I had to go back to my apartment to find the slip of paper I had written Milicent's address on when Jordan first introduced me. I hoped I hadn’t thrown it away. Once inside, I was dumbfounded to see the paper I was looking for laying on the very top of a stack of unopened mail and discarded research notes in my kitchen. I couldn’t decide if it was fate or luck, but it was like it was waiting for me. Everything then seemed to have hidden meaning within it. Was it me and my free will reaching out to speak to Millicent? Or was she calling me?

I tried not to think too hard about these things for fear I might drive myself even closer into the edge of insanity. Instead, I trusted my instincts and, like a good journalist, went to interview the next logical source. At least that’s what I told myself I was doing.

About an hour later, I was at Millicent’s doorstep again. I hadn’t phoned her before making the drive but I assumed someone like her didn’t leave home very often.

“Millicent!” I knocked a little too hard on the door, waving away a bundle of dried herbs that hung down from the roof rafters with twine. “It’s Kelly Kane–the reporter,” I spoke loudly towards the window. “We’ve met before. I came here to–”

The door opened and there stood Millicent smiling. “Kelly Kane,” she said, and though her voice was always friendly, there was something about the way she said my name that made me nervous. She was such an intimidating woman, due only in part to the fact that she identified as a witch.

“Hi,” I said, a little breathless. “Um... Look, I’m really sorry to bother you. Can I come in? It’s... It’s important.”

She looked me up and down, studying me as if she could learn the purpose of my visit without asking. Finally, she nodded and pushed the door open. “I’m with a client at the moment, but feel free to wait in there,” she said cordially and pointed to a dimly lit study crammed with stacks of unorganized books.

The floorboards groaned as I crossed the threshold into the small room. I caught sight of an older woman sitting at Milicent’s kitchen table. She was crying softly over an array of tarot cards lay splayed out in front of her on the table.

Millicent then closed me into the study, saying she would return in fifteen minutes. I hugged myself and sank into an ancient sofa that smelled like dust and cat piss.

I wasn’t trying to listen to what was happening in the kitchen, but it was difficult not to hear the conversation due to how well sound traveled over the wood floors of the old house. The woman was suffering from a mysterious illness that no doctor seemed able to diagnose. She had frequent nosebleeds and vividly violent dreams. Millicent insisted that someone had put a hex on her. Whether it was born from vengeance, jealousy, or more sinister intentions, she couldn't tell.

“I don’t envy you, you know what you have to do,” I heard Millicent say as the crying woman gathered her things and left. A minute later, Millicent opened the door to the study again.

“Good manners and professional courtesy demand confidentiality, but that poor woman has the fortune of a blind possum crossing the interstate.” She hummed, watching out the window as the woman’s car pulled awaqy. “Please, come join me in the kitchen and I’ll make us some tea.”

I sat at the small table next to the window and shifted uncomfortably, unsure of what to say next. If anyone in Cold Hollow were to be receptive to the idea that werewolves might actually exist, it would be Millicent.

“Sorry to have interrupted you,” I said, as she poured water into the kettle on the stove.

“Not at all. It wouldn't have been possible for you to interrupt me as I had some foreknowledge of you showing up on my doorstep unannounced.”

I’m sure my expression revealed my skepticism. “Really? You-you knew that I would–?”

“Just an inkling,” she said.

“So, do you know why I’m here, then?” I asked.

“Because you need the advice of a witch,” she said smiling, but I wasn’t sure she was joking. She then prepared two mugs and clarified. “A little foreknowledge of your arrival doesn’t necessary translate to knowing the full purpose of the visit. Why don’t you tell me?”

I fidgeted in the wooden chair beneath me, causing it to creak loudly. “I guess I’m here to ask you some questions…about witches and... other things.”

“You seem distraught over these subjects,” she remarked, dropping brown little cloth bags full of herbs into two cups. “And I’ll take this moment to remind you that there is quite a wide variety of ‘witches’ in the world. I don't represent the whole of witchcraft or endorse the promises or practices of all those who conduct their work under the same banner.”

“Of course. I’m not actually looking for you to necessarily…What I mean is, I’m just looking for some insight on...on the subject of, uh, well—”

“Spit it out, honey. I know you don’t want to say, but it’s okay. Go ahead. I’m the last to judge,” she said comfortingly.

