Ash pulled the blanket around her shoulders. Her bum was getting numb, but she still didn't move from the porch step. The house behind her was silent and dark. Everyone else was fast asleep, but her dreams eluded her.

'I thought I'd find you out here.' Babet closed the door and joined Ash on the step.

'Couldn't sleep.'

Babet analysed her face. 'What's going on with you?'

Ash pursed her lips. 'What isn't? Jess getting her gift. Me accused of kidnapping/murder. Seems everything is spiralling out of control.'

'And yet those aren't the reason you're out here.'

A chuckle escaped Ash's mouth. 'Are you sure you aren't psychic?'

'You're dodging the question.'

Ash huffed and settled her gaze on the shrubs in the front garden. It was a garden witch's dream. Meadowsweet. Cowslip. Sage. She had to remember to restock on the things she found difficult to grow in the RV.

'I don't know where to start,' she said honestly.

'Start by telling me why you're back to wearing that.' Babet reached over and picked up the large pendant hanging from Ash's neck. It looked like a normal pentagon from the front, but the back was covered in smaller symbols and inlaid with different gems.

'It was necessary.'

'You haven't worn that for years.'

'Things change.'

'You shouldn't even be having visions wearing this.' Babet shook her head, still not taking her gaze off Ash's chest. 'In the beginning, it blocked everything.'

'Like I said, things change.'

'Your gift is growing?'

'Like a fucking weed.'

'That's how you added those symbols to my drawing?'

Ash avoided her gaze. She knew Babet wouldn't miss something like that.

'It's like I knew they needed to be added. I can't even explain it.' She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin.

'And your visions? Are they the same?'

'Stronger. More vivid.'

'More frequent?'

Ash's lips mashed into a line. 'Yes.'

'Are you still able to block people's emotions?' Babet asked hurriedly.

'Most of the time. Sometimes I get a little lost,' she admitted.

Babet let out a breath and watched the puff of white cloud dissipate in front of her face.

'I'm guessing something happened?'

Ash fidgeted, the blanket slipping down her shoulder. 'I could feel my gift getting stronger, but it was small things at first. Knowing someone's name before they introduced themselves. Picking up my phone before it started ringing.'

'You don't need touch to get your visions?' Babet's eyes narrowed.

'Now they come without warning. It's how I knew Jess was in trouble. But touch is still a better guarantee. It's more focused that way.' Ash chewed on her lip before telling Babet what was really on her mind. 'But it's manifesting in different ways.'

Babet's head snapped to her. 'Your gift isn't just growing stronger? It's changing?'

'I think so.'

'Do you know if something like this has happened before?'

'I checked through the book and there's a vague entry back in the 1870s. But it's scant on details.' Ash shrugged. Scant on details was being generous. The entry in question was scarcely bigger than a collection of sentences.

'When did this start?'

'A few months ago. I was walking past a group of guys. You know the type. They think that because you're a woman from the trailer parks, then you're fair game.' The two women shared a look. 'I was trying to avoid them as best I could, but there were five of them, and two of them blocked my path whilst the other two cut off my exit. The fifth just watched. I could tell he didn't want to be there, but was too caught up in what his friends were doing.'

'They'd been drinking, that much I could tell. Their breath reeked of alcohol. They grabbed at my arms, but it was easy to evade them since they were so drunk. I made a dash for it, but one of them tackled me from behind. I tell you, Bab, I thought I'd broken a rib when that fucker landed on me. I was winded and dazed, and couldn't react quick enough before his hands were all over me.'

Babet's mouth hung open. 'They didn't...'

'No. The fifth guy was less drunk than the others. He was smart enough to realise that it had gone too far. He pulled his friend off me and shoved him back. But it didn't end there. Whilst helping me up, his friend retaliated for ruining his fun, in his words. Fuck, there was so much blood.' Ash hid her eyes. 'I really thought they were going to kill him.'

'But they didn't?'

'I don't know whether they would have if I hadn't-' Ash cut off with a shudder.

'What did you do, Ash?'

Ash opened her eyes. 'It was like I could feel everything. His disgust. The other man's terror. The amusement of the other three. And I hated it. It was too much, and I snapped. It was like my emotions flashed out of me and struck the man, sending him flying. The other three didn't stay long after that. They picked him up and left me to deal with their barely conscious friend on the floor. I was just lucky that he remembered nothing when the police questioned us. And I never heard what happened to the other four. I didn't stay long in that town after that. I put it in my rearview mirror as quickly as I could.'

