Kadee’s fingertips were trembling, and the edges of her vision wavered. She pulled in deep breaths, bringing to mind the fleshwitch’s voice saying, “Tell me what you must do, when you feel this way.” Calm my body. Draw a breath, and let it out slowly, naturally. Recognize the tightness in my muscles and relax, bit by bit. Make myself quiet. Kadee refused Marcel’s hand, thinking, This isn’t fair! She wanted to cry and scream and throw a tantrum. But she didn’t want that to happen in front of Marcel, or in front of her new family. My fake family. Her real family was far away. They probably didn’t even know what had happened her. All because Marcel felt Kadee would be “better off” with the strange, magical people related to the man who had abandoned her mother than she was with the two loving human parents who had raised her. “I’m ready,” she told Marcel. It was the sight of the door to the serpiente palace that had stopped her. It didn’t look like a palace in a fairy tale.
