Chapter 11 Danni
DANNI
The walk to Madam Healer’s office was brisk and bracing, the crisp Autumn air nipping at my cheeks as I tugged my hand-knitted sweater tighter around me.
Now that I saw it in the outside light, I found the navy-blue yarn flecked with tiny bits of silvery thread I barely remembered weaving in.
I’d made it years ago, on long winter nights when Craig was still alive and the house felt too quiet.
I had always liked the sweater, but somehow it felt… different now. Like the threads themselves were humming with something warm. Something old. Something mine.
Harmony walked beside me, hands shoved into the pockets of her dress.
“Just a heads up,” she said as we rounded the corner past the general store. “Madam Healer might surprise you.”
I glanced at her.
“Oh? How so?”
She shrugged.
“She’s a Naga.”
I nodded.
“Um…okay.”
“You don’t get it, but you will.”
Harmony grinned, apparently amused by my lack of reaction, but I honestly didn’t know what that meant. Was it a witch thing? A fae thing? A monster thing? Everything about Hidden Hollow felt like it belonged in a storybook, and I was already knee-deep in it.
The healer’s office was nestled in a crooked little stone building with ivy crawling up one side and mist curling along the edges of the porch.
It smelled faintly of lavender and something sharper—pine resin or sage, maybe.
Inside, the waiting room was dimly lit by softly glowing sconces shaped like mushrooms. The walls were painted a deep forest green, and the ceiling above was a swirl of moss and shadow.
It smelled faintly of smoke and cloves which was decidedly different from any other doctor’s waiting room I’d ever been in.
“Madam Healer?” Harmony called out. “I’ve brought a new friend to visit you. She just came from the Human World.”
There was a pause, then I heard the unmistakable sound of something large and scaled slithering across the wooden floor. What in the world?
“Bring her back to the conference room,” a voice called. It was low, commanding and feminine with a faint hiss around the S sounds.
My heart leapt up into my throat. I wasn’t scared, exactly… just overwhelmed. And the rustling sound made the hairs at the back of my neck stand up.
Harmony led me down a short hallway to a room that felt more like someone’s living room than a clinic.
A crackling fire danced in a hearth carved from stone, filling the air with the comforting scent of burning wood.
There was a broad, plush couch and a strange, high-backed chair with a round hole cut cleanly through the center of it.
A tea service sat on a tray table nearby, with mismatched porcelain cups and a bubbling silver kettle that whistled softly like it was singing.
I sank onto the couch and tried to calm my nerves. Being in real clothes again helped—my soft yoga pants and hand-knitted sweater hugged my body like armor. But there was still a knot of tension in my belly, like something was coming. Something I couldn’t name.
The rustling came again, louder this time, and then Madam Healer entered.
From the waist up, she was an older woman with elegant silver hair swept into a chignon at the back of her neck and delicate silver-framed glasses perched on the bridge of her aristocratic nose.
She wore a white lab coat over a blouse the color of antique lace.
But from the waist down… she was a massive serpent, her scales a shimmering bronze-green that caught the firelight like jewels.
I forced myself not to stare, but it was hard. She moved with an eerie grace, her tail gliding behind her as she slithered across the floor and into the strange chair. The hole in the center accommodated her lower half perfectly.
“Danni, this is Madam Healer,” Harmony said, smiling. “Madam, this is Danni. She just came her from the Human World today.”
Madam Healer studied me with warm, intelligent eyes.
“Welcome, dear. How can I help you?”
Harmony explained rapidly about the Harm-or-No-Harm charm. She pulled the stone from her pocket and handed it over, telling how it had turned first green, then purple after detecting a presence in my bedroom.
Madam Healer held the charm in her palm and murmured something under her breath—something low and melodic I couldn’t quite hear. The stone shimmered, turned green, then slowly darkened to that same deep, royal purple.
The healer closed her eyes and inhaled sharply.
“Ah, yes. I see it now.”
“What do you see?” I asked uncertainly.
“There is an energy in your cottage. A presence that wants you.”
My breath caught in my throat.
“Wants me? For what? To…to eat me?”
“No, no.” She waved my fear away with a flick of her hand. “Nothing so sinister. This presence—he is male, I believe. And he is tied to you through your past. Have you seen him before?”
I opened my mouth to say no. But then, like a beam of light stabbing through a fog, I saw it.
The flash of a memory.
A pounding on my bedroom door—furious and violent. I was small…scared. And standing between me and that door… was a tall shadow. Broad shoulders. No face. Just… blackness. Protecting me.
The Shadow Boy, something whispered in my head. He saved you.
I gasped, the image dissolving like smoke before I could hold onto it.
“Danni?” Harmony leaned toward me. “You okay? You look like you’ve got a headache again.”
“I…I’m fine. I just had a memory.” I shook my head, feeling dazed. “Or I think it was a memory. It’s gone now.”
Madam Healer nodded thoughtfully.
“Just as I thought. There’s a block there—a protective one. Formed by trauma, perhaps.” She steepled her fingers and leaned closer to me. “I could give you a potion to unlock it—but I must warn you, it’s very strong. A flood of memories come all at once. For some, the overload leads to madness.”
“No thank you,” I said quickly. “I don’t want to go crazy just to remember something I might not even want to know.”
“That’s wise of you,” she said, nodding. “Instead, I suggest you speak to Goody Albright. Her memory tea is much gentler. It causes a slow unveiling—the results are much more manageable.”
Harmony perked up.
“Goody’s probably at Goldie’s right now. They’re meeting to talk about the All Hallows Eve ceremony.”
My eyebrows lifted.
“What’s that?”
“I can explain on the way,” Harmony said. “Come on—let’s head over.”
I stood to go, but Madam Healer reached out and took my hand. Her fingers were cool and dry, but her grip was surprisingly firm.
“You have hidden depths, my dear,” she said, her gaze boring into mine. “Whatever it is that lingers in your cottage… I don’t believe it means to harm you. In fact, I believe it wants to heal you. But you must be open to it. Do not fear it.”
Then she released me and turned, gliding away into the shadows without another word.
I stood there for a long moment, staring after her, more confused than ever… but also, strangely, hopeful.