She stared. “What . . . is thet?” she managed.

“Issa Domovoy. Came with Granpappy from Roosha.” She got up and went to that shelf where the receipt books were kept. This time she took down a second book, and brought it over to Anna, putting it into her hands. “Here. He wrote some down ’bout all of it. I ain’t read all of it. Mostly just bits, but what I read had plenty’a common sense in it. Mebbe it’ll help y’all decide y’all don’t want t’ throw away th’ gift God gave y’all.” One corner of her mouth quirked. “Y’all said how much y’all liked them stories Missus Sawyer read. Wall, that there book’s fulla stories like them. And they’s real.”

As if this sort of thing happened all the time to her, Aunt Jinny calmly began eating her breakfast. Anna put the book carefully to one side, and ate hers as well, though she was far from calm.

Witchcraft! Her father had accused Aunt Jinny of that, and it turned out he was right!

“Does my Ma know—” she began.

“Thet I got the Glory?” Jinny sniffed. “Why d’ye think she knowed what was wrong with y’all an’ thet I could fix it? Why d’ye think she arst me fer potions fer Lew? It weren’t no secret, even iffen she couldn’ see th’ Elementals herself if they was a-standin’ on her nose.”

So Ma knowed. An’ Ma said Aunt Jinny is God-fearin’. Ma ain’t niver lied. She might not have told all of the truth—but if Anna and her Pa had known the truth, would she have been willing to go, and him willing to let her? Probably not.

Aunt Jinny clearly knew her Bible too. All those things she had cited . . . Anna had read them for herself.

“Time’s a-wastin, girl,” Aunt Jinny said, interrupting her musings. “Eggs ter collect. Pigs t’feed. Garden t’tend. An’ I aim t’teach y’all ’bout where t’find some of the makin’s fer potions i’ th’ woods terday. We ain’t a-goin’ fer, but we don’ need to.”

Reluctantly, Anna finished her breakfast, helped with the dishes, and put the book with her Bible, though she did wonder if it was going to burst into flames when it touched the Holy Book. But when it didn’t, she wondered, with everything there was to do—would she ever have time to actually read it?

Anna and her aunt returned to the house with baskets overflowing with the makings of several different potions. Jinny’s tutelage had been very simple: show Anna the plant she wanted once. Wait while Anna examined it carefully. Then Anna herself had to seek out more, until they had enough for a bunch to hang up and dry. Then start over with a new one.

This was probably the least chore-like chore that Anna had done since she had gotten here. This was more like wandering in the woods and picking flowers, except the “flowers” generally weren’t pretty, and you had to hunt for them. But other than that—the woods were cool and fragrant, and if she ignored the little eyes peeping at her from odd places—