She moved to stand beside Anna so Anna could see the figure the right way around, and traced the figure in the air, her fingers leaving a glowing line behind them. She repeated it patiently until Anna said, “Reckon I got it now.”

“Then put th’ Glory inter it,” her aunt told her. “An’ show me.”

When Jinny was certain Anna could, indeed, trace and empower the sign, she moved on to the one for “strength.” And then she showed Anna the third one.

“This’un’s more important than t’other two, ’cause what it does, it says, ‘Don’t let no one meddle with what I done.’ ’Tis like pourin’ wax atop a jar of jam; seals in all the good, don’t let no bad come in.” Jinny peered at her through the deepening twilight to make sure she understood the seriousness of that last sign.

She did, of course, at least once Jinny had pointed out what the sign was for. There’d be no point in having such a thing if there weren’t a need for it. And if there was a need for it—well the only reason someone would meddle in a healing thing was if they wanted to cause harm.

“Say, Aunt Jinny—can these potions cure Winter Fever?” she asked, thinking, of course, of her Pa.

But her aunt shook her head. “Even with all th’ Glory in Tennessee, they cain’t cure nothin’. They c’n on’y he’p the one y’all give it to, make thin’s easier with his breathin’ an’ all, he’p him last. On’y God c’n cure Winter Fever, an’ th’ likes of y’all an’ me ain’t God.”

She sighed. It seemed cruel that a person could work magic like this—but the magic had its limits. It was magic! It should just—work!

“There’s rules t’ these here thangs,” her aunt said, as if she had read Anna’s thoughts. “So, le’s finish up these potions an’ go inside afore the skeeters et us both up.”

11

ANNA had made three trips down to the Holcrofts’ farm, and each time the little baby angel statue was closer and closer to being finished. What Josh was doing with the stone seemed as magical to her as what she was doing with Aunt Jinny. The angel’s furled wings looked more and more like feathers, and the pink granite of the baby’s head and body looked more and more like flesh instead of stone. Finally, on the last trip down, she’d seen a completed work where the stone was as soft and smooth as an egg, and Josh was finally satisfied with it. She was able to run back up to her aunt to tell her that the long-awaited trip to Ducktown would be in two days.

By this time, she’d had several lessons from Jinny in how to shield herself from the harmful effects of Ducktown and its earth, air, and water. Those lessons went swimmingly well, thanks to what Jolene had taught her—especially the part about using the Glory to heal her aching head when she had used it for a little too long. What was even better was that each time she did that, it took longer for her head to ache, and it didn’t hurt as much. By the third lesson in shielding, it scarcely ached at all after working from after supper until full dark!