated fires, even in modern homes. “How’s the smoke escaping?”

Jeremy had loped over to the other side of Malia, sitting close enough that I could detect his stink. Kyle and Ricky nudged each other at my question, but Jeremy leaned over Malia. Now that I wasn’t in her lap, he came far too close to Malia for my liking. Then again, whatever had passed between us was clearly in my imagination. Jealousy was a gross emotion and I wouldn’t subject Malia to it if I could help it. With his hand planted on the ground near Malia’s leg, Jeremy said, “our moms are witches. They keep the room smoke-free and help ward off the newcomers.”

“Oh, that’s cool!”

“Right? They’re outside checking the wards with your sister and Kain. He said he knew some things about wards. He’s been a huge help.”

“Where’s Alaric?”

Malia grimaced at my question, but the ever cheerful Jeremy hooked his thumb toward a corner. “He’s probably sleeping off his drunk again. Been tanked since the first night here.” I stood up and let the blankets fall. I didn’t need the warmth they provided anymore, not with Roo back to working. Jeremy’s eyes widened and the boys both gasped. Roo slithered around me and did its job though, I hadn’t exposed any of them to my nude body, just suggested it. “Wow, I thought they were kidding.” Jeremy pointed to Malia. “But I guess it’s true.”

“What is?”

“You’re like our moms.”

Excitement prodded me toward the door to interrogate the missing witch-moms. But first I needed to check on my own ward. Alaric’s smell reached me before I could make him out between the rags in the corner. A clay jug, the kind that belonged to Kain’s original timeline, sat next to him on its side. Alaric was covered in blankets and tarps. His head lolled over the side of his mound of blankets, but he didn’t stir when I approached.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

He was breathing fine, despite the crook of his neck And his breath exuded clouds of ammonia-like reek. Only a really heavy drunk resulted in that particular stink. But at least he was breathing.

I held my breath as I staggered away from him. With Malia and Alaric safe, I made for my next target: Tia.

When I opened the door Jeremy had entered from, blasts of snow and squeals from my kid sister struck me in equal measure. “Tia!” I screamed for her over the sound of the wind and lurched in her direction. Three adults, my kid sister, and Reggie engaged in a snowball fight outside the walls of the mechanic/gas station. All five of them froze at my shout as if caught red-handed.

But then Tia’s squeal transformed into a bellow of delight and she raced at me across the lot. I barely spared Kain or the two women with him a moment’s attention. Squatting down, I shouted in joy and scooped Tia up from her charge.

“You’re awake and not sick or anything, yay!” Tia flailed her arms and reared her head back as I swung her about. In my former body I would never have managed something like this. As bad at the Collapse had been, I really appreciated some of the changes.

“I am awake! And you look safe!”

Tia pointed toward the adults, her head and arms swinging about as I spun. “Momma M and Momma Pearl have been teaching me wards! And Kain’s been protecting us! And Reggie plays with me in the morning. We play poker and gin rummy!”

Reggie waved his hands at Tia as if to silence her while the rest of the adults approached.

Kain nudged me with a knuckle. “It’s good to see you awake, girl. Thought we might have lost you there for a few days.”

“What happened?”

Between the two women, the one with the white streak in her hair and the hearty build intimidated more than the other. A frown augmented her bulk. “You overextended yourself and the strain almost killed you.”

The second woman put her hand on the first’s arm and both of their expressions softened. “Pearl, remember what it was like? Go easy.” The second woman had red hair with streaks of white running through it like snow rivers. She stepped forward and extended her hand. “My name’s Amanda, but everyone around here calls me Momma M. Either’s fine.” Amanda slid her gaze to Pearl and sighed. “And this grumpy bear right here is Pearl. Don’t let her fool you, she’s sweeter than she looks.”

Pearl scoffed at Amanda’s comment and rolled her eyes. “Name’s Pearl. I don’t really care what you call me as long as it isn’t a bad word.”

I shook Amanda’s hand, but Pearl didn’t extend her own. “I’m Harriet. It’s nice to meet you both.” I shook Tia in my left arm and tilted my head toward her. “Thanks for watching this bundle of madness and watching over us.”

“Tweren’t nothing.” Amanda beamed at my thanks and pointed to Kain. “Honestly, Kain and Malia have been huge helps.”

“Your boyfriend drinks like a demon, though.” Pearl folded her arms and frowned at me.

“You mean Alaric, he’s not my boyfriend, he’s my cousin.”

Pearl shrugged and her frown deepened. Before she could speak, Kain clapped his hands. “Well, it’s good that you’re awake. I was just exchanging information with Pearl and Amanda that you might benefit from.”

“What information?”

“He’s been teaching us about demons and how to ward against them. In exchange, we’ve been teaching him about…” Amanda’s hands shook as she cupped them in front of her mouth, as if they might flutter away, “…witchery!”

