I had just set one stumbling foot on the floor at the bottom of the stairs, rubbing sleepily at my face after a night of tossing and turning, when my progress was suddenly blocked by a very cranky old lady. Gram grasped the railing with one hand, putting herself in my way so I had to stop and take what she was about to dish out.

"Listen to me, girl," she said, voice almost a hiss as her blue eyes trapped me with their intensity, no longer the faded color I was used to, but ...