“Okay,” I said and took a deep breath. “Werewolves.” I let the word hang in the air for a moment as Millicent steeped the two bundles in the steaming water of our mugs. “Maybe vampires too.”

Millicent chuckled to herself and placed a warm mug in front of me. “Werewolves. Are we speaking about the Hound of Cold Hollow or perhaps some other legendary beast? Or what is it they call it now, ‘dog man? I always found that to be a silly expression. After all, if a dog is a domesticated wolf, is a dog-man a domesticated werewolf? Nonsense,” she said. “But I digress.”

“Well, in this case I suppose it would be a dog-woman,” I answered, and we both had a bit of a laugh which helped break the tension. “I don’t know. I—” I stopped to catch my breath. It was so difficult to say the words. “I saw someone. I saw her turn into a... a wolf. A giant wolf. Well, not exactly a wolf, but—”

“A werewolf,” Millicent said, casually completing my sentence. “You saw the transformation occur yourself?” She sounded surprised.

I nodded in the affirmative but found it difficult to confirm that I had seen it with words. I could feel the hot well of tears building up behind my eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m going crazy or if I... if I’ve stumbled into something that I-I shouldn’t have.”

Millicent reached forward and laid her hand on mine. She nodded sagely as if she had been through all of this before. “Cold Hollow can be a frightening place. There are certain people, spirits, that are drawn here like moths to a flame.”

“But this isn’t--!” I suddenly exploded. “Fucking werewolves aren’t real!”

“What is real?” Millicent asked with a sort of innocence to her voice, like she truly did not know the meaning of the word.

“What is real? Hell, I don’t know. Certainly not werewolves, or at least that’s what I thought. I guess that’s why I’m here.” Tears of frustration, fear, and anger ran down my cheeks. “How could I have seen what I saw? It’s not possible, but... But if it’s not possible, then that means I’ve...lost my mind.”

“What if reality is not such a simple concept? What if it does not operate in binaries like ‘spirit versus matter,’ true versus false, real versus unreal? Is that the way that you perceive things?”

I shrugged, “What’s the other option?”

Millicent crossed her ankles and pushed a long piece of gray-tinged hair out of her face. “Perhaps the concept of reality exists on more of a spectrum with no hard divisions separating one from the other. Do you understand?”

“I guess,” I muttered. “Are you saying that because I saw it, that makes it real? Because I think I saw it.”

Millicent pushed the mug towards me. “Drink. And then I think you should lie down, take a rest, and we can pick this up once you’re less rattled by whatever it is you’ve experienced.”

I glanced down into the mug and something stirred within me. I looked back into Millicent’s eyes and slowly pulled the mug towards me. It wasn’t a simple tea, that much I was sure of. “What will it do to me?” I asked, quietly.

“It will help you to understand,” she said and smiled reassuringly.

I lifted the cup to my lips and inhaled deeply. The scent was thick and rich, like a wool blanket soaked in sweet oils. I felt at that moment that I stood on a precipice. I saw myself faced with two options, both of which would deeply affect the rest of my life. I could get up, leave Millicent’s home, get in my car, and drive. I could go back to Boston, maybe even move back in with Elle and get my old life back. Or, I could drink the tea and take another step deeper into Cold Hollow’s hidden depths.

It took all my courage, but I took a sip, then another, and another. There was an unfamiliar bitter taste to the tea, made palatable by the flavor of honey nectar. As I drank, I felt a comforting surge of warmth through my body. Millicent stood to her full height then and led me from the table back to the study. She steadied me on the sofa and I felt a wash of fatigue take over me.

There was a part of me that started to panic, to fight back against the weight pulling on my body, and the darkness, and the strange sparks edging into my vision.

“Lay here for a while, Kelly,” Millicent said and patted the old sofa. “I will be here in the other room if you need me.”

I had no choice but to relax and allow myself to drift into the sensation of weightlessness. A few seconds later, I forgot all my worries and slipped into a different state of consciousness, unaware that I was in Millicent’s home, or that I was even in my own body for that matter. I can’t say if I fell asleep or if I was put into a hypnotic or trance-like state, but the darkness I fell into quickly gave way to a series of strange and hyper-realistic visions.

