“Pretty cool,” I said.

“Feel free to take over for me anytime,” she said.

Around noon Grandma led me to the Hummingbird Grove. I was a little nervous, and excited too. It meant a lot to me that Grandma thought my visions were precious things to be cultivated. But it also scared me, because I didn’t know where the visions came from, and I sure as hell didn’t know what they meant or what they were for or even if they meant anything at all.

“You look like you have something on your mind, Lee,” said Grandma.

“Well, I had this vision,” I said, “last night.”

“Oh?” said Grandma.

“Yeah