Babet gaped at her. 'Has it happened again?'

'Thankfully not. But after that, I started wearing the amulet again. I was afraid of something happening. The last thing I need is to be carted off to some lab to be studied.'

'Have you told Jess?'

Ash sighed. 'Our relationship isn't exactly the greatest. Plus, I didn't want to worry her. Right now, she needs me to have all my shit together to help her. I can hardly do that if I admit that I can toss grown men through the air without touching them.'

Babet cuffed the back of her head, and Ash flinched.

'What the fuck, Bab?'

'You and your sister,' she growled. 'You're so alike, you just don't see it. You're both trying to be strong and independent. But you're supposed to rely on each other. You're family and family understand that you can't be superhuman all the time. If you two keep pussyfooting around each other, you'll never solve anything.'

'Bab, she's new to this life. I'm afraid that if I push too much, reveal too much, that she'll end up losing her mind.'

'And that's your problem; you're afraid that she'll end up like your mother.'

'Jesse is nothing like mom,' snapped Ash.

'Neither of you are,' Babet told her gently. 'You can't go through life afraid of turning into her.'

Ash fell silent under Babet's understanding gaze.

'Your mother was a trapeze artist. My mother was a crazy person,' she pointed out finally. 'It's a little different.'

'And I still had to admit that although I look like my mom, sound like her, and think like her, I'm not her. And it was not okay for everyone, me included, to expect me to follow in her footsteps when I didn't want to. I love my mother, but I'm not her, and neither is Izora. In the end, we choose our own path.'

Ash looked at her hands. 'There's still so much we don't know about these gifts. Nana's mother believed they were getting stronger. My mother seems to suggest that she was right, but then what does it mean for me and Jesse?'

'That you're powerful.'

'And what if we can't control them? What if we end up losing ourselves? What if I can't help Jesse?'

'And that's why you're out here,' Babet said, smiling. 'You're worried about losing control and not being able to help your sister through this.'

'Mom had Nana's mother to guide her and look how she turned out. Jesse hasn't got another medium to teach her.'

'But she's got you and the book,' urged Babet. 'Besides, can you honestly say that your Nana was able to help you that much when you were learning to use your gift?' She raised an eyebrow and Ash smirked, thinking of her chain smoking eccentric grandmother.

'She tried, but her gift was so much weaker than mine. I think she was sometimes afraid of what I could do.'

'Your family gifts are getting stronger. You and Jess are testament to that. But there has to be a reason it's happening. Things like this usually weaken over time.'

'Like Nana's gift. In the end, she lost the ability to tell if people were lying to her almost completely. She hated it. Always thought the nurses were sugarcoating her diagnosis.' Her lips twitched. Even riddled with cancer, all her hair having fallen out, her grandmother had been a force of nature. There wasn't a day that went by that Ash didn't miss her.

'Your grandmother's gift was a parlour trick compared to what you can do, or Jess, no offence to your Nana. And you're both still young. Is it possible that you haven't reached the full potential of your gifts?'

Ash considered Babet's idea, trying to keep the horror off her face. The daily visions were enough to give her an almost constant ache in her skull. And she didn't know what she was going to do if Jess continued to get possessed as easily as some people pulled on shoes.

'I really hope you're wrong,' she said after a moment's hesitation.

'But you don't think I am?' Babet queried.

Ash splayed out her legs. 'I don't want to think about it tonight. Can't we just keep it tomorrow's problem?'

Babet got to her feet, and Ash followed her example. 'I'm going to give you the same advice I gave Jess; talk to your sister.'

'Yes, sir.' Ash saluted, earning her a shoulder nudge from Babet.

'I'm serious. Talk. It. Out,' Babet warned.

'I will. I will,' she dismissed.

'I'm serious, Ash. Acting like everything is fine won't make it be so.'

Ash slung her arm around Babet's shoulders. 'And I'm serious when I say I will talk to Jesse. We've gone too long not talking.'

'And you never know what the future brings.'

Ash gave her friend's shoulder a squeeze, knowing that Babet's mind had drifted to her own sister Izora. It was true, you never know what the future holds, and for Babet it was filled with the possibility that she would never hear her sister's voice again.