Was she supposed to see someone? Itchy reminder at the back of her mind. Someone important, someone she had to find, oh, if only she could remember who it was.

She felt it coming, she couldn’t see because of 207

the blackness, a huge slug rolling toward her, with a huge maw that opened up and sucked her in. She didn’t want to be here. Let me out! she. shouted, and there was a roar of laughter in her ears.

What are you doing here, my little pumpkin, my little buttercup, my little peach blossom, I am going to eat you up, I am going to bite off that little nose and suck out those little eyeballs, chew on that rosy tongue. Yum yum yum.

Behind the silly singsong words there was something more dreadful. Blood and ripped flesh. Like a knife through butter, like jam on a sliced-open bun.

From far away she felt the pressure on her face. It was going to get her, eat her. Slapping her, what did she do? She came back into the room in a sudden rush of consciousness that was like a locomotive’s metallic crashing. She felt angry, enraged, ready to fight back. Miss Mackey caught her thrashing hands.

“Rose, thank God, you’re with us again.”

Rose pulled her hands away and twisted them into her lap, feeling suddenly foolish. “Didn’t know I was away,” she tried to joke. Her tongue felt too big for her mouth.

“Oh, dear,” Miss Mackey said nervously. “This is far beyond what I expected. I’ll need some time to think, to prepare. I must do some studying.”

“Are you okay, Rose?” Jerram was asking.

Like a huge carousel grinding to a halt, the room ceased spinning, the furnishings and colors shuddered and stopped.

“I feel fuzzy. But yes, I think so. What happened?”

“You went away,” Miss Mackey said, her face ashen. “You regressed to another place entirely. I’m not even sure you were breathing. My goodness, I was worried.”

Jerram looked annoyed. “Of course she was breathing. What are you trying to do, scare her?” “No, no, not at all. But this is strong, much more potent than I’ve ever seen. Rose, dear, you must do some work, too, before we can meet again.”

Bewildered, Rose asked, “Do what?”

Miss Mackey hesitated. “You … need to find out more about yourself. There is a powerful connection between you and . .. oh, dear….” She looked helplessly at Jerram who simply stared back. “… between you and the dead.”

Jerram snorted. “Well, we knew that.”

Miss Mackey put her hand on his arm. “No, Jerram, we didn’t know. This isn’t ordinary. Rose isn’t simply a sensitive medium for receiving messages. There’s something more to it. And Rose must find out what it is.”

“And if she finds out?” Jerram asked.

“I’ll have to consider carefully, but we might try a full regression.”