But her anxiety ramped up the longer she was kept away, and it was with great relief that the Little People finally reported that McDaran had abandoned his watch on the cabin and had returned to Ducktown. Young Raven volunteered to guide her home, and she could never have imagined she’d be so happy to see her aunt’s weathered face as they came around the side of the cabin and climbed over the stone wall.

In fact, she practically flew the last few yards and threw her arms around Jinny in a spontaneous embrace, much to Jinny’s consternation—and, if the look in her eyes was to be believed, pleasure.

“I missed y’all so much!” she cried.

“Huh. Reckon y’all missed my cookin’. Hello, Young Raven,” Jinny replied, around Anna’s hair.

“Greetings, grandmother,” Young Raven said, gravely. “I bring Anna back. Now I must return. But if the evil one should come back, do not hesitate to send one of the Little People to warn us, and you, Anna, flee further into the Holler. It does not matter where you go, the Little People will be able to find you and bring us to you.”

“I will,” they said at the same time. “Thenkee kindly, nephew,” Jinny concluded. Anna didn’t hear him leave, but the next time she looked, he was gone.

“Y’all reckon McDaran’s a-comin’ back?” she asked, letting go of her aunt.

“Don’t rightly know,” Jinny said, clearly worried. “There’s somethin’ a-goin’ on thet I cain’t fathom. Dunno why he’d come all the way out here, then set down thar in the lane, waitin’ fer three whole days. I ain’t niver seed him stir his stumps fer nothin’ afore, an’ now, thar he is, jest waitin’ fer a gel he ain’t niver seed an’ knows nothin’ ’bout.” She shook her head. “Wall, let’s git yore bath an’ some clean close on y’all, since I knowed y’all been a-sleepin’ on th’ floor.”

“It weren’t ’xactly on th’ floor,” Anna temporized, but she was glad enough of the offer. Not that she’d gone unbathed—the women and children would go for a splash in a little pond that managed to get less-than-freezing by mid-afternoon. That was where they beat the dirt out of their clothing with rocks, then lounged in the water until their clothing dried. But it wasn’t the same as a bath with soap, and she’d gotten used to Jinny’s cleanliness regime.

As her hair dried in the sun, she was able to send a message to Josh via a piskie that she’d come see him the next day, and was relieved to get his almost immediate reply that he couldn’t hardly wait. In the back of her mind there had been a fear that after having her there so much, he’d have found he missed his privacy, but it appeared that wasn’t the case. But once that worry was out of the way . . . her stomach started to knot up again. What did McDaran mean by coming here? Did he think he could just snatch her out from under her aunt’s protection?