Page 73 of The Sister's Curse

“She tells me what she’s cooking. She likes to cook. And she got some eggs from her neighbor who keeps chickens. Not so many eggs this year as usual.”

“It’s been very hot,” I acknowledged. “But fresh eggs are delicious.”

“Yes. The neighbor has Araucanas. Good layers. I used to do a lot of things with eggs, when the girls were little.”

“Like what?”

“Oh, omelets, quiches. They’re also very good to clear out your energy, you know.”

“What do you mean?” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dr.Fox frown slightly.

“Oh, they’re great for that.” Cassandra leaned forward. “You take a fresh egg and pass it all over your body. Every inch. And then you crack it open and empty its guts into a glass of cold water. You let it sit for a half hour before interpreting it.”

“What does that do?” I played along.

“If you see spikes, people are talking bad about you. If you see an eye, someone has given you the evil eye. If you see dark spots, you’ve been hexed,” she whispered, eyes gleaming.

“That doesn’t sound good,” I said.

“That’s why you have to pour that down the toilet, eggshells and all, and take a bath with lots of salt. The egg takes on the darkness. You have to do it over and over, until it comes up clear…over and over…” Her gaze grew misty. “You should try it. It would help you. You’ve got a very dark aura, you know.”

Dr.Fox gently reached out for Cassandra’s hand. “We talked about this, remember? About things that aren’t real?”

Cassandra rolled her eyes. “I’m not allowed to talk about that stuff.”

I changed the subject. “Tell me about your daughters. I’m sure you’re very proud of them.”

Cassandra smiled. “My girls are so smart. Smart and beautiful. Viv wants to be a biologist when she graduates. She got accepted into college. She’s going to be so good at it. That girl has the biggest heart.”

I thought back to the Viv I knew, who had abandoned her dreams to work at the local bar and mutter curses in her parlor. She was trying to get back to that—I recalled the college rejection letter on the coffee table. Once upon a time, she had been someone else.

We were all someone else, once upon a time.

“She’s going to be a great biologist,” I said. “How about Dana? What does she want to be when she grows up?”

Cassandra blinked, as if a bug had flown into her eye. She rubbed her brow and smiled. “Dana wants to be an artist. But I’m hoping she’ll choose journalism. She’s really good with people.”

“That’s wonderful. We definitely need more journalists.”

“She’s got this charisma. She can put anyone at ease. Strangers will walk up to her and tell her their life stories.”

“What else does Dana like to do?”

Cassandra’s brow furrowed, and I realized her recall was proximate. She could remember things from twenty-five years ago as clearly as if they had happened yesterday. Maybe she was the best witness I could find. “She’s really popular, and that worries me. All those boys circling her like wolves.”

“I heard she has a boyfriend.”

Cassandra made a dismissive gesture. “I told her not to fuss with boys. Boys come and go. She likes that boy Rick. He’s a good boy, but it’s not good for a girl to settle down so quick. She said they agreed to be friends.”

“That makes a lot of sense. How did he take that?” I hoped Cassandra’s memory was from very close to the time when Dana disappeared…frozen at a point just before she vanished.

I was most struck then by the softness in her eyes, the affection with which she spoke about her daughters, the details she knew about them.

“I think it was his idea. He’s going off to college. She agreedthat it made sense, but she’s sad about it, you know? Young love’s like that, always bittersweet.”

“Are there any other boys who like her? I heard about Luke and Jason and Wally.”

Cassandra frowned. “There are too many boys looking at her. I don’t like that.”