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coincidence.
    “This always happens when you get dehydrated, girl. Youneed your water.” Mama takes a large yellow glass from the kitchen counter and fills it with spring water from a jar on the table, forcing me to drink it after finishing the first glass of tap. I welcome the sweet liquid home in five large gulps. I needed that.
    “What happened to you that fast?” Netta asks, helping Mama clear the table of our work. Our clients will have to wait. I can’t even think straight after that encounter of the cruel kind.
    “Esmeralda,” I say, barely whispering. My body’s gradually cooling down, but the pounding’s not going away so easily. If I speak any louder, it’ll only make the pain worse.
    “Esmeralda,” Mama and Netta say simultaneously. They look toward her house, wishing they could blow it up through the wall, I’m sure. I wish I could have done more while I had Esmeralda’s mind on lock: I bet she’ll think twice before attacking me again, not that she’ll ever stop. Esmer-alda lives to make the Williams women suffer.
    “I told you about looking that woman in the eye,” Mama says, forcing my chin up as she works her visual magic on my head. Mama’s green eyes continue to glow as she cools my mind down completely. I’m so grateful for her skills.
    “She’s so quick sometimes,” I say, feeling the pounding soften with each fleck of Mama’s vision.
    “You have to be quicker,” Mama says, probing my mind for damage. “It doesn’t seem like she got a chance to do too much harm this time,” Mama says quizzically. I know she’s wondering what really happened out there. Maybe now’s a good time to confess to Mama what she should’ve known about a couple of months ago when I first retained my gift from the dream world. Keeping something from Mama is the same thing as lying, and I know she’s not going to take kindly to me being dishonest, no matter how much I try to justify my actions.
    “I didn’t let her keep me on lock for long,” I say.
    Both Mama and Netta look at me, surprised. If I didn’t know better, I’d say they were impressed. That feeling may change once they know why I was such a badass with my skills this evening. I know I should tell Mama about it now like my mom suggested, but on second thought I’m in no mood for an ass whipping tonight. Esmeralda up in my head’s enough punishment for one day, but I will tell Mama before she leaves for her trip.
    “Your mama called to tell me there was something you needed to talk to me about,” Mama says, returning to her duties, along with Netta, now that I’m better. I guess I should get on it, too, if I plan on getting back to Inglewood at a decent hour. I need to catch up on my sleep and my own work.
    “It was a bad dream, but don’t worry. My mom helped me work it out,” I say, avoiding Mama’s gaze. I wonder how long I can keep this dance up before Mama catches on. I know she senses something’s up, but she can’t quite put her finger on it because of her other spiritual distractions.
    “Is that so?” Mama asks, smiling at her homegirl and sharing a secret I’m not privy to.
    I can tell she wants details, but she’s not going to push for full disclosure, and for that, I’m grateful. We can hear Emilio and his godfather in Esmeralda’s backyard doing only God knows what. Mama and Netta glance out the door and over to her yard, shaking their heads. The last thing I want to do is add to Mama’s already full plate. She needs to focus on shutting that madness down, not on the drama in my life.
    “Maybe we should postpone the trip. There’s so much work to be done here,” Mama says, much to Netta’s disapproval.
    “Oh, Lynn Mae, there’s always going to be something to pop up and distract us. It’s nothing but the Devil trying get in our way,” Netta says, chopping up fresh herbs and passingthem to Mama to pound in her marble mortar, one of my favorite tools. “We need to ask Legba to clear this road and all