“I need to go home,” she whispered in Jackie’s ear.

“What’s wrong?”

“I feel sick.”

He led her to the car. “Those greasy fries got you probably,” he said as he pulled out of the lot.

She could still hear the raven’s croaking call. She felt like she was in an eerie dream, as if remembering a nightmare from when she was very little.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I need to get home. Hurry.”

She said goodbye but didn’t kiss him. She opened the gate and ran down the driveway. She unlocked the front door and turned off the alarms she’d triggered. If Mama hadn’t turned them off, she wasn’t home. Or she was too sick.

Raven strode quickly through the house. Mama wasn’t there. A white piece of paper on the refrigerator caught her eye: Raven, Remember what we talked about this morning. I’ll be out for a while. You will see me soon. I love you. Mama She was so relieved she nearly cried. Mama had felt well enough to go out and do an Asking. She would be home soon.

But twilight came, and Mama still wasn’t home. Fortunately, the temperature wasn’t dangerously cold. And Mama often came home late.

But that was many months ago, when Mama was still healthy.

By nine o’clock, Raven was certain something was wrong. She took a flashlight outside and searched around the house in widening circles. The temperature had dropped. If Mama was unconscious out there, she was in serious trouble. Raven walked for many hours before giving up and going home.

Exhaustion put her to sleep quickly, but she slept only a few hours. She got up at dawn and began searching more carefully. She would miss school, but she didn’t care. Why had she thought school was so important when she was a little girl? Why had she spent all those days away from the person who mattered most? All she wanted was Mama. She would give up school if only she could find her alive. She would even give up Jackie if the spirits said she must to bring Mama back.

But she saw no signs from spirits and no trace of Mama. She searched until dark and stumbled into the cabin weak with exhaustion and hunger. She had to force herself to eat before falling into bed.

At dawn, she returned to her search. This time, she brought a sandwich to keep up her energy. She looked in all of Mama’s favorite places on their ninety acres, calling, “Mama! Mama! Mama!”

Even when she didn’t say it aloud, her name was a constant supplication in her mind. Mama. Mama. Mama. I need you, Mama! Please come back!

As the sun sank low, she searched near the stream and swimming hole for a second time. Mama loved that place. She carefully scoured the weeds and brambles. She waded into the stream and looked into thickets on either side. When she got to the junk pile, she searched it thoroughly, even inside the old Invicta. She doubted Mama had ever gone there—she would have seen it as a blight on the earth—but Raven was desperate. In two and a half days, she’d covered the entire property and found no sign of Mama.

Darkness slowly swallowed her. Utterly spent, she plopped into the stream in front of the Wolfsbane. She looked up at the strange tower of objects, resenting that it was still there and Mama wasn’t.

“You didn’t scare away the werewolf,” she said to the Madonna. “Mama made the boys and me safe. Mama killed the werewolf. You never did anything!”

She dropped her head between her muddy knees and wept.

There was no moon or stars to guide her, and she was too tired to go home. She didn’t want to be in the house without Mama anyway. Maybe she would lie down in the creek stones and let the spirits take her. That surely was what Mama had done. She had gone to the spirit world. That was why there was no trace of her on their land.

Of course she had. Mama had a deep understanding of the earth few ever attained. She was powerful. She had brought a baby, body and all, out of the spirit world. And now she had finally discovered how to bring her body there.

Raven thought of her last conversation with Mama.

You are my miracle. You have been the best sixteen years of my life.

You will have my spirit with you always, dear one. You need only look at the beauty of the earth, and I’ll be there.

She had been saying goodbye. Raven understood that now.

When she’d said, “I talked to the spirits. They will give me what I need,” she meant she’d figured out how to go to their world. That was why she’d looked so bright and happy. Raven understood why she wanted to go. Living in her sick body in the human world had been agony for Mama. And she hated for Raven to see her like that.

The note she’d left in the kitchen. Those were Mama’s last words for her: I’ll be out for a while. You will see me soon. I love you. Mama.

Raven wondered what she’d meant. Why would she say she was coming back if it wasn’t true? She must have been certain she would return. Maybe she knew it would take some time to heal and find her way back. That was why she’d said she would be out for a while.

Her heart pounded. Mama was coming back. That was why she hadn’t said goodbye, why she hadn’t left instructions for how to take care of the house without her.

Raven stood, and her head swam with dizziness. She’d barely eaten during the relentless searching. The darkness would make navigating home difficult. One side of her wanted to lie down and become one with Mama’s world. Her other side, her human side, wanted Jackie.