I fight the urge to squirm. Maybe it’s the best way for her—even after all of this, I’m still not convinced it’s the best way for me.

“I was so careful at first. But after a few years, I figured he had to be dead. I slowly got in touch with your parents again—started to live. I don’t know exactly when he found me, but I suspect it was through your mom,” she says, and her voice is raspy. “My fault again.” Then she’s quiet for a long time and I don’t push her. “I underestimated him and you paid the price.”

I swallow hard. “He’s been around a long time, actually. He made sure Mom and Dad’s accident that I tried to stop still happened.” My voice is shaky, but I tell her about the scene I saw in Smith’s memories.

“Wow,” my aunt whispers. “I had no idea.” The flash of guilt in her eyes makes me realize that she’s going to feel responsible for my dad’s death the same way I have for the last ten years. In some ways, I’ve been exonerated. But now Sierra has a whole new issue to work through. I don’t envy her. It’s going to be a rough few months for both of us.

Sierra leans forward. “With their origins so steeped in witchcraft, these Feeders often enchant an item to create a connection between themselves and their chosen Oracle. Did Smith ever give you something? Something he told you to hold on to?”

“Yes.” I put my hand into my pocket and my fingers brush both the coin and the necklace.

But they close around the coin.

Part of me doesn’t want to give up the necklace. Not yet. It has saved me, but more important, it gives me access to my other powers. The ones I’m not supposed to know about. I’m not ready to give them back.

So I pull out the cracked coin and drop it into Sierra’s hand without actually saying a word. She accepts it with a look of both interest and disappointment on her face. “Fascinating,” she whispers. “It’s not the coin at all but that shiny core you can see in the middle. He must have enchanted this himself.” She sighs and then says, “I had hoped he might have given you a crystal pendant.”

“Why?” I ask, trying to sound neutral.

“It’s mine. I guess technically it might be yours now. It’s what we used when I was younger. When my fight with Smith was over, the necklace was gone. I don’t know if he took it, or someone found it. Honestly, I’m not sure even Smith understands how important it is. It’s an exceptionally powerful focus stone that enhances all of the abilities we Oracles don’t use anymore.” She scrunches up her mouth. “That may not even entirely make sense to you.”

But it does. It explains everything. How I was able to jump into my supernatural plane the night I cornered Smith, and take him with me. How I was able to fend off the attack in my vision the night Smith tried to kill Clara. That necklace saved my life the first night I went into Smith’s world. But I say nothing.

“Will you tell me how Ja—Smith got involved with you?” she asks.

Part of me wants to say no. I’m ashamed and embarrassed that I was taken in that easily. But then, who would understand better than Sierra? So I start at the beginning—with the vision of Bethany’s death—and I tell her everything. All of the things I now realize I should have told her before.

All the things I wanted to tell her two nights ago—that Smith wouldn’t let me say.

“In the last few days, everything went crazy,” I say. “I had these weird visions, of me covered in blood, of you and Mom dead, Linden. What were those?”

“The way a Feeder takes over your mind is by first getting in, of course.” My face flushes; I did that completely on my own. “And then they have to break you. Smith obviously tried to do that by killing people you were close to, but I imagine he also attempted to just make chaos. To make you question everything until you literally went insane.”

She says it so calmly, but I was on the brink of that insanity and even now—in this comfortable room with Sierra’s arm around my shoulders—it terrifies me. “I had a vision of me killing a friend of mine.”

“He probably just made that one. Once they get in, a Feeder can exert so much power over you. I—should have prepared you. Taught you.” She sighs. “Charlotte, I know you’re not going to like this, but I need to get the Sisters involved.”

“Why?!” I’m not ready for this mysterious group. Not ready to join, not ready for them to know the things I did. Just not ready.

“One of the things I spent months doing after I cut off Smith is cleaning out my supernatural plane.”

“What do you mean, cleaning out?”

“You cut off Smith’s power, but your world still holds his dead world. One of the leaders of Delphi went into my supernatural plane with me and showed me how to destroy what was left and to restore my dome.”

“But you know how; can’t you show me how to do it instead?” I ask desperately.

“Not without a focus stone,” Sierra says softly. “I’ll have to borrow one from them. And I’ll have to tell them why.”

I clench my teeth and look away. The Sisters or my secret? Which is more important? After a few seconds, I dig into my pocket again and bring out the tarnished necklace. I hold it out flat on my palm and say nothing. Sierra stares at it and emotions I can’t begin to interpret flash across her face. I don’t know what I’m expecting. Anger? Betrayal?