I’m surprised to find her sitting on the love seat in front of the bay window, coffee cup in hand. It’s where I usually sit when I’m in here.

“You were waiting for me,” I say before I really think about it.

She nods. “Charlotte, today there’s nothing more important than you.” She pauses, staring down into her coffee. “I heard you went to see Linden.”

I nod. Now that I’m here, my tongue feels heavy and awkward. “We broke up.”

“Even after he lied for you?”

“He said—” I hesitate. “He said he could tell I was being compelled by an outside force,” I settle on. “He didn’t want me to have to take the blame for something that wasn’t my choice.”

“That’s very understanding of him.”

I nod. We’re both silent for a few seconds. “He had just gotten together with Bethany,” I say in that whisper that is the only way you can speak when tears are so close. “Smith killed her to get her out of the way.”

Sierra’s eyes close for a long time, and when she lifts them there’s an ocean of guilt there. “I’m sorry,” she says quietly. “I’m so sorry I brought him into your life. Yours and Linden’s. Everyone’s.”

“You didn’t do it,” I say, stepping forward with a lurch. “You didn’t mean to,” I amend. But I understand how she would feel that way. How Smith could make her feel that way.

“I’m still responsible,” Sierra says, forcing a brave smile. “Come, sit.”

I plop down beside her and even though there are still secrets to be shared, the walls between us have come down.

“Is your name really Shelby?” I ask, my head leaning against her shoulder.

“It was.”

“Are you going to switch back now?”

She shakes her head. “I’ve been Sierra for so long I almost don’t remember what it means to be Shelby.”

“What did you tell my mom when you switched names?”

“The truth. That someone had tried to kill me and that I needed to go into hiding. I think she forgets a lot of the time too. It’s just a name.”

I reach out and touch a lock of her hair. “Will you grow the strawberry blond out?”

She gives me the most relaxed smile I’ve seen on her for a long time. “Probably.”

“So after you severed your connection with Smith, did you go stay with my mom and dad?”

“Live with the newlyweds?” Sierra says with a snort. “Hardly.” But she sobers. “Jason knew your mom, so I couldn’t go to her. Couldn’t even talk to her for years. I went deep into hiding, changed my name, and moved away just to be safe. When your dad got a job ten miles from the town I was living in, it was great because suddenly we got to see each other again. It had been just over five years and I thought I was safe.” She pauses.

“He told me you guys knew each other as kids and that you were best friends.”

“That’s the truth. I don’t know that he really understood what he was at that point. Feeders skip so many generations—ten, twenty, even—that I imagine he had to figure out everything on his own.” She hesitates. “I have this theory that Feeders lie dormant until they’re awakened by the presence of an Oracle. Like a carrier gene. And then they’re drawn to them.”

“He said he feeds off the energy from visions?” I ask.

“In the most literal terms, yes. These creatures prey off of Oracle powers. When you aren’t able to fight off a vision, a trickle of power is released and a Feeder can survive for months—if just barely—on that trickle. He was very strong while we were friends because I secretly rebelled and rarely fought visions. And he practically lived in my second sight. I imagine he was dangerously weak when he started killing to get through your defenses.”

“Where did they come from?”

She shifts so she can look at me. “When Oracles started to pull themselves and their powers out of the political sphere, you can imagine the rulers of the world were very upset.” She shudders. “Legend says that they recruited Witches to experiment on Oracle captives and the result was a creature that could, in some ways, mimic the powers of both the witches and the Oracles, but at a terrible, terrible cost.” She leans over and puts a hand on my knee. “They’re despicable creatures.”

“I saw a scene where Smith choked you and then you did something, and he was, like, knocked out.” Sierra’s face is pale, but she doesn’t stop me. “He was bleeding from his ears, but obviously he lived. When I did it, Smith died.” I swallow hard, reliving those moments in my head.

“Smith’s connection with you was stronger than the one the two of us shared. He literally couldn’t live without you. The trade-off is that he had more control. Would have eventually gotten full control.”

“But he only got into my second sight two weeks ago!” I protest. “He was in yours for years.”

“He didn’t love you,” Sierra whispers. “Taking over someone’s mind is such a brutal thing. My guess is that he never had the will to truly take me over. He was strong enough, but he never went all the way.”

“You were in love?” I ask, equal parts horrified and empathetic.

She doesn’t answer. She doesn’t have to. “My senior year, I finally started to realize what he was. What he was doing. I didn’t understand the specifics, of course, all of that came later. But I knew it was wrong. We had the confrontation you saw, and I almost died. He broke some bones in my neck and I was in the hospital for a long time.” She chuckles darkly. “In the end, it was the Sisters who shielded me, who helped me fix my supernatural plane, and eventually made all of the arrangements for me to go into hiding. I owe them so much.” She adds in a whisper. “I joined them and decided to live by their rules, like I should have done from the beginning. I learned for myself that their way is the best way.”