“Is she now?” Maude had lost a few husbands and children herself and had a dozen nieces in Cornwall. She knew a bit about the world. There was something else at work here. “She doesn’t look a thing like you.”

“She’s lucky, then,” Finney replied. “The good Lord didn’t make a mistake there.”

That night Faith slept outside, so that she could see the stars. She thought of men and women who spent years in prison, unable to see the heavens. That did something to you; it drained you inside. In the morning, there were white and red roses growing in the place where Faith had slept; they had bloomed from the withered plants Maude had brought with her from England that had never grown well in the sandy soil. Maude had wondered about Faith from the start; now she was certain this was no ordinary girl. To be sure she was protected from any witchery, Maude carried a piece of rose quartz she had collected from the beach in Cornwall, a stone that is known to cure most ills. One look at the stone Maude Cardy had tucked in her sleeve, and Faith knew she’d been found out. It was best to make friends out of enemies.

“I’d like to repay you for letting me stay,” Faith said to the old woman.

“Would you?” Maude said. “Can you make me young again?”

Faith gave her the last bar of the black soap she had made in the cemetery. It wasn’t quite her mother’s recipe, but it could take a few years off anyone’s age.

“Well, I won’t be twenty again using that,” Maude said.

Faith couldn’t debate that fact. “Then ask me for another favor.”

And so the two went out in the dark of morning so that Faith could help the old woman chase the rabbits out of her garden. It was a thankless task; for every ten Maude had chased away, twenty more appeared. Because of these creatures, most of the farms here had failed.

“I can get rid of them, if that’s what you wish,” Faith said. “But once they’re gone, they won’t come back.”

“Do so.” Maude had her hands on her hips. “I won’t miss them.”

Maude noticed that where the girl’s inky hair was parted there was a pale red line of color showing through. Red-haired people were said to have talents others did not. Perhaps this girl had a knack for making things disappear. The rabbits were multiplying as they stood there, and Maude was interested to see what this girl was capable of.