We fall into a rhythm, grabbing beans and splitting the pointy ends off as we talk. It’s meditative work. Something about feeling along each casing to find the breaking point, one at a time. Thirty minutes later, the beans are sizzling in Mariah’s pan under Hazel’s supervision, and Alice is walking around the table opposite me, putting down glasses while I pour the tea.

Sel and William walk in right when the smell of food starts hitting us in steady, mouth-watering waves, and offer to chip in. William grabs the napkins and Sel picks up the utensils, falling in behind me. His silence tells me he has something on his mind, but I don’t push.

The meal is splendid. Warm, filling, and lively.

I shift in my seat as we sit and digest, anticipation fluttering up above the itis in my belly currently luring me to sleep. “What exactly happens tomorrow morning?”

Lu pauses, looks at me. “Depends. Mariah says you haven’t been using material offerings for your communions…?”

“Blood offerings seem to be the most direct approach. Dunno why, but that’s what lets me blood walk. Live the memories they choose to show me.”

Hazel stirs her tea. “Offerings honor the ancestors with gifts of life. That’s why it’s better to provide something that was once alive, fresh, or something close to its original form, or created by nature. But Bloodcraft, for you, connects you to the dead in two ways: to the power of thousands of ancestors on one lineage, and to the power of one who lived over a thousand years ago on another. Reaching that far back, asking questions that cover that many lives and years… it makes sense you may need something richer than fruit and sweet cakes. Especially if they’re inviting you to their memories.”

“I use more than blood.” I raise the Pendragon coin necklace with my left hand, shaking it so that the coin and the bracelet shine in the same light. “I use these, too.”

Lu eyes both items. “Focal items, connected to each bloodline. I use focals for aura work sometimes. Have the client hold them so I can help read the dynamic between them and their objective, or relationship.”

“But when you summon Arthur, you see Nicholas as well,” Sel says, voice low. There is no rancor or spite or frustration on his face, only a quiet sort of contemplation. “Who isn’t an ancestor.”

“Yes.” I explain to Lu. “His ancestor is Lancelot. When I’m in Arthur’s body in Arthur’s memory and touch Lancelot, if I focus on Nick, Nick takes his ancestor’s place.”

Lu blinks. “Medium possession—channeling a spirit forward to the living—is rare. Channeling in the opposite direction, even rarer. But bringing another living being into their ancestor’s body in the stream? Never heard of it.”

“Maybe because Nick gave me the necklace?” I offer.