The Raven Boys

Turning to Blue with extremely jagged eyebrows, Calla said, "Use your imagination," and Persephone exploded into helpless laughter.

Blue crossed her arms. "Oh, really." Her seriousness only served to dissolve any self-control the two women had left. Laughing uncontrollably, they began to trade other pet names Maura had apparently coined eighteen years earlier.

"Ladies," Blue said sternly. "We only have forty-five minutes. Calla, touch that." She pointed to the mirrors. Of all the odd things in the room, she found them the creepiest, and that seemed as good a reason as any to try them.

Swallowing a laugh, Calla stepped over to the mirrors. There was something unnerving about the utter impracticality of two reflecting surfaces pointed only at each other.

"Don’t stand between them," Persephone warned.

"I’m not an idiot," Calla retorted.

Blue asked, "Why not stand between them?"

"Who knows what she’s doing with them. I don’t want my soul put in a bottle in some other dimension or something." Calla gripped the edge of the closest mirror, careful to stand out of the view of the other. Frowning, she pawed a hand toward Blue. Blue obligingly stepped forward and allowed Calla to press her fingers over her shoulder.

A moment passed, quiet but for the insects outside the window.

"Our little Neeve is quite ambitious," Calla growled finally, tightening her fingers on both Blue and the mirror’s edge. "Apparently her level of fame is not enough for her. Television programs are for nobodies."

"Don’t be sarcastic, Calla," Persephone said. "Tell us what you see."

"I see her wearing that black mask over there, standing in between these mirrors. I must be seeing her back wherever she came from, because she has four mirrors. Two other larger ones behind each of these. I can see her in each of the four mirrors, and she’s wearing the mask in all of them, but she looks different in each one. She’s thinner in one of them. She’s wearing black in one. Her skin looks wrong in a different one. I’m not sure what they are…. They might be possibilities." Calla stopped. Blue felt a little chill at the idea of four different Neeves. "Bring me the mask. No, not you, Blue, stay here. Persephone —?"

Persephone gingerly retrieved the mask. Again, there was a pause as Calla read the object, her knuckles pressed white.

"She was disappointed when she bought this," Calla said. "She’d gotten a bad review, I think, of one of her books? Or to one of her shows? No. She’d seen numbers for one or the other, and they were disappointing. I definitely see the numbers, and that’s what she’s imagining when she buys this. She was comparing herself to Leila Polotsky."

"Who’s that?" Blue asked.

"A psychic more famous than Neeve," Calla said.

"I didn’t know that was possible," Blue replied. A television show and four books seemed more famous than any psychic could hope for in a disbelieving world.

"Oh, it’s very possible," Calla asked. "Ask Persephone."

"I don’t know about that," Persephone said. Blue wasn’t sure if she was talking about being famous or about asking her.

Calla blew onward. "Anyway, our woman Neeve wishes she could travel the world and get some respect. And this mask helps her visualize that."

"What’s this have to do with her being here?" Blue asked.

"I don’t know yet. I need a better object." Calla released the mirror and returned the mask to its hook on the wall.

They poked about the room. Blue found a switch made of three sticks tied together with a red ribbon, and a red mask to match the black one. Near the window, she found the source of the hideous smell: a little cloth bag with something sewed into it.

She gave the bag to Calla, who held it for just a moment before saying dismissively, "That’s the asafetida. It’s just a protection charm. She got spooked by a dream and made it."

Crouching, Persephone hovered her hands over one of the bowls. The way she held her palms out, fingers barely moving, reminded Blue of Gansey holding his hand out over the shallow pool of water in Cabeswater. Persephone said, "There is quite a lot of uncertainty in all of this, isn’t there? That’s what I feel. Perhaps it’s quite as simple as this: She did come to help Maura but is getting a little carried away by Henrietta."

"Because of the corpse road?" asked Blue. "I caught her scrying in the middle of the night and she told me the corpse road made it easy to be psychic here."

Calla sneered before turning to rummage in the things beside the bed.

"Easier and harder," Persephone said. "It’s got a lot of energy, so it’s like having you in the room all the time. But it’s like your boys. It’s quite loud."

My boys! Blue thought, first in a huff, then flattered, then in a huff again.

Persephone asked, "Calla, what are you finding out?"

Calla’s back was to them as she replied, "Eleven months ago, a man called Neeve on the phone to ask her if he could bring her to Henrietta, Virginia, for an all-expenses paid trip. While she was there, she was supposed to use any means at her disposal to pinpoint a ley line and a ‘place of power’ that he knew was close by but couldn’t find. She told him she wasn’t interested but decided upon further thought that she might investigate this possibility on her own. She guessed Maura might let her stay in town if she came offering to help locate her old boyfriend."

Persephone and Blue wore matching astonished expressions.

"That’s amazing!" Blue said.

Calla turned around. She was holding a small notebook, which she waved at them. "That is Neeve’s day planner."

"Oh, technology." Persephone sighed. "I thought I heard a car. I’ll be right back."

While Persephone padded down the stairs as silently as she’d climbed them, Blue sidled over to Calla, hooking her chin on Calla’s shoulder so she could catch a glimpse for herself. "Where does it say all that?"

Calla flipped back through pages of Neeve’s handwriting and showed her the pages of mundane notes on appointment times, publishing deadlines, and lunch dates. Then she flipped back to the notes for the call with the Henrietta man. It was all as Calla had said, with one notable exception. Neeve had also jotted down the man’s name and phone number.

Every muscle in Blue’s body went slack.