I dutifully emptied the bag over the board. Several objects fell out—mostly pieces of bone, but also a worn silver coin, an old copper penny, a few river pebbles, and a clamshell the size of my thumbnail. The objects hit the wood, moving smoothly around the board until they found the spot they wanted.

Ake. Luo took a picture of the board with her phone before jotting down a few notes on her tablet. “Well, your diagnostic looks pretty good. Especially for what sounded like a pretty heavy-duty psychic assault.” She closed the notebook. “I’m going to send you home with some over-the-counter pain meds for the aches and pains, and an arnica cream for the bruising.”

She took the board from me, holding it down so the raccoon could pick up the pieces and put them back into the bag. “I’ll also send home an herbal sea salt soak for you. It should help with any nasty residues the assault left behind.” She smiled at me. “Do you have any questions?”

I shook my head and, again, regretted it instantly.

The akesoite laughed. “Yeah, I would take it easy for a few days and check in with your usual practitioner for a checkup in about a week.”

Ake. Luo gave me and Van a list of symptoms considered dangerous and made sure someone would be checking up on me every hour. We assured her that she didn’t have to worry about us taking it lightly. I was very fond of my brain and took head injuries seriously. The akesoite left after that, her adorable raccoon familiar toddling along behind her.

Vanessa had the forethought to bring me a change of clothes, which made me swear my undying love and possibly my firstborn. The clothes I’d been wearing when we crashed had to be thrown away. Miraculously, our cell phones were okay—the paramedics had grabbed them as well as Declan’s wallet and my purse for identification purposes.

Declan was probably going to have to get a new car. My head ached and I decided not to think about it. We could deal with all of those things tomorrow. For tonight my only job was to go home and rest.

Vanessa didn’t own a car, so she’d borrowed mine, which she’d long had permission to do. I let Declan into the backseat, then climbed in after him.

“You’re going to make me a chauffeur?” Van asked, buckling into the driver’s seat.

“It’s either that or he’s going to climb onto my lap in the front seat, which isn’t safe.”

“Fine,” Vanessa said. “But for the rest of the drive, you will only refer to me as Pennyworth. Now call your mom.”

I called my mom and Mama Ami to let them know what had happened, managing to keep the calls short only because they hung up so they could meet me at the house.

Both of them were in my front room waiting when I walked in, Declan on my heels. Trick, Will, Bay, and Juliet were all there as well. The baby monitor in Juliet’s hand told me that Savannah was still asleep downstairs.