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I shook my head "Not entirely, no"

"My son married an Acheé woman He does not know his wife is a witch or that his mother is a spirit walker" When I looked puzzled, she said, "A oman with the power to walk in dreams"

Kathyayini rocked back and forth as if she were in a rocking chair, giving me ti the chapel, a sharp herbal scent like roseie One Feather, back in New Orleans? I remeie had taken in them Could she walk in dreams too? "Okay," I said

"Okay," she repeated "This old woman wants her secrets, and the secrets of the woood with secrets They freak out"

I breathed out hter at the hed with me "I think it’s a bit late about the witches and Acheé men They know I’m sure the cops told theood co secrets They do best when protected

"I can see your soul, you know," she went on "Old soul Older than me Skinwalker soul I only ever see one like it, and she was even older than you Long tio, in another place," she said before I could ask "You also coated with ic of blood-charic charood for you" I remembered the charms in the boot box back at Esmee’s and on the table with our files, and the blood diamond, hidden in a safe-deposit box

"You also carry the shadow ics of one who should not walk the face of the earth," she said, e the phrase with nods of her head, "drinker of blood All that is bad All of it But the shadow ics of the blood drinker, that is the worst"

Her talk sounded a lot like Aggie One Feather’s mother’s chatter, half inco that I understood, but an acknowledg

"Blood drinkers are like U’tlun’ta," She pronounced it differently froer," she clarified, in case I had o crazy sooner or later Then they should die true death So should vampires, like the shadow one in your soul house"

And then I understood She could see Leo in et him out of me My heart thumped hard

CHAPTER 14

Try Not to Poison Me

Before I could ask, Kathyayini continued, "I don’t got soyears past was cold iron, blood, three cursed trees, and lightning Red iron will set you free" Whichsense She rocked so into shadows, the crevices of her face deepening and softening, like the way the moon shadows show the folded hills and valleys of the Smoky Mountains--the Appalachians Kathyayini added, "All that is for later, not for today Today is for this: shadow and blood are a dark light buried beneath the ground" Neither riddle made sense, but I had learned that they weren’t ht a path into a possible future

"The one you seek," Kathyayini said, "she is bound to the earth She didn’t et away now"