Dema began to ease out of the dream state and looked at Sedna, who was still fully there with her.

"Sedna, I was me again, normal, not a freak. People saw me, looked at me, wondered where I came from, but I was walking out, so they all assumed they missed seeing me come in. I was counting on that, you get by the first one or two, the rest see that and think you must be okay. It worked.

"I even saw the guy that shot me. His face went sort of blank, like he half recognized me but couldn't place me. I ignored him and walked on by. I was a little worried he'd do something, but he just stood there like the others.

"When I got outside I headed around to the side like I was going to where the boss's limo was parked. As soon as I got to a place where no one could see me I ducked into the woods and went back to where I left my jumpsuit. I took off the boss's shirt and pants and dressed in my own clothes, went back to the car and drove off.

"Sedna, this next part is so cool. I looked in the car mirror. I was back to normal, and I knew it. I felt normal. I was out of the shaman-dream, completely out of it for the first time in so long. It was such a big relief, but in another way it was a letdown. I felt empty in a way, unconnected."

Sedna unconsciously nodded at this, from her own understanding and what Dema had been sharing with her, but she did not interrupt.

"So when I got to the spot where I'd jumped from the car, the place I got shot, the place where I found the snakes, I pulled off the road and parked. I went into the woods, and found the cave again.

"That was the first cool thing, that I could just know where it was and walk right to it, without having to search for it. My shaman senses were still working. Then when I got there I stripped off my jumpsuit again, and went into the snake dream. It was easy! I wasn't sure it would be, after returning to normal, but it was. And when I shifted into snake form, I didn't have to go all pale this time. Instead I went black, like the other snakes. Watch."

Right there in Sedna's sitting room, Dema went into the dream and changed herself into the giant snake, not the pale form of the Lamia like before, but dark now, almost black, with deep chestnut-brown markings the color of her hair. Her eyes went yellow and lidless. She slid out of her clothing and raised her long slender body up on its scaly coils, until her head almost brushed the high ceiling.

Then she dreamed back her human head, hair and all, and smiled down at Sedna, who smiled up at her in open admiration.

"Cool, huh?" said Dema. She dreamed back her arms and upper body, and swung down on her lithe tail coils to gather up her clothing. As she dreamed back her legs and started to get dressed, she continued her story.

"So I crawled into the little cave and coiled up with the other snakes. I went deeper into the snake dream, and they knew who I was. They understood enough of my story to be happy for me, if that's the right word. Snakes operate on a level pretty close to serenity most of the time, I think. They don't indulge in a lot of emotional mood swings. So pleased, I think, is a better word than happy. You know what I mean, Sedna, you've been there." Again Sedna nodded.

"They understood, too, that I was there to thank them, to acknowledge them, to let them know I was grateful for their help. We all coiled up together, wrapping our bodies around each other, all sharing the snake dream together. There is wisdom in that dream, and I learned some things. I stayed there with them almost all day.

"But then it was time for them to hunt, and some of them started leaving the cave. So I did too. I dreamed myself back to normal, got dressed, and went back to the car.

"The snake dream stayed with me for a while, as I drove back down to Philadelphia. I was pretty much outside myself. But my body felt completely normal, and I could tell it was going to stay that way with no problem when I got back to the motel and went to bed.

"And sure enough, the next morning I woke up normal for the first time since I got shot. Oh and look, by the way. No scar." Dema pulled up her shirt to show Sedna where the wound had been. "My snake body healed perfectly, and so did this one."

Sedna reached out to touch her granddaughter and feel her warmth, recalling how she had appeared on the doorstep only a few weeks before, pale, hairless, and kept alive only by the fact that she was no longer fully human. Then she looked into Dema's eyes, witnessing the fact of a shaman miracle like none she had even experienced.

Dema went on. "That's pretty near the end of the story. I went back to the DEA office and pulled together the files I knew were there that all pointed to the drug boss Miguel and his hideout in the Poconos. I tied it all up with a report, and gave it to the captain.

He looked it over and went wild. He said something like, 'Culver, you just up and disappear, one lousy phone message in all this time, and now you walk in and hand me this! Where were you? What in hell were you doing in Chicago? I called your office there, and they said as far as they knew you were still here! But hey, I ain't complainin'. This is going to bring that mob down, but good! How'd you do it?'

"I told him I couldn't talk about what went on in Chicago, but that it had finally clicked for me and I knew it was all there in the files. That was almost true. I was close to seeing it the day the thugs grabbed me, and I got the rest from Miguel. The captain didn't need to be convinced, he was just happy to have it done. So he set up the bust and we went up there and cleaned out the place.

"Miguel was gone, and of course there were others who weren't at the hideout and had to be picked up later, and a few of them tried running off into the woods. The rest knew it was over as soon as we pulled up in the police vans, and never fired a shot. I walked right up to the cold-eyed thug who put that bullet in me, and took his gun off of him. He knew who I was then, all right, and those cold eyes had fear in them.

"That pretty much wrapped up my assignment in Philly, so I turned in the rental car, grabbed a plane for O'Hare, and here I am!" With that, Dema flung her arms out wide and gave Sedna a big grin.

Sedna grinned back and said, "Dema, I'm so happy for you! And look at you! You've mastered the shaman dream like no one I've ever heard of. Even the stories of the first Lamia don't match this. Of course, there's a lot we don't know about those ancient times..."

Dema could see that Sedna was about to drift off into musings about the past. But she cut herself off from that, looked back at Dema and said, "But what are you going to do now?"

"Well, I'll go back to work, of course. I'll report in at the DEA office in the morning. I have a feeling my shaman awareness is going to come in handy. I think I've used it before, in a limited, intuitive way. But I've learned a lot, Sedna, and now that I've got it under control I'll bet you can help me learn even more.

"But for this evening, what about dinner? Want me to order some Chinese?"