A peace offering? “Thank you.”

“Strawberry or grape jelly?”

BC—before Cole—I would have said grape. Now? “Strawberry.” He’d addicted me.

As she worked, she said, “I’ve been trying to decode the rest of the papers, but even when I read while in spirit form, I can only make out a few words. So I was thinking,” she added before I could reply, “maybe you could use your fire on me and share the ability.”

“How do you know about the fire-share?”

“There’s been talk.”

Already?

She was still an unknown entity, and I wasn’t comfortable sharing my abilities...or my secrets. “I’ll think about it,” I said, accepting the piece of toast she offered.

A flash of irritation she couldn’t hide. “You do that. Meanwhile, I’m going to give myself a tour of the grounds.”

She headed for the back door. I ate my toast and took off in the opposite direction. Destination: Reeve’s room. That’s where Kat would be. But I made it only halfway before I spotted Helen. She waited at the top of the steps.

Startled, I tripped. Good one, Ali-gator.

Great. Now even I was using that ridiculous nickname. Mind had to be misfiring. Which was understandable. This was the first time I’d seen Helen since I’d learned who she was to me—who I was to her.

Cole would insist I get rid of her. But I couldn’t. I just...couldn’t.

“You know who I am,” she said, hesitant.

“Yes,” I whispered, not wanting to draw attention to myself. I looked left, right. No sign of a slayer. Still. Better safe than sorry.

I motioned for her to follow me to my room. What should I call her? Helen? Or Momma, like before?

I closed my eyes against a rush of pain. Would calling her Mom be a betrayal to the woman who’d raised me? Who’d loved me as her own?

Get it together.

“I’d hoped you would remember,” she said after I closed the door.

Her words reminded me of the last dream I’d had. “Did you wipe my memories when I was a little girl?”

Anyone else might have blanched when faced with my anger, but not her. She held my gaze. “Yes and no. Like you, I was born with several abnormal skills. One allows me to reach my spirit inside a person’s head and cover their memories. Like I’m placing a blanket over their mind. It’s a defense mechanism, I guess, in case civilians ever see something they shouldn’t.”

“You covered mine.” That look in my eyes... I’d gone to my dad as a blank slate.

She nodded, seeming shamed but resolved.

“Uncover them. Now.” They were mine. I wanted every single one. I’d earned them.

“Ali—”

“You had no right,” I growled. “No right.” Those memories would have helped me. Then and now.

“I’m sorry, but it only works one way. I can cover, but not uncover.”

I ignored the rising tide of bile. “How am I remembering, then? Are the memories uncovering on their own?”

“Again, yes and no. I’ve been sitting at your bedside, telling you stories. Sharing my memories. It seems to be thinning the blanket, for lack of a better description.”

It was better than nothing, I supposed. She was trying.

There I went, seeing the best in her again.

I eased onto the edge of the bed. “What do you want from me? Why are you here?”

“I’ve been watching over you. Am watching over you.”

“I’ve never seen you, but I’ve always seen Emma.”

“Do you remember how Zombie Ali was able to cloak herself from prying eyes? Well, she inherited the skill from me.”

Why hadn’t I? “Just how many of these skills do you have?”

“A handful of others. And no, I wasn’t born with all of them. I used to...steal from slayers.”

In other words, she’d tormented and killed to get what she wanted.

“Stealing is teachable.” She reached out her hand. “I would allow you to practice on me, but time isn’t on your side. Let me give you the ability to cover memories. That way, you can rest assured I’ll never use it again.”

You can’t trust her, Cole had said.

After everything Helen had just told me, I shouldn’t trust her.

And yet, I stretched out my hand, letting it hover under hers. I wished I could tell myself it was because we were at war with Anima and we needed all the weapons we could get, but that would have been a lie. Bottom line, I was overcome by a desire to connect with this woman on any level.

“I’d give you everything all at once, but I fear it would be overwhelming.” She closed her eyes. A stream of warmth hit my palms, seeped past my skin and zinged through the rest of me.

The transfer was easy, no burning pain, no urge to scream the roof down, and in seconds we were done, our arms returning to our sides.

“There,” she said. “Just swipe the hand of your spirit through a person’s mind. The only drawback is you will cover all of their memories. There isn’t any selecting or picking and choosing this one but not that one. Everything is hidden.”

I couldn’t imagine needing the ability. Or allowing myself to use it.

“I didn’t want to screw up your life all over again,” she said, “and I would have continued to remain in the shadows, but Anima killed your friends, and I realized they were going to come after you hard. I knew I had to act. For you. I will do anything for you, Sami.”