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I’d listened to her list ways she’d tried to kill me and failed. A fire had gutted our house when I was about four, but I had miraculously escaped. I still couldn’t remember how, except Dad had found me by the trees near our house. My memories of who’d rescued me were hazy. Sometimes I dreamed it was a woman lifting me and carrying me to safety. Other times, I heard more than one voice.
    Nightmares about drowning had spawned my fear of water. And the trips to the bayou must have happened when I was a baby because I couldn’t remember them, but they might explain my fear of gators and snakes and everything scaly.
    Ten years had passed, but I still remembered her words and the rage in Dad’s eyes. My father, a decorated officer of the law, would have killed my mother with his bare hands if Grams hadn’t stopped him. Grams. Tears filled my eyes as I thought about her.
    “Snap out of it, Celestia. You are more than what people see and stronger than you believe.”
    I lifted my chin and blinked rapidly until I stopped the tears from falling. The white streaks in my eyes disappeared. A smile lifted the corner of my lips, and dimples flashed on my cheeks as Grams’ mantra echoed in my head.
    You are more than what people see and stronger than you believe.
    It had taken me a long time to see that. Because of Grams, I’d risen above hurtful things people said and did. Because of her, I’d embraced who I was. She’d even explained away my mother’s actions. It had taken years for her words to sink in, but I now understood that Mom had gone mad with magic. Magic madness was real. It affected Witches when they misinterpreted their visions. I had no idea what premonitions Mom had seen to believe I was a harbinger of death.
    “I help people, Mama,” I said to my reflection. “I save lives. When you come back, you’ll see just how wrong you were.”
    Feeling ridiculous for talking to myself, I splashed water on my face, grabbed paper towels from the dispenser, and dried my skin. My mother was never coming back, so there was no proving to her that I was a good Witch. She’d probably found a coven that would accept her interpretations of visions and had a new life. A happy life, away from me.
    Sighing, I grabbed my glasses, waved my hand, and unlocked the door. I almost bumped into Hayden when I stepped outside. Somehow I knew she’d be waiting for me. Hayden was like my guardian angel.
    “Saved another soul?” she asked.
    “Yep.” The hallway was still empty. Time in the astral plane moved at a different pace from real time. I couldn’t have been gone for longer than five minutes, yet the time in the bayou had felt like an eternity. “You shouldn’t have followed me.”
    “I didn’t have a choice. Someone had to dampen the ruckus you were causing in there, Banshee. I heard you all the way from class.”
    I made a face. “No, you didn’t.”
    “Yes, I did. My Heimdall genes don’t lie.”
    Hayden’s obsession with Norse mythology drove me nuts. She claimed her mother was a descendant of the Norse god Heimdall, and if the mighty Heimdall could hear grass grow all the way from his lofty home in Asgard, she could hear anything. Then there was Odin and his all-seeing eye, Thor and his magical hammer… I’d heard it all before the movies.
    I wasn’t big on mythology, but fictitious Thor and Loki were too hot to miss. Hayden had dragged me to see The Avengers . By the end of the movie, I’d become a fan. Even though Thor was hot, I was more Team Loki. I was a strong believer in Witches supporting each other, like the Witches Guild (WG)—the outdated organization Grams had staunchly supported over covens. Or maybe it was Loki’s attitude I loved. The man kicked ass with style.
    “Heimdall’s what?” I faked ignorance to tick her off and get her off my scent. I had completely forgotten to cast a dampening spell.
    “Don’t even try it. For such a powerful Witch, your spells suck.”
    “Yeah, let’s go