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We both take a chair and I continue to watch her in confusion. “Would you like any tea? Cake?” she asks. She turns to Raúl, baring her surprisingly straight teeth. “Nothing on the menu, for you, I’m afraid.”
“Cake suits me just fine,” Raúl says.
I grip the fabric of my dress in my palm. “Can you just tell us what you think I’m looking for first, ma’am?”
She snorts and fumbles toward the kitchen. “Ma’am is my mother, not me. Call me Talia.” She putters around, putting on a kettle and taking out a few cakes wrapped in beeswax fabric from the cabinet above the sink. She sets them down in front of us and Raúl happily digs in while I ignore mine.
“You are looking for your mother, of course.”
I gasp and lean forward, almost tearing a hole in my dress. “Do you know who she is?”
She hands me a fork and a napkin. “Eat, eat. You are too thin.”
I groan, frustrated. “Please, just tell me.”
She takes my hands into her rough, calloused ones. “You just met her, I’m afraid.”
I bite my lip as my eyes draw together. “She said she didn’t have a baby taken away.”
Talia sits back and adjusts in her chair. “That’s because she doesn’t remember.”
“What?” I ask.
“Yes, yes. She doesn’t remember.” The tea kettle whistles and I smack my palm to my forehead when she pauses her story to tend to it. I am not usually one for violence. Since meeting Raúl, though, and up until today, I might have to consider changing my self-identifiers. If I could shake the truth out of this woman, I would.
Talia sets cups in front of us and pours hot water inside each, the smell of hot tea filling the small house. “A long time ago, there was a witch that lived in a tower where the tree is now.”
I reach my hand out and grip Raúl’s, my eyes wide as I stare at Talia. “And?”
“Dreselda was pregnant again, the seventh time. For some reason, that idiot husband of hers kept stealing the witch’s rapunzel.”
My heart stops. My name.
Talia shakes her head, apparently because of the stupidity of the man. “Never mess with witches, that’s what Momma taught me, and it’s what I’ll tell anyone who listens. He didn’t, though. When Dreselda went into labor, there was a huge commotion. The witch helped with the delivery, and the next day, took the baby.”
“She… took the baby?” Raúl asks.
Talia nods. “The witch must have put a forgetting spell on Dreselda and her family, because later that week, I stopped by to bring her food. She could not remember ever being pregnant with a seventh child.”
“What happened to the witch and the baby?” I ask, my voice trembling.
“She ran into the forest. I thought the baby perished, left for the vampires.” Talia stares at me, her intelligence shining through. “That is, until I saw you. You are the spitting image of Dreselda when she was a young woman.”
I press the heels of my palms to my eyes, grateful the tears do not spill. Raúl wraps his arm around my shoulder, squeezing it tight, murmuring comforting words into my ear. Talia pats my knee awkwardly.
“The witch returns every year by month nine. I see her enter Dreselda’s house, then leave. I suspect she reapplies her spell, for lack of a better word.” She taps her nose. “Her magic makes my nose itch, and I can’t stop sneezing when she visits.”
Talia pushes the tea cup closer to me. “Have some tea. You’ll feel better.”
“No, no. Thank you,” I say, catching my breath. “I must go. Thank you, Talia, for your help.”
“Watch out for Cal,” she says. She gives us a quick description of him, helpful since I’ve only heard his name from when Nava spied on Mother. Talia stands up and escorts us to the door. “Yes, yes. Come by someday. Who knows? If Dreselda sees you again, it might spark her brain. Now go.”
I do not answer, but Raúl does, and I’m thankful for it. He thanks Talia, bowing to her. With his arm around my waist, he dashes toward the portal stone. In no time at all, we stand outside the vampire castle. “Do you want to stay here?” Raúl whispers.
I barely manage a nod, but it’s all Raúl needs to spirit me away to the rooms I see as mine now. He tucks me into bed and I stare at the ceiling.
“Penny,” he says, brushing back my hair. “You need to try to sleep.”
