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strange words, red light filled the room and I blinked. In that instant, the lights came on and the goddess who had stood in our dining room was gone. I looked at Mom, then down at the pomegranate seeds clutched in my hand. Mom looked at Dad, who was blinking in the suddenly bright light, and I realized he had no idea what had just happened. Mom shot me a warning look and I nodded. We wouldn’t say anything about this to Dad for now.
    I tucked the seeds carefully into my pocket, my mind racing. What had Persephone meant about blood? I was sure that her presence had something to do with Red magic, but I wasn’t sure what to make of her words. She hadn’t given me advice, exactly, but she had given me the seeds. I just didn’t know what she wanted. Dad was watching me warily, and I tried to remember what had happened before the power went out. Oh yeah, my outburst. I righted my chair and forced an apologetic smile.
    “I’m sorry I got upset.”
    Dad smiled faintly. “This has upset all of us, I think. Maybe we should call it an early night.”
    Mom nodded, but when Dad looked away, she pointed upstairs once. I understood. We would talk about everything later, away from Dad. I nodded, wondering what she would be able to tell me alone that she hadn’t said at the table.

 
    When I headed to bed after loading the dishwasher, Mom followed me into my room and closed the door.
    “Lena.” She choked on my nickname, tears threatening to well up in her eyes. I looked at the floor and waited, and in a minute she continued. “Persephone is, well, she is the daughter of my patron, Demeter.” She paused, sorting things out in her mind before speaking. “Maybe,” she paused, “her presence might mean that Red magic isn’t as different as I thought. Maybe the things I’ve heard—” She broke off with a nervous glance at me.
    “Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, right?” I interjected. Mom nodded, relieved to have the conversation back in familiar territory. “And she lost her daughter to the lord of the Underworld, right?”
    “Hades. He broke through the earth and took the girl, kept her in his kingdom against her will and broke her spirit.” Mom recited the words like a well-learned lesson, but her eyes looked uncertain. The goddess herself had seemed to allude to a different version of the tale.
    “And then she ate the pomegranate seeds and was forced to return to the Underworld.”
    Thoughtfully, Mom nodded. “But from what she said, it sounds more like the seeds caused some kind of balance, not entrapment.”
    Our eyes turned to the three pomegranate seeds I had set on my dresser.
    “Not yet,” I whispered. “She said to eat them if I ever felt like I’d made a bad choice, but right now I still don’t understand the choice I’ve made. I need to know more.”
    Mom looked into my eyes and I felt her strength filling me. “I thought blood magic was just about death and chaos. But now I think there is more to it, and I know that if Demeter’s daughter is involved, I must be involved, too. I will try—” Her voice cracked. “I will try not to be afraid anymore of what I think you have become.”
    Her words startled me. I had realized my parents were upset, but I hadn’t thought they were afraid. What force could make a mother fear her own daughter? And twice now I’d heard that word: blood . Persephone and Mom had both called Red magic blood magic . What had I gotten myself into? I sank down onto my bed and looked at Mom in confusion.
    People had always said I looked like my mom, but I didn’t see it. She was beautiful, with her long hair flowing down to her shoulders. She’d never colored her hair, yet women were constantly asking her what product she used; no one believed that rich reddish-brown color could be natural. But if Mom’s patron was indirectly involved in Red magic, maybe I was more like her than I thought.
    As if echoing my thoughts, she said, “Persephone would make a nice patron.