Fearing for my son’s safety was paralyzing. My body felt frozen, but my heart and brain pumped panic into overdrive to compensate. I wanted to scream, but that wouldn’t be enough.
I mindlessly stacked shampoos, conditioners, and hair gels. I had to stay here. Theo couldn’t have gone far. Likely he’d come home any minute. If he didn’t see me here he’d worry—or worse, go out looking for me.
I rearranged the bottles on the shelves by height. I pulled them all down and began again, this time by the color of the bottle.
Three crisp raps on my back door startled me. I flung the door open without even pushing the curtain aside. Rika huddled on my doorstep. The blowing snow blocked her face behind a scarf, but the long fur coat was the same. Her dark eyes blazed like coals over her scarf.
“May I come in?”
Snow drifted across my slippered feet into the kitchen. It wasn’t Theo. My boy was still out there.
“I’m sorry. Now isn’t a good time.” I started closing the door, but Rika’s arm shot out. She stopped it before it latched.
“That’s why I came. There’s no time to waste. I found your son.”
I opened the door fully and stood on the step, searching for Theo. “Where is he?”
“He’s in a trap.”
My knees weakened, and I grabbed the metal rail on the steps to brace myself. The cold seeped into my fingers and palm.
“I have to tell Brody—the deputy.”
“No time. We need to leave now. With the two of us, we’ll get him out in a jiffy. Grab your jacket and your boots,” Rika said.
In mere seconds I was ready. It was only me and Rika on my backstep. “Are you sure you can find him again? Was he badly injured?”
“One thing at a time.” Rika reached inside her fur coat. Muttering, she dug around, eventually producing a small leather pouch. It was stained and worn soft.
She reached into it and pulled out a pinch of what looked like green moss. I’d never seen that shade of blue-green before. Interesting as it may have been, I was only intent on finding Theo.
“Take a closer look.” She raised her palm to my face.
I bent closer to humor her. When I did so, she blew the moss right into my face.
I sneezed. My eyes itched terribly. “What the fuck was that?”
“I’ll tell you since you’ll never remember it: memory loss moss.”
Before me, Rika shimmered. She tucked the pouch away, then set her bare hand on my forehead. I smelled an awful burning odor. It stung my nostrils. Then, incredibly, I was a snowflake being carried in the wind.
There is no sense of time in being a snowflake. There is only being in the now of the blizzard. I tried to open my eyes. Surely I might spot Theo this way. But I saw nothing. Instead, it was like riding a roller coaster in the dark.
I tried to call out to Brody, but I had no mouth.
Then suddenly I was back in my body, cold and wet. The wind chafed my face.
“Time to wake up,” Rika slapped my cheeks and I tried to push her away but the signal was not reaching my brain.
I struggled to open my eyes, but they felt glued shut. I finally pried them open when Rika kicked my side. The pain lifted whatever she’d given me that had made me so sleepy.
“What was that?” My tongue felt coated with carpet.
“You don’t remember?”
I shook my head slowly because it hurt to move it. “What have you done with my son?”
“That’s not very gracious after I brought you to him. But I forgive you; that potion can make one irritable.”