I'm not sure what I expected to happen. Nothing, maybe. But certainly not the pulse of power that rippled out from Mom in a sonic blast, rocking through me as I held onto her for balance and she to me.

Her transformation happened almost instantaneously, though I had time to watch her shift in the heartbeats between. How her skin faded to a more normal hue, deep wrinkles plumping and vanishing as her youthful appearance returned. The way the silver traces in her hair flashed ...