I opened my eyes, seeing only the tangle of my own wet, mud-caked hair. Then soft, warm hands brushed the hair away.

“Callie? Can you hear me?”

Soheila’s amber eyes were so close I felt I could fall into them. I’d seen that color before … I tried to move my lips, but only swallowed mud.

She cupped her hands and scooped water out of the pool collecting around my face. She used a dampened bandana to clean the mud from my face.

“Lore … lei,” I managed when I could work my lips, “… raised storm … might have … followed.”

Soheila muttered something in Farsi that I suspected might have been a worse epithet than the one I’d given Lorelei. “I might have known it was her. All the undines are quite good at weather, and she’s one of the most powerful.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her turn her head. “It was Lorelei,” she said to someone behind her.

“That nasty bit of baggage,” Diana said. “I don’t suppose she cares how many poor innocent animals will lose their homes in this storm.”

“We have a worse problem than that,” Liz said before lowering her voice and whispering something I couldn’t catch.

“It’s my neck,” I said, feeling curiously numb. “It’s … broken … isn’t it?”

Soheila paused in scooping water to cup my face with her hand and bend down so I could see her eyes. That color … it was Aelvesgold. Her eyes were the color of Faerie light. “I’m afraid so, Callie, but don’t give up. There are things we can do.” She looked up, but not before I saw a tear fall from her eye.

“I know a knitting spell,” Diana said. “Of course we’d have to set the bone in the right position …”

“I have some experience with that from the days I drove an ambulance in the war,” Liz said. I wondered what war.

“And I can summon a wind to cushion her spine while we manipulate it …”

“I’ll need needles,” Diana said. “And yarn.”

Needles? Yarn? Was Diana truly planning to knit me a new spine? From within, laughter unexpectedly began to erupt, but all three women instantly quieted me.

“You mustn’t move, Cailleach,” Liz said in her sternest schoolmistress voice. “Diana and I will get what we need and be back as soon as we can. Soheila, stay with Callie and keep bailing the water away from her mouth. We won’t be long.”

I would have liked to turn to say goodbye, but could not. I had a horrible feeling I would never see either woman again and I wanted them to know I didn’t blame them for what happened. Even if they had dragged me out of my house to save the undines.

“Hey,” I said to Soheila when the other women had gone, “how good is this knitting trick of Diana’s?”

“Pretty good. She heals animal bones all the time with it. And you know what a devoted knitter she is.”