My brows raise. “Then how did you die? You look young for a natural death. I mean, if it’s okay to ask.”
She bats her hand in dismissal. “We’re family, of course it’s okay. We had an accident. Foolish thing. The car slid in oil on the road,and we crashed. My husband hit the wheel. He died on the spot. I used the shadows to try and bring him back, but what I didn’t know is that concealment spells disappear with the caster’s death.”
So many new words. The caster is the person who created the spell. So that means... “The moment your husband died, the spell vanished. Since you used the shadow spell...”
“A Light Mage found me. No, not your vampire. He was a Mage,alright. And he had been tasked with hunting the last remainingShadow Mages. We have no peace.” She laughs, but it’s a dry, tired laugh. “If I hadn’t been in the crash, I would have won. But I was wounded, and he was powerful.”
“Light Mages suck,” I say, nodding at her.
“That they do.” Helen lifts a forefinger. “But I studied enough so I can give you a tip. You can shadow walk.”
I blink a couple of times. “Shadow walk?”
“I did that all the time since I was lazy as fuck and the coven house was huge.” Helen laughs. “You can become part of the shadows, Cassandra. Reach out for them and let them sink into you. In the first levels, you’ll be able to mix with the shadows until you’re basically invisible. Once you’re advanced enough, you’ll learn to walk between shadows.” And she smirks. “Disappear here, appear somewhere else.”
My jaw drops. “Teleport?”
She nods. “Teleport. Best thing in the world. Never took the stairs if I could help it.”
This sounds... amazingly hard. Shit, I barely know how to use my powers to attack and heal. Teleporting would the epitomeof amazing. I look at the shadows in the corner of the house and call for my power. Can I test it now? No trickle comes, so I force myself harder, pinching my brows together.
Dad taps my hand gently. “No use here, Cassie.”
I relax. “Why?”
“Your powers are part of your physical body. You can only use them in the physical world.”
Oh. It makes sense. “So, I lost my ability to tell lies from the truth?” It is part of my powers, after all.
Dad nods. “So useful. I miss that.”
“Me, too,” says Helen, glancing at Nancy. “Then I’d be able to know when Arthur’s going fishing when he should be visiting his family.”
Nancy laughs. “Those two won’t stop until they get into trouble.”
Fishing in the Underworld? I slot that for a later discussion. “Thanks for the tip, Helen. Grandma,” I correct myself before looking down at my arms. Will I get the tattoos back when I cross the portal? Even though I came to like them, it’s nice to see the pale skin of my forearms again. Then I remember how Dad had tattoos in my memory, and I look down at his hands. They’re as empty as mine.
Dad follows my gaze to his fingers. “Did the power stain your hands, too?”
I lift my brows. “Well, I used to think of them as tattoos, but that works.”
He smiles. “They’re also part of your physical body. They can’t follow you here.”
Helen hums as she gets to her feet to rummage through the cupboards. “You’re only stained by your power if you don’t understand it.” She comes back with a loaf of bread and jam.
“What do you mean?”
“If you embrace your power, and accept it as a natural part of you, there’s no reason for the power to stain you. The stains, or tattoos, only come up if you fight against your nature. It’s like being bitter. Keeping all the problems inside, never solving them. One day,” and she snaps her fingers, “you get an ulcer.”
Dad rolls his eyes, chuckling. “That’s not how it happens, Mom.”
“My point still stands,” she says, plopping a huge dollop of jam on her piece of bread. “The two of you grew up keeping your powers inside. You didn’t get to train it and admire it. Shadows are part of the world, just like the light. It’s not good or bad. Just natural.”
Her words resonate with something inside me. They light my heart up. I smile at her, feeling more confident than in the last few months. “Thanks, Grandma. That really helped.” Now I know I have to learn to accept this power. And then I’ll train the shit out of it so I can take on Kayn.
Grandma Helen smiles back. “You look ready to go.”
I shoot to my feet. “That I am.”