I found myself standing in a dark forest clearing surrounded by towering trees dusted white with snow. Moonlight streamed down onto the leaf-covered ground beneath my feet and I realized that I wasn’t alone. Just up ahead I saw Misty and Sivene standing with their backs to me. They were nude and illuminated by the pale white light from above.

“Misty?” I called out. She didn’t react. They couldn’t hear me. Instead, they turned towards each other and gently embraced. I watched from afar as their hands drifted down each other’s bodies. They kissed, slowly at first, lovingly. Then Sivene’s mouth covered Misty’s and her fingernails gripped hard into her flesh. She pressed her body hard against Misty and her touch became needy and possessive. She then took hold of Misty’s jaw, slowly turning her head to the side and lowered her mouth to kiss that long elegant space of Misty’s neck between her ear and her collarbone.

I walked slowly towards them, my body alight with fear and arousal and realized then that I was naked as well. I could feel the breeze on my skin and the prickling of the leaves and pine needles beneath my feet.

Sivene’s eyes peered deeply into mine as she kissed Misty and a strangled gasp left Misty’s lips. Before I reached her, two thick trails of blood slid down Misty’s shoulder and chest from her neck.

My stomach turned and I wanted to run, but I was compelled to keep moving closer.  Misty cried out in pain then and her knees buckled. Sivene was the only thing holding her upright and she no longer appeared as the pale-skinned beauty she was, but something wild, not entirely human and not quite animal either. Her eyes were feral and desperate as she tore the flesh of Misty’s neck and together they became one, squirming and writhing. They lowered to the ground, slowly, and Misty lay still as blood pooled over her breasts.

My movements were not my own and I stepped closer and closer until I knelt on the ground beside them and Sivene appeared to be her old self again. She put her hand on my cheek and drew me in for a kiss. Her mouth was warm and wet and I felt a force pulling me closer to her body. She pushed her tongue between my lips and I responded in kind as she gripped me around the hips. I felt a strange sensation against my face then and pulled back to see that this wild version of Sivene was gone altogether.

It was the werewolf.

The beast stood hunched on two legs, steam billowing from its flaring nostrils in the cold night air. Its wild blue eyes bore into mine and I was paralyzed. The fur-covered hands pushed me down onto my back. Behind me, Misty stirred, but did not wake.

Her hands drifted all over me, between my legs, across my breasts, and into my hair. I bucked my hips into Sivene’s touch and moaned. I was at her mercy and I wanted nothing more than for this creature to devour me whole.

The vision began to fade then and Millicent’s study suddenly came back into view. It took me several moments to realize where I was and who I was again. My body was pulsing and prickling and my mind felt like I was coming out of a trance. I sat up slowly and found my forehead clammy with sweat. I felt as if I had actually been in that forest with Misty and Sivene. I could still feel the hard edges of the dried leaves sticking to my back and the sticky wetness of desire between my legs.

But it hadn’t happened. I had been there on Millicent’s couch the entire time.

Slowly, I sat up and dropped my head between my knees. I rubbed my hands against my thighs and tapped my feet to ground myself. The vision had felt quick like it only lasted a few minutes but my watch told me that I had been there for almost two hours. At that moment, I had more questions than I had arrived with.

Millicent knocked lightly and opened the door to the study as I got my bearings.

“I saw—” I started to say, but she cut me off.

“Shhh,” she said, pressing her finger to her lips. “Whatever you saw was for you to see. I only wanted to help you to see it.”

Dammit, I thought. I knew she was going to say something like that and, quite frankly, it annoyed me a little.

As I continued to acclimate to the real world again, Millicent’s words rattled around in my head. I put the glass she had given me to my lips but, before taking a sip, I sniffed it.

“Don’t worry,” she said and chuckled. “It’s only water.”

Only once the glass was empty did I realize how thirsty I’d been. I was starting to feel like myself again, just a little drowsy.

“Millicent, you have to tell me, what does it mean? What am I supposed to do with this information?” I asked her.

“Only you can answer that,” she said and she took my hand, prompting me to stand, thengently led me from the room and to the front door. “All I can tell you is that you are at a crossroads, not just in your work and in your personal life. You are at a crossroads in the greater scheme of the cosmos. You have already seen things that few people have seen and fewer still would ever believe. Whatever the tea caused you to see should not be read like a road sign telling you where you’re going, but like a map telling you where you are.” She opened the door and gestured to world outside. “It’s up to you to decide which direction you will move in now.”