“I don’t think he’s coming back,” Sofia said.

The day had passed, with Gretta only opening the trapdoor for bathroom breaks and to stretch every few hours. As they rested, Gretta had read The Hobbit out loud and would likely finish by some time the next day. She worried that she’d have to read The Silmarillion tomorrow to keep Sofia entertained.

Gretta had recharged the solar-powered lamp, even though Sofia’s magic let them both see in the dark. Gretta was concerned that Sofia’s power might not work once she slept.

“Rowan is a survivor,” Gretta said. “We’ll wait here one more day for him. If he’s not back by then, we’ll have to move.”

“We have enough food and water here for a few more days,” Sofia said.

“We do, but I’m worried that somebody will find us if we wait too long,” Gretta said. “If Rowan left us, then he’s a jerk, and we could have stayed and eaten all his food before we left, but if somebody took him, they might come back. I don’t want to risk the chance that he is not a jerk.”

Gretta didn’t add that she was seriously hoping to leave before they had to start reading The Silmarillion.

“I don’t think he’s a jerk,” Sofia said.

Gretta shrugged. She’d met too many jerks to be so confident, but there was no sense in arguing with a kid. Sofia was still at the age where she might equate attractive, reckless, and athletic with kind, brave, and caring. Gretta was no fool, though.

Sofia looked sad. “What if he needs help and we’re leaving him?”

Gretta put a hand on Sofia’s shoulder. “If we go looking for him, we’ll put you in danger, and that would be the opposite of what your dad would want.” She paused, grimacing. “And if Rowan is just off somewhere being dramatic, I’d rather not risk getting killed so he can make a grand reappearance.”

Gretta hated to play the dad card, but everything she said was true. There was no way to look for Rowan without putting Sofia in danger. What’s more, if Rowan had abandoned them rather than been abducted, then Gretta would have to explain to Sofia why Rowan was murdered in a fit of tiger rage. That would be a difficult conversation.

Sofia might still see Rowan as Schrödinger's Coyote, both alive and dead until they found him. But, the more Gretta thought about it, Rowan was gone. He was either kidnapped and brutally murdered, or she’d found him, and he was brutally murdered. She’d keep this revelation to herself.

Gretta watched the child, who was tracing patterns in the dirt. “Can I ask you something?”

Sofia looked up. “What?”

“I’ve met your dad, and you’ve talked about how he worked to keep you safe,” Gretta began. “But I was wondering about your mom. Where is she?”

Sofia looked back to the sand and began to trace again. “My mom doesn’t live with us anymore. When she visits, my dad and her fight.”

“Do you remember what they fight about?”

“I don’t know,” Sofia said. “I think they fight about whether I can go to California and stay with my mom in the summers. It makes my dad angry.”

“Do you remember when you last saw your mom?”

“She was there when the bad men came to try to take me,” Sofia said. “She used her magic and told us to run.”

“Your mom’s name is Lucia, right?”

Sofia nodded.

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“We’re going to have to find her,” Gretta said.

Sofia’s voice broke. “I’m going to have to live in California now, aren’t I?”

“You belong with your mom,” Gretta said. “She’ll be worried about you.”

“If she worries about me, why did she move to California?”

Gretta shrugged. “Being an adult is complicated, and you’ll have to ask her that, but I’m sure she loves you.”

Sofia seemed to think about Gretta’s words. “You believe that. I can tell, but I don’t know why.”

“Because your mom stayed to fight people to save you, even though those people were dangerous.”

Tears began to fall down Sofia’s cheeks. “I don’t know if they hurt her like they hurt my dad.”

Gretta knelt and hugged Sofia. She didn’t dare lie and say it would be okay. Sofia’s ability to detect lies was so very inconvenient.

Gretta wondered where Lucia was now. She was here in Arizona days ago when Sofia was first attacked. Gretta remembered the damaged furniture in Miguel’s living room. It looked like reality had simply been scooped away. Lucia must have been a potent sorceress to do that. Gretta hadn’t seen blood at the scene, and she wondered if they had kidnapped Lucia or if she had escaped and was now desperately trying to find her daughter.

Gretta could likely find Lucia’s phone number using the software on her laptop, but she’d need to be able to safely use the Internet. She still had her phone, which she could tether to her laptop for internet access, but there were three issues. One, there likely wasn’t any signal out in the desert. And two, if Gabriela had help from the FBI, they’d trace any cell tower pings her phone made. Her latest encounter with law enforcement made her doubt she’d ever use that phone again. Three, her laptop was in the men’s room at an outlet mall. Oh, and four, her car had no gas!

The sound of a plane flying in their direction brought Gretta out of her thoughts. “We should get back into the cellar and read another chapter when you are ready.”

Sofia climbed back into the dank cellar. Gretta used the “rescarnis” spell to clear away scents and footprints nearby, followed Sofia into the cellar, and closed the trapdoor behind her.

“Gretta,” Sofia said. “Can you teach me how to heal?”

Gretta’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Are you hurt?”

“When they hurt my dad, there wasn’t anything I could do to help him,” Sofia said. “Maybe I could have saved him if I knew healing magic.”

“I saw what happened to your dad,” Gretta said carefully. “Healing magic could not have saved him.”

“Please,” Sofia said.

“I can heal myself without using a spell. It’s part of my gift from the Wild Mother, in the same way I can shift shapes.”

“But there is a magic word as well,” Sofia said.

“There is a spell, but even if you know the word, not everybody can use it,” Gretta said. “Unlike a gift that a goddess gives you and you can use at will, spells are a way of asking for a goddess’s help—the word gets the goddess’s attention, and that goddess chooses to act on your intention. I think some goddesses won’t listen when you ask for their help.”

“Healing is from the Wild Mother,” Sofia said. “She would help me if you asked her.”

“Healing requires channeling a tremendous amount of magic. You are bringing a portion of someone’s body forward in time, speeding up some processes, and, all the while, giving it the nourishment and guidance to heal well. It’s a spell I had to work up to over years of practice.”

“Is there harm in trying?” Sofia said.

“You might pass out from the exertion. And if you push yourself hard enough, you might even damage your ability to channel magic. The spells you know are more advanced than I would expect any child to do, but healing is well beyond that.”

“What if you are hurt?” Sofia asked. “You are the only one I have left. I need to know how to help you.”

“What if you lose your ability to do magic because you try before you are ready?” Gretta said. “Imagine how sad I will be.”

Sofia looked away. “If you need healing and I don’t try, what will happen to me?”

“The word is lathiel,” Gretta said. “I doubt you have the strength to use it yet. Don’t try to pull more magic if the spell doesn't work.”

“Can I try it now?” Sofia asked.

“You don’t look hurt,” Gretta said.

“I’m not, but you have a cut on your forearm.”

Gretta did have a shallow scratch from passing one of the scrub bushes near the camp. She sighed. “Do not try too hard. Your mother will be so upset with me if you get hurt.”

Sofia reached out and touched Gretta’s arm and said, “Lathiel.”

Nothing happened at first, and Gretta nodded. “Nothing to worry about. You’re not ready yet.”

There was a surge of magic from Sofia and a warmth washed over Gretta’s arm. The shallow wound knit closed.

“Whoa!” Sofia stumbled back and then sank onto the foam mattress. “I think I’m going to—”

Gretta rushed forward and checked on Sofia. The kid was passed out. She chided herself for teaching an eight-year-old healing magic. She’d have to wait until Sofia woke up to tell if there was any permanent damage.