Chapter 9

“Who in your family, did you say was a shapeshifter, before it went dormant ... before your niece, I guess? Are they still around?”

Poppy eased down on Jeremy’s couch. She still felt weak from the bad episode after the good episode. She sighed. “GiGi, my great-grandmother. She’s still alive. Why?”

“Okay, good. We need to go see her. Where does she live?”

“In Wheatridge, Colorado, east of Denver.”

“Okay. I need to go get Chelany. I’m sure your sister is worn out between your girls and mine, and her baby.”

Poppy chuckled. “True. I feel guilty now.”

Jeremy took her hands. “Well, don’t. The girls were in good hands and I personally enjoyed our rendezvous. This will always be a special place for us.” He looked around his apartment and grinned.

Poppy felt the heat rise in her cheeks. “What about your car?”

“Yeah, I could use a ride to the impound and then probably to the car rental place.”

“Uh, Jeremy, your Enclave was totally totaled.”

“Right.” He pondered her words. “Well, I don’t guess I need to go to the police impound then. Just a dealership, I suppose.”

“You’ll get an insurance check soon. Right?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to wait. Why rent? I’ll just go buy another.”

Poppy considered what he was saying. “You can do that?”

“Well, yeah. I’ve got a little nest egg I can dip into. I promise to put the insurance money in as soon as I get it.” He laughed.

She pursed her lips. “Okay. Let’s go car shopping. But—”

“Let’s pick up the girls first.” He finished her sentence. She smiled at him and nodded.

“Are you sure you’re up to it?”

She sighed. “I am really worn out.”

“I suggest you go home and rest. I’ll take Chelany and let her pick out our next vehicle and we’ll swing back by to show you and the girls afterward. How’s that sound?”

She forced her eyes open. “Sounds like we are going to need to have dinner ready when you get back.”

“Don’t bother. I’ll bring something over. How do you feel about liver and onions?”

Poppy scrunched up her face. “What? Yuck!”

“Just kidding. I’ll get sushi!” He grinned. “Still kidding! What do you want?”

She thought. “I still want ice cream.”

He laughed. “How about hamburgers and chocolate malts?”

“Mmm.” She forced herself to stand. He took her arm and guided her to her bronco.

“You get some rest, and I’ll ask Heather to get a hold of your GiGi.”

“What will she be able to do?”

He fastened her seat belt and climbed into the driver’s side. “You’ll see.”

Poppy closed her eyes as she felt the Bronco pull away from Jeremy’s apartment. The next thing she knew, Jeremy called her name. “We’re at your house. You want me to help you get into bed.”

She grinned.

“I mean to get some rest. You naughty girl.”

She opened one eye. “I think I can manage.”

“Are you sure?”

She clicked the seatbelt and reached for the door handle, missed it, and tried a second time. “I’m really weak. Maybe I could use some help.”

“At your service, madam.” He jumped out and ran around to her side. “Here, take my hand.” Jeremy coaxed her out of the vehicle and slowly walked beside her to the door. Heather and the girls stood at the storm glass door. Concern filled Heather’s eyes. She opened the door. “I thought you were the one coming home from the hospital, Jeremy?”

He glanced up. “Yeah. Poppy’s just feeling the imbalance of her newfound talents.”

Heather stared at him. “She’s what?”

Poppy lifted her head. “Long story, can you call GiGi for me?”

“Sure.” Heather followed her sister with her eyes. “And ... why?”

“We need the last member of your family who” —he glanced at the wide eyes girls— “you know, actively has the gift. She can help Poppy find her balance.”

Heather mouthed, Oh. “She’s over a hundred years old, what’s she— Sure I’ll call her.”

Poppy crawled onto her bed and curled up on her side. A lingering cellular-level memory of Jeremy’s lovemaking waltzed through her body. She’d had sultry sex dreams about him for years, but never in her wildest imagination did she think it could be like what she experienced today. “Whoa!”

She covered her mouth. Did she say that out loud? A smile curled on her mouth and she drifted to sleep.

“Poppy?” GiGi’s voice pulled her from the deep dregs of sleep. “Poppy, it’s your GiGi. Wake up, dear.”

Poppy opened one eye, then the other. She wiped drool from the side of her cheek. “GiGi?”

“Yes, dear. I understand you need me.”

Poppy looked around. Her bed was in the middle of a forest. The trees were huge. Where was she? How did GiGi get here? “How— How did you—?”

Daisy Rivers shrugged. “You needed me. I came.”

Poppy pushed herself up on her elbows. “But how?”

“When a Rivers child needs her elder to guide her, the spirit world opens up to let us in. We are in a very sacred place, near where I was born.”

“In California?” Poppy looked around. Redwood trees surrounded her bed, reducing its king-size stature to a child-size bed in comparison.

GiGi chuckled. “It is remnant of California, yes, but we are not exactly in the States.”

“What are we doing?” Poppy felt like a child. Her GiGi looked different too. Younger, stronger. Her braid was rusty red, not white as snow. Her face was smooth and beautiful. “GiGi, you’re ... not old.”

“In the spiritual world, no one is old, or young. We are just who we are. Now, come with me.” GiGi held out her hand. Poppy put hers in GiGi’s and let her pull her from the bed. A teepee stood a few feet away. Blue smoke rose from the apex.

Poppy’s gaze followed the smoke. It rose into the mass of branches from the Redwood trees. The sky was far beyond the trees, but she couldn’t see one glimpse of it. The trees were dense and covered where she stood like a thick umbrella. “What is this?”

“It’s a healing lodge. Come, we will go inside.”

Poppy followed her, bending to go under the flap. As they entered, their clothes changed. They changed. Without the searing heat or the snapping bones, they were both transformed into Afghan hounds.

Long slender chestnut-brown snouts faded to creamy white ears with thick, silky hair that hung down to their shoulders. The same creamy-white silky hair draped from their backbone to nearly touch the ground. Their legs were long, and their stride was graceful and elegant as they moved across the teepee. They sat, as a dog would on their back hunches, with her front legs straight. Poppy stared at the fire pit.

Stones glowed red-hot and sizzled. Moisture continuously wet the stones, but Poppy could not see the source of the water. It was what created the blue smoke. She inhaled deeply. The steam filled her lungs and opened her breathing passages. “Mmm, Eucalyptus.”

GiGi giggled, “Not exactly.”

Poppy looked at her GiGi. Her appearance was of an exotic Afghan hound, but her voice was the same as what she had heard all her life. She looked down at herself. Her body also was that of the Tazi breed. How amazing.