Pearl rolled her eyes again and snorted. She walked off to lean her back to the wall of the shop while Amanda bent down and took a pinch of snow from the ground. My shawl quivered around me and I detected a faint aura around Amanda’s hand. Seconds later the snow reflected light from the sun, despite the fact it hid behind storm clouds, and shifted into the shape of a dove. The dove swirled around Amanda and Kain’s head as it squawked at us and flew to the top of the shop’s roof.

“Wow, that’s pretty cool!” I stared open mouthed at the dove while Tia clapped her hands near my ear and demanded a bird of her own. Kain frowned briefly at the display, but didn’t say anything to correct Amanda. “Demon wards, huh? I feel like we could have used those before, right Kain?”

His vanishing frown returned in force. “Sure we coulda. But then no one in our group could lay them down. And by the time we knew we needed them, it was a mite late.”

Reggie elbowed Kain, shaking his head as he did, “And who’s fault is that?”

Ignoring their banter, I said, “Only witches can lay down wards?”

“No, you just have to…” Before Amanda could answer me, Pearl kicked off the wall and grumbled.

“Let’s have ourselves a big ol’ discussion inside where it’s warm. Most of us can’t stand out in freezing weather in our panties.” The glare on Pearl’s face was real, but I couldn’t tell if it was from my state of near-undress or from something else about me. No one scolded her for her attitude, in fact we all moved back inside with speed. Overhead, the clouds threatened snow and I didn’t want to cross Pearl further by digging in my heels and refusing to follow her. None of the others chose to cross her either.

Back inside the shop Amanda and Pearl removed their gloves and checked the firewood. “Jer, you scavenged this, right?” Pearl tapped at the logs.

“I did ma’am. From nearby houses like you said.”

Pearl actually smiled. “Good boy. No sense in borrowing trouble.” Her eyes lost focus as she stared at the wood and once again I noticed a halo of rainbow light around her body. “Looks like they’re dry enough to be safe.” Pearl moved her hand over the logs as if tracing runes in the air over them. A few wisps of steam wafted off of the logs and Pearl grunted. Smoke curled up from them after the steam and Pearl waved her hand. With that gesture the smoke formed itself into a ball and flew after Pearl, who walked to the door and sent the ball of smoke away. She noticed me watching her and said, “Sends the smoke away.” The way she regarded me made my stomach clench, as if she wished she could ball me up and cast me from her home. Had I done something while delirious to anger this woman? Whatever it was, I felt the pressing need to apologize to her before the space between us festered.

Amanda motioned to me and Malia. “You two should join us in the office.” She pointed to Kain. “Your friend asked us to start teaching you two as soon as you awoke. And we need to renew the wards anyway.”

The promise of magic banished the threat of Pearl’s rage. She angled toward our trio, with Kain following after. But if I was about to learn to use magic, I could bear Pearl’s antipathy in silence. “We need to worry about the others?”

“Jer and the boys can’t use magic.” Amanda shrugged.

Pearl interjected, “it’s not confined to women, obviously. But they don’t have the knack.”

The two didn’t object to Tia’s presence and insisted Malia join us. Djinn were said to be magical creatures, so Malia made sense. But why would Tia join us? “Does she have the knack?” I pointed to Tia with my free hand.

Pearl grunted, but Amanda beamed. “You’re darn tootin’.” Amanda sidled up next to us and tousled Tia’s hair.

“I’m tootin’!” Tia pumped her fist.

“Not while I’m holding you, you’re not.” That earned me giggles from Tia and most of the others. Pearl wanted nothing to do with me. Nothing I could do about that, based on the evidence so far.

Inside of the office, a large wooden slab had been laid over the generic office desk and the whole thing pushed to the center of the room. The slab bore intricately carved lines and whorls that animated as I stared at them. A glow, similar to what I’d seen from Amanda and Pearl, suffused the runes as they crawled about the wood’s surface.

“What is that?” I pointed to the runes on the table without closing the distance. They made the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up.

“That’s what we’re going to show you. It’s the control rune for the building. Keeps the outer wards tuned to the right things.” Amanda gestured to the runes with a showman’s flourish.

“Like what?”

“Like demons, giants, fairies, and undead.” Pearl all but growled out her answer. “Kain taught us the demon rune and how to avoid targeting Reggie.” The imp earned a smile from Pearl where I couldn’t earn anything less than rage-filled scorn. I did my best to ignore Pearl and redirect my attention to the rune.

“The three of us can learn this?”

Amanda’s eyes twinkled as she bobbed her head. “Oh yes. We’ve already started teaching Tia. She’s rather talented.”

“Hear that squirt, you’re useful!” I leaned my head to touch hers and Tia giggled in response.

“I’m super useful! Yeah!”

Kain said, “I’m useless at wards, but I know a good many runes for directing and setting ‘em.” He pointed to Amanda and Pearl. “Between these two lovely ladies, all three of you should be up to wards in no time flat.”

“Better be quick about it too,” Pearl grumbled and eyed me. “With as many people as we have now, we need all the help we can get.”