Jotto had been leaning forward, paws on the table as he looked across at Dru. Now he stood, drew himself up to his full height, his ears almost touching the sloping reed roof, and said: “It’s been, what, four or five moons since Zarda first suggested a return to the Expanse. Why have you not Seen this before?”

Before either Dru or I could reply, Elver cut in. “Dru is only included in these meetings as a courtesy to Zarda. The understanding was that he would listen and say nothing. Yet here we are, taking his babbling seriously.”

“It isn’t—” Dru began.

Kalon silenced him with a wave of his paw. “Zarda, have you Seen this too?”

I shook my head. “No, Lord. But if Dru—”

“Dru is an untrained youngling,” said Kalon, flicking a dismissive ear. “If you, a Fate-seer, have not Seen this, then why should we believe it?” He stepped away from his throne-stool and paced from one straight-sided wall to its opposite, ears twitching with thought, while everyone else fell silent, waiting. “I see no reason to change our plan,” he declared at last, strutting to the end of the table where Dru’s overturned stool lay. He ran a paw through his grey mane, extended his one remaining wing, and went on: “As agreed before we were interrupted…” A fierce glance at Dru dissuaded any further dissent. “Zarda, Jotto, Shaya, and Urxov will form the scouting party. They will be accompanied along Death River by nine other flyers—”

“May I request, Lord, that the other two half-growns who are nearing maturity be allowed to fly with the escort?” Jotto lowered his head and set his ears to full apology as he dared a further interruption. Before Kalon could object, he plunged on: “My own pup, Tonil, and Myxot’s Yaver would consider it an honour to accompany Urxov on his Proving Flight.”

The rumble in Kalon’s throat might have been a growl, but Jotto’s clever reminder that this would be Urxov’s Proving Flight at least prevented him from biting anyone. “Yes,” he said, tugging on his beard, his voice gruff, “yes, that is an excellent idea, Jotto. Though Urxov, of course, will have the more dangerous flight, as part of the main scouting party. They will have to live on the Expanse for a whole moon, discover what they can of conditions there, and fly back here as quickly as possible with their report. The other flyers will stage along the route in threes till they reach Falls Camp, so that messages can be relayed if needed. They will all leave at dawn tomorrow, while the Spiral still shines overhead. May its sacred lights watch over them and return them safely to us. So it has always been.”

Jackie rushed Babu from the church. Outside, a cold March gale cut through the thin jersey of Jackie’s skirt and ruffled the flaps of her headscarf and trench coat.

Babu gripped her upturned coat collar to protect her neck. Her eyes were sad and watery.

What was Babu not telling her? What was she hiding?

As Jackie drove her clunky Oldsmobile home, Babu, silent and contemplative, clutched her purse and stared out the window. She let out a weary sigh now and then.

Jackie wasn’t sure where to begin in asking about Babu’s past. Despite their language differences, she and Babu typically communicated without a problem with simple day-to-day banter, but to communicate with Babu about what she had picked up from Mrs. Kevich and what she had said would take a lot more Russian nouns and verbs than Jackie had in her arsenal.

David’s translation services were out of the question. She didn’t want him to know any more about Babu than what he and she had learned after the possession fiasco. It was bad enough that David hadn’t been thrilled that to get rid of the demon, Babu had used a crystal paperweight, a pewter letter opener, and a channeling technique to open up a portal to send it back to the underworld and that his holy water and scripture reading had only agitated it.

Babu had assuaged the situation by saying these things were just instruments and that the real power came from the heart. And that’s where Jackie had left her questions about Babu’s life in Russia, never wondering what it was like before she had given up her pagan ways.

But now Mrs. Kevich’s accusations brought so many questions to mind. Was Babu the one who had frightened Mrs. Kevich as a girl? Did she cause those people to suffer and die? And why did Mrs. Kevich call Babu and her witches?

Even if Mrs. Kevich kept quiet about what she knew or thought she knew, it was more than that which troubled Jackie. Babu had the gift to heal just as Jackie did. What if they had this ability and many more paranormal abilities because they were witches—like a genetic thing she could never put behind her?

Jackie gripped the steering wheel and bit her lip. Her stomach grew queasy. As much as she dreaded what she might uncover, she had to find out more about Babu, more about herself, before her relationship with David went any further. A priest married to a psychic was maybe tolerable, but a priest married to a witch—an abomination!