Then, moments later, the greensong began to fade. The trees narrowed to a strip of wood along the river. Cultivated fields held a muted music, low tones of thousands of identical lives. Buildings broke the song entirely, gaps of silence that were almost painful. They staggered, felt the pounding of their feet on the ground, which was hard now, and the branches snagged at them as they passed. They cantered, jogged, walked, and finally stopped. As one they turned away from the fields and buildings, away from the city of Boston with the tall masts of the ships in the harbor rising higher than the buildings, and faced upriver, to the place through which the song had carried them.

“Mon dieu,” said Audubon. “I have flied on angel wings.”

They stood in silence for a while longer. And then Arthur Stuart spoke.

“Where’s Alvin?” he said.

Alvin wasn’t there. Mike scowled at Verily Cooper. “Now look what you’ve done.”

“Me?” said Verily.

“He sent us off and stayed behind to get arrested,” said Mike. “I’m sworn to protect him and then you get him to do something like this.”

“I didn’t ask him to do this alone,” said Verily.

Arthur Stuart started walking up the path, back into the woods.

“Where are you going?” asked Verily.

“Back to Cambridge,” he said. “It can’t be that far. The sun’s hardly moved in the sky.”

“It’s too late to stop Alvin from doing this,” said Mike.

Arthur looked back at him like he was crazy. “I know that,” he said. “But he expects us to go back and help.”

“How do you know this?” asked Audubon. “He tell you what he plan to do?”

“He told all of us,” said Arthur. “He knows Verily wants to have a witch trial. So, Alvin’s decided he’ll be the witch. Verily gets to be the lawyer. And the rest of us have to be witnesses.”

“But the girl will denounce us, too,” said Audubon.

Verily nodded. “That’s right,” he said. “Yes, that’s right. So the three of you, I want you to wait in the woods until I come fetch you.”

“What’s the plan?” asked Mike.

“I won’t find that out till I talk to Alvin,” said Verily. “But remember this: The only charge that matters in a witch trial is, Did Satan rule you? So that’s the only question you answer. Nothing about knacks or hidden powers. Just about Satan. You never saw him, you never talked to him or any demons, he never gave you anything. Can you all swear to that truly?”

They all laughed and agreed they could.

“So when it’s time to testify, that’s the only question you answer. For the rest, you just look stupid.”

“What about me?” said Audubon. “I was baptized Catholic.”

“You can talk about that, too,” said Verily. “You’ll see. If I’m half the lawyer I trained to be, none of this will ever come to trial.” He joined Arthur on the path. “Come along. It’s legal work now. And if everything comes out right, we’ll have Alvin free and Miss Purity as a traveling companion.”