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“Today’s…I don’t remember. It’s…um…oh—Tuesday. I don’t know why I forgot. Today was the day that I was supposed to return to work, but I told them I’d be in tomorrow because I’m still tired.” She grimaced as she rubbed her neck. “I hurt like hell. What the heck happened to me?”
“You had a seizure, Lindsey. Do you have blood sugar issues?” Iris felt her forehead, then gripped her wrist, checking her pulse. “You’re clammy, and your pulse is racing.”
Lindsey shook her head. “No, nothing like that. I’ve never had a seizure in my life.” As Trillian helped her to her feet, Smoky brought a chair over and Lindsey weakly sat down. She leaned on the table, trying to shake off the attack.
“Do you remember what we were talking about before you lost consciousness?” I had a sneaking suspicion and wanted to see if it proved out. This was too much of a coincidence.
“You need to eat something. That took a lot of energy out of you. And drink the tea.” Camille brought her another cup of tea, setting it in front of her along with another cookie.
Lindsey closed her eyes, breathing in the steam that rose off the cup. Iris moved behind her and, using a stepstool, began to lightly massage her shoulders. Lindsey leaned back into the back rub, sighing.
“I can’t remember what we were talking about. Last I remember, I was telling you about the psychic fair.” She pursed her lips, squinting, then again shook her head. “That’s it.”
“We were asking you about a dream you mentioned—one that woke you up in a cold sweat?” I didn’t want to trigger another seizure, so decided to walk softly on the subject.
Lindsey cocked her head, looking confused. “I don’t remember saying anything about a dream. I haven’t been sleeping well lately but I’m pretty sure it’s the baby causing it—she wakes up every few hours for a feeding, and I’m up off and on all night.”
I debated whether to push further, but behind Lindsey, Iris gestured no so I left it at that. “Okay, we must have been mistaken. You’ve probably been overtiring yourself. I don’t like you driving home by yourself. Let Shade drive you home and he can come back here through the Ionyc Seas. He’s a good driver and will get you there safely.”
Her mouth twisted and she looked like she was going to cry. “I know I came because I’m worried about my group. I can’t remember everything we talked about—that scares me.”>I decided blunt was better than tact in this case. “What’s going on, Lindsey? I can smell your worry across the room.”
She leaned back, resting against the headrest on the rocking chair. “I’m not sure, but there’s something wrong. I can tell you that. I’m not sure how to describe it…”
“Start from the beginning.” Smoky pushed back his chair. “That’s usually the easiest.”
I shook my head. The dragon could sometimes be a lunkhead, but he meant well. “Smoky’s right, Lindsey. Just tell us the best you can.”
Trillian and Hanna began to clear the table. Maggie let out a wail from Iris’s room and Bruce went in to tend to her. He had a way with the gargoyle that none of us had expected and had taken over helping care for her.
“As I said, I had my baby a couple of months ago. I took about eight weeks off from leading the coven—three before having Feddrika, and five after—but they look to me for guidance and I decided it was time to take up the reins again. So…it was about three weeks ago that I started attending meetings again.”
She paused to accept a cup of tea from Trillian, and a peanut butter cookie as he brought the tray to the table. “Thank you. I’ve been craving sugar lately and I don’t know why. I never ate much of it before.”
“Hormones?” Iris asked from the sink, where she was scraping plates and filling the dishwasher.
“No, I don’t think so. Lack of energy. Which is a part of my story.” Lindsey frowned as she bit into the cookie. “Okay, here’s the best way I can describe matters. I came back to the coven, feeling okay. I mean, postpartum is hard, and yes, I’m tired from the baby and pregnancy and feedings, but the minute I took up leadership again, my energy began to vanish and I know it’s not related to hormones, though everybody keeps saying it has to be. I checked with my naturopath and she says my hormones are right where they should be for this point. Also, I began to notice the same thing about my coven-mates.”
Good. Lindsey had done all the practical things, which she should have. Now she was coming to us. Trouble was, we sure didn’t have all the answers.
“Do you have any thoughts on what’s happening?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Even the strongest members of our coven, those who were always the most energetic, are hard pressed to muster up enough energy to charge the candles for ritual. We’ve been meeting the past three weeks as usual, but there’s no…oomph there. And what’s worse is that no one in the group besides me seems to give a damn. Maybe they’re all too tired to care.”
“I suppose I could try scrying for an answer.” Camille was fairly good when it came to divination.
Lindsey let out a soft shrug. “I hope you have more luck than me. I did a reading, but my cards are wonky and won’t talk to me the way they usually do. And my cards always talk to me. I’m worried and I wasn’t sure where to go for advice. So I thought I’d come here and ask you.”
This was more Camille’s territory. I motioned to her. “Any ideas?”
Camille played with her cookie, breaking it in half and then dropping the pieces on the saucer. She looked perplexed. “Do you know if this started in your absence, or around the time when you came back?”
Lindsey started to shake her head, but then stopped. “We met in the afternoon on that first Saturday I returned, and everybody seemed fine. We headed out on a field trip to a psychic fair being held in north Seattle. While we were there, we just hung out, got some readings done, bought crystals and incense and other doodads like that. You know, a peaceful, low-key afternoon. Then we broke for dinner and met up again that night for our usual meeting. And everybody…seemed different. Zonked out.”
“So something happened between the fair and the meeting.” Delilah grabbed a second cookie, and then a third. Shade reached over and gently took the third cookie out of her hand and bit into it. She growled at him, but then laughed. “Get your own damned cookie, sweetheart.”
He snorted. “Share and share alike, darling.”
Camille pulled a steno pad to her and began to jot down notes. “Maybe something didn’t happen between the fair and meeting, but at the fair.” She glanced over at Lindsey. “Where was this fair held? Who sponsored it? And do you remember anything odd at all about the day?”
