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I nodded. “By a shadow, we think.”
Her face fell. She looked from me to Baelen and back to me. “No.”
Charlie’s head snapped up. “What do you mean no? You were the one who was insisting he wasn’t himself.”
“He … he was himself just a moment ago. We—” Her breath caught, and she pressed her hand pressed against her chest as her eyes grew round.
“Yes, we saw how quickly you believed in him again when his head was between your thighs,” Charlie grumbled quietly.
Clawdia composed herself and asked, “What do you mean possessed by a shadow? Did you find something?”
I took a hesitant step toward her as I quickly said, “He was last with shadows. The portal was all shadow-like, and Elizabeth explained they may have the power to possess people. They move in the shadows. Including shadows inside a mind.”
She shook her head. “There are no shadows in our minds. Light doesn’t touch the brain.”
“Does science explain the shit I just did?” Charlie asked, waving his hand at the cage.
“I thought maybe a spell but—” She swallowed and bit her lip as she shook her head again. “He can’t be possessed,” she whispered at the ground, her shoulder trembling.
“Why not?” Charlie asked.
“Little Cat.” I approached her carefully and tilted her head up to look at me. The gloss in her eyes and the quiver of her lip made my heart falter. I pulled her into my arms. “Do not get upset. It’s all right.”
She whispered, “If he is not Baelen, who is he? Why would he …?”
“Gods.” I clenched my jaw and pulled her tighter to me as I realized her issue. The shadow was intimate with her.She thought Baelen was who she was with, but if he is indeed possessed, who’s to say who was with her?
I pulled back to look at her. She wasn’t crying, but her brow was furrowed, and she refused to meet my eyes. As I smoothed her shoulders, I noticed something run down the inside of her bare thigh. Blood.
I gasped and stepped back. “Little Cat, you are bleeding from your legs.”
“What?” Charlie stared at her legs in horror. “Jesus Christ.”
My voice rose. “Why are you bleeding between your legs? What has he done?” I turned to glare at Baelen, my hand twitching with the need to punch him. He stared blankly back at me.
“Nothing.” Clawdia patted at my chest and regained my attention. “Nothing,” she assured me.
But I remained confused. “Nothing? You are hurt.” I snarled before a realization hit me and I gasped. “Was it me? Did I—?”
“No. No.” She seized my hands. “Stop panicking.”
“It’s her period, Zaide,” Charlie muttered. He looked at Clawdia and asked, “Why do you have a period?”
She looked down as she whispered, “I don’t know.”
“What is a period? Why are you bleeding?” I asked looking between them, my panic lessening.
My question seemed to confuse them. Clawdia looked at Charlie, whose mouth opened and closed before attempting to say, “It’s … it’s …”
Clawdia’s mouth began to turn up into a smile. “Yes, Charlie, what is it?”
He glared. “You can explain it.”
“You are joking. This is not a serious condition?” I asked.
Clawdia squeezed my hand and replied calmly, “Women bleed for a week every month. In short, it is the end of a fertile period.”
“Fertile period?” I asked and blinked. My mind whirled, and I gasped. “Children?”
