Months later, as the night chill dipped below freezing, we came across a community that had moved into a derelict shopping mall. Like Panorama, this community was a matriarchy run by a woman in her late middle years. Suzanne told us we were welcome to winter over, even if we were witches, and then introduced us to Sonia of Xas who had been a nurse in El Paso in the Before and now had the gift of healing.

Sonia was a beautiful woman who greeted us warmly but for some reason, I took an immediate and visceral dislike of her. She didn’t seem to notice, though, and peppered Janette and me with questions about our journey and about our powers.

I thought she was more interested in her powers than she should have been. I mentioned that to Janette, and she shrugged me off. “She’s the on...

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