Once I fell silent, she gave a slow nod. "You sure that actually happened to you?" I could hear the fear in her voice. "I've never seen their hands, but I've never heard of them climbing into houses either."
"It did," I whispered, finally getting my trembling under control. "I must have forgotten about it, but I don't know how I could have. It scared me so badly at the time. I must have been only six years old.” I looked up at her, needing to see her eyes. “You don't think I'm lying, do you?"
"No." She squeezed my arm. "I've just never heard of that happening is all." We sat there a second, with Bisa biting her lips before she grabbed me a towel. "I hate to ask, but what happened after?"
"I woke up."
"No, I know that. But what really happened?"
I turned away and stared into the still water of the tub. I tried to reach for the memory, tried to recall what had happened.
The Gray Person reached out to me, and her hand was colder than I imagined as it wrapped around my shoulder. Her breath was like frost; I remembered that because it gave me goosebumps. But I couldn't recall what she said, or even what happened after. The memory was cut short like a frayed rope.
"I don't know," I whispered. "I don't remember."
Bisa stilled, then gave me a nervous smile as she handed me the towel she had been nervously twisting in her hands. "I don't know if I could forget something that bad. Surely your parents knew about it, right?"
"I mean, I guess. If any of my family knew that I had encountered a Gray Person, none of them talked about it."
"Come on," Bisa said, turning away after the silence went on for too long. "I heated up some stew for you. I need to make sure you're fed for tonight."
I got up, drained the tub, and toweled off. I was still shaky, but I tried not to focus on that. Bisa was right, I was losing daylight and didn't have the luxury to lie around unearthing old memories.
Bisa was about to leave but then stopped and cocked her head to the side. “Oh, not again,” she sighed and stepped around me to bend over the tub. "This damn thing cracked again." She pointed to a fresh break in the wood on the far side.
"That was my fault, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep," I said, frowning.
She got to her feet, giving me a familiar smile. "No worries. That poor tub has already cracked twice. It was old when Marcus and I moved in last year."
I pulled on the temporary clothes Bisa had left near the tub for me, a simple gown that came down to my knees. "Was that only last year?"
She nodded and kissed my cheek, her lips cracked from her nervous biting. "If you hadn't spoken up for us, Marcus would still be living under Mom's roof. I can't imagine what that would be like."
I smiled and took her hand, the disturbing dream fading like fog. Last year Bisa put in a request with the Exalted Family to have her mother's home investigated for negligence. Marcus was still living there at the time, even though Bisa was living on her own, and she was concerned for her little brother's health and safety. She’d watched Marcus grow more frail and sickly, month after month, before finally claiming negligence against her mother. As a representative of the Exalted, it was up to me to investigate.
I'd heard the rumors of Zola Figg's downward spiral after her husband's death. From the reports, I knew she had shuttered up all her windows, only went out shopping for supplies at night, and complained that even candlelight hurt her eyes. Still, I wasn't prepared for the squalor I saw little Marcus living in when I arrived. The place reeked of rotting food and overflowing chamber pots.
It was during the process of liberating Marcus from his mother's home and speaking to my father and mother on Bisa’s behalf that Bisa and I grew close. The whole investigation took six months, and even though she and I had known of each other, we never got the chance to really talk until then.
She was the bright light amid all that mess.
After it was all settled, we started dating. One day I was paying her to mend my pile of old clothes, and a few weeks later we were making out in her kitchen. I think it helped that Marcus liked me, too.
Lost in thought, I let Bisa lead me towards the kitchen. "It was hard watching you stand up there representing me and Marcus," Bisa said with a smirk. "You were so damn fine I lost track of what you were saying sometimes and almost missed my lines."
"Father had asked me how you were doing at one point. He mentioned that you sounded distant and distracted when you had to voice your consent. He thought you were just very upset. If he only knew, right?"
Bisa glanced over her shoulder as I sat down in the kitchen. “Marcus wanted to join us for lunch, so make sure you behave, okay?” Her smile betrayed the sternness of her words.
I nodded, making a point to sit on my hands. She just shook her head.
Bisa got me a big bowl of stew that tasted almost like Mr. Eddington's house special downstairs. She wanted to copy it without having to ask him for the recipe.
Marcus joined us for lunch, emerging from his room with barely a glance at me. We tried to keep the conversation light and upbeat. Bisa hated getting the boy wrapped up in the troubles of The Seeking, especially after all he had been through.
Marcus seemed oblivious enough at first as we ate and joked around, but before he headed back to his room to play, he came over and wrapped his arms around me. His curly brown hair hid his eyes, but I could feel his tears through the cloth gown Bisa had given me.
“Marcus…”
He held me tight and I shared a look with Bisa, who had come to stand beside me. A hand covered her mouth and her eyes widened. I ruffled his hair, trying to keep myself composed.
"Be safe, Dahlia." His voice squeaked from his tears. "Don't let the bad guys get you."
"I won't," I promised quietly.
He let go of me abruptly and darted to his bedroom, closing the door behind him. I only got a look at his face briefly, but I saw his cheeks were wet with tears.
Bisa and I exchanged bittersweet smiles before she sighed. "Maybe that boy knows more than I like to admit."
"I think he knows enough," I leaned back in my chair. "We can do our best to protect him, but he still lives in Carra, doesn’t he? He understands what's going on. I don't know if I like him referring to his own townspeople as 'bad'."
Bisa caught my eye. "Aren't they, though? Once midnight strikes tonight, this town will be full of ‘bad’ people."
Bisa cleared the plates and then brought me to her bedroom to get out of earshot from Marcus. She pulled me down to the edge of the bed and wrapped her arm around mine as we sat side by side.
"So…" Bisa squeezed my hand. There was determination in her eyes; all jokes and smiles were gone. "What are your plans for tonight?"
A year ago, when Bisa first asked me to share my plans for The Seeking, I was reluctant. The general consensus is to not trust anyone if you are in the Exalted Family. Even siblings don't share their plans for fear of letting it slip beforehand.
A year ago, I struggled with trusting Bisa with such dangerous information. But now she was an integral part of my preparations. She was my confidant and was almost better at planning for potential problems than I was.