I was turning to look for Stark when he was suddenly there beside me. His hand trailed down my arm until our fingers met and threaded together. “Is it about your mom?”

I didn’t trust my voice, so I just nodded.

“Your momma? I thought Damien said your grandma’s here,” Stevie Rae said.

“He did.” Aphrodite spoke before Damien could. She was studying me with a look that made her appear older (and nicer) than she was. “Is it about your mom?” she asked.

Stark glanced at me and I gave another little nod. Then he said, “Zoey’s mom’s dead.”

“Oh, no!” Damien said, tears instantly coming to his eyes.

“Don’t, okay?” I said quickly. “Let’s not do this here. I don’t want everyone watching me.”

Damien pressed his lips together, blinked hard, and nodded.

“Come on, Z. Let’s all go see your grandmomma.” Stevie Rae went to my other side and put her arm through mine. Aphrodite grabbed Damien’s hand, and they followed us from the arena.

All the way there I tried to get myself ready for what Grandma would tell me. I suppose I’d been trying to get myself ready to hear what Grandma would tell me ever since I woke up from my dream visit to the Otherworld where I witnessed Nyx welcoming my mom’s spirit there. The truth that I realized as I entered the main school building and approached the front lounge was that I’d never be ready to hear this news.

Just before we walked through the final set of doors Stark squeezed my hand. “I’m right here, and I love you.”

“I love you, too, Z,” Stevie Rae said.

“Me, too,” Damien said and then he sobbed just a little.

“You can borrow my two-carat diamond stud earrings,” Aphrodite said.

I stopped and looked back at her. “Huh?”

She shrugged. “That’s as close to a declaration of love as you’re gonna get from me.”

I heard Stevie Rae expel a huge sigh and Damien’s forehead squidged as he looked disbelievingly at her.

But I simply said, “Thanks. I’ll take you up on it,” which made Aphrodite frown and mumble, “Goddess, I hate being nice.”

I untangled myself from Stevie Rae and Stark and pushed open the double doors. Grandma was alone in the room and sitting in a wide leather chair. Damien had been right; Grandma had been crying. She looked old and very, very sad. As soon as she saw me she stood up. We met in the middle of the room and clung to each other. When she finally stopped hugging me, Grandma stepped back just far enough to look into my face. She kept her hands on my shoulders. They felt warm and solid and familiar, and somehow that touch made the knot in my stomach bearable.

“Mom’s dead.” I had to say it before she did.

Grandma didn’t look surprised that I’d known. She just nodded and said, “Yes, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya. Your mother is dead. Did her spirit come to you?”

“In a way. Last night, while I was asleep, Nyx showed me Mom entering the Otherworld.”

I felt the shudder that passed through Grandma’s body in her hands. She closed her eyes and swayed. For a second I was afraid she was going to faint, and I covered her hands with mine. “Spirit, come to me! Help Grandma!”

The element I have the strongest connection with responded immediately. I felt it swirl through me and into Grandma, who gasped and stopped swaying, but she didn’t open her eyes.

“Air, come to me. Please surround Grandma Redbird and let her breathe in strength.” Damien stepped up to my side and touched Grandma’s arm once, softly, as a sweet, impossible breeze stirred around us.

“Fire, come to me. Please warm Zoey’s grandma so that even though she’s sad, she’ll not be cold.”

I blinked in surprise as Shaunee joined Damien. She, too, touched Grandma for a second, then she smiled through wet eyes and said to me, “Kramisha told us you needed us.”

“Water, come to me. Wash through Z’s grandma and please take some of her sadness with you.” Erin took her place beside Shaunee, touching Grandma’s back. Then, just like her Twin, she smiled through tears at me. “Yeah, we didn’t even have to read her poem. She just told us to get here.”

Grandma’s eyes were still closed, but I saw her lips tilt up ever so slightly.

“My poem was good, though.” Kramisha’s voice came from somewhere behind me.

Through Aphrodite’s snort, Stevie Rae said, “Earth, please come to me.” She went to my other side, and slid her arm around Grandma. “Let Z’s g-ma borrow some of your power so that she can be okay again real soon.”

Grandma drew three long deep breaths. As she let the last one out, she opened her eyes and, even though there was still sadness in them, her face had lost the scary, gaunt old person look it had when I’d first seen her. “Tell them what I do, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya.”

I wasn’t sure what Grandma was up to, but I nodded. I knew she’d make me understand, and I was right. She went to each of my four friends. Starting with Damien, she touched his face and said, “Wa-do, Inole. You have strengthened me.” As she moved to Shaunee I explained to my friends, “Grandma is thanking you by naming you the Cherokee word for each of your elements.”

“Wa-do, Egela. You have strengthened me.” Grandma touched Shaunee’s cheek and went to Erin. “Wa-do, Ama. You have strengthened me.” Last, she touched Stevie Rae’s cheek, still wet from tears. “Wa-do, Elohine. You have strengthened me.”

“Thank you, Grandma Redbird,” each of the four of them murmured.

“Gv-li-e-li-ga,” Grandma said, repeating in English. “Thank you.” She looked at me. “I can bear to tell it now.” She stood in front of me and took both of my hands in hers. “Your mother was killed at my lavender farm.”

“What?” I felt the shock of it move through me. “I don’t understand. How? Why?”

“The sheriff is saying it was a robbery, and that she just got in the way. He says from what they took, my computer and television and my cameras, and the random violence of the crime, that they were probably addicts stealing so they would have money for drugs.” Grandma squeezed my hands. “She’d left him, Zoeybird, and come to me. I was at a powwow. I was not there for her.” Grandma’s voice stayed steady, but tears welled and then spilled from her eyes.

“No, Grandma, don’t blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault, and if you’d been there I would have lost both of you—and I couldn’t stand that!”

“I know, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya, but the death of a child, even one that has been lost to her parent, is a heavy burden.”

“Was it—did she—did Mom suffer?” My voice was barely above a whisper.

“No. She died quickly.” Grandma spoke without hesitation, but I thought I saw something pass through her eyes.

“You found her?”

Grandma nodded, tears spilling more and more quickly down her cheeks. “I did. She was in the field just outside the house. She was laying there and she looked so peaceful that at first I believed she was sleeping.” Grandma’s voice caught on a sob. “She was not sleeping.”

I held tight to Grandma’s hands and spoke the words I knew she needed to hear. “She’s happy, Grandma. I saw her. Nyx took the sadness from her. She’s waiting for us in the Otherworld, and she has the Goddess’s blessing.”

“Wa-do, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya. You give me strength,” Grandma whispered to me as she hugged me again.

“Grandma,” I said against her cheek. “Please stay with me, at least for a little while.”

“I cannot, u-we-tsi-a-ge-ya.” She stepped back, but kept hold of my hand. “You know I will follow our people’s tradition and mourn for seven full days, and this is not the right place for me to mourn.”

“We’re not stayin’ here, Grandma,” Stevie Rae said, wiping her face with her sleeve. “Zoey and our whole group have moved to the tunnels under the Tulsa Depot. I’m their official High Priestess, and I’d really like it if you’d come stay with us—for seven days or seven months—for as long as you want.”