Jolene seized her braids, brought them up to the top of her head, pinned them in place, crossed them over each other, and pinned them in place again, then turned Anna around by the shoulder so that Anna’s back was to her. There was some deft and surprisingly gentle pinning going on at the back of her head, then Jolene turned her back around and looked her over critically. “Much better,” the woman declared. “Now you look like the woman you are, not the child you were.”

“Thenkee, Miz Jolene,” Anna said awkwardly. Then added, “Them pins is somethin’ I been hankerin’ arter fer a while.”

Jolene smiled, as if she was very much aware of that.

“She do look all growed up,” Aunt Jinny admitted reluctantly.

“Good. Let this remind you to treat her as an adult, not a child,” Jolene stated.

“What’s them beads, iffen y’all please, Miz Jolene?” Anna asked, touching the pretty things in her hair and blushing a little with pride. “They’s purtier than flowers.” Oh, how long she had wanted to be able to put up her hair! It had been so mortifying to have it down in a little girl’s braids! To have the pins alone, made out of any old wire, would have been a great gift, but to be given such pretty ones! No matter what Aunt Jinny thought, Jolene had already given her something precious.

“Lapis lazuli,” Jolene replied. “It isn’t a precious gem, but it is a gemstone. It suits your hair better than my malachite.” She patted her own hair, and now Anna noticed that bright green beads studded her braids as well, beads with the same pattern of dark and light wavy lines as the print of her dress. “Useful too; thanks to the beads, you shan’t have to hunt in your hair for the pins when you take it down for the night.”

“Yes’m,” Anna agreed. “Thenkee ever so kindly, Miz Jolene,” she added earnestly.

Jolene looked pleased, and waved the thanks off. “Just a neighborly gift of welcome. I look forward to our next meeting. Good day, apprentice. Good day, Virginia.”

And with that, she turned, and although she didn’t seem to hurry at all, nevertheless she walked with great speed and unnatural grace down the lane, and either due to the color of her gown or some other, uncanny reason, she was soon lost to sight in the shadows.

Aunt Jinny let out a huge sigh, as if she had been holding in her breath. “Thet coulda gone wuss,” she said aloud. “Much wuss.”

“Is . . .” Suddenly Anna didn’t want to say Jolene’s name out loud, as if by doing so she might be summoned. “Is she a witch? Has she got the Glory?”

“She ain’t a witch,” her aunt replied. “But she got the Glory, and powerful, and you be keerful, real keerful, ’round her. She ain’t a proper woman.” And she held up her hand to stop any more questions. “I’ll ’splain later, when y’all know more. Right now, I reckon I need a big cuppa tea, right quick.”