“Ah,” said the woman as Amy and Mom approached her. She stood up and shook their hands. Amy didn’t know what she’d expected from Ms. Fuentes’s description—maybe something more like Fieldston Kade, an athletic woman with a few piercings and a scar over her eye. Instead, Miss Autumn Dola wore a long, tight black dress and several heavy turquoise rings on each hand; a bandana held her hair back. On the table next to her place mat sat huge black sunglasses and an ashtray where a long black cigarette burned. Amy thought that she, like the diner, had probably been very pretty once, but was now hardened by the world and was strictly business.

“Thank you for coming all the way out here,” said Miss Dola as they sat down. “There’s just nowhere else in the area that still has a smoking section, and, well, this early, Miss Dola needs her medicine.” She let out a deep, wet cough.

“Doesn’t sound like it’s working,” said Amy. Mom glared at her, but Miss Dola’s red lips knotted into a little smile.

“Well said, young lady,” said the woman. “Are you Katie or Amy?”

“Amy.”

“Good,” she responded firmly, pointing her index and middle fingers at Amy like she was pretend firing a pistol. “From now on, your first priority is to keep the little one in the dark. From what you told me, she’s his anchor. They communicate with each other, yes?”

Amy heard the leather seat creak as Mom tensed next to her. “Is Katie in danger? Will he hurt my daughter?”

“Oh, quite the opposite,” said Miss Dola, waving her hand in front of her. “If the beast bonded with her, it means he likes her. He’ll most likely hurt anyone but her. However, that doesn’t mean he won’t hurt you, even if she asks him not to. In his mind, the beast knows best.”

“The beast?” asked Amy, a little incredulous.

“That’s right, child,” said Miss Dola. “Its name is power, so let’s not use it. Your sister was probably the first one to say it, right? She could hear it first, in her mind.”

The waitress brought Miss Dola’s coffee and omelet. Mom ordered a grapefruit and coffee; Amy got a bagel with cream cheese that, given how she was feeling, she knew she would barely finish, maybe not even touch.

When the waitress left, a silence hung between them. Finally, Mom inhaled deeply, folded her hands in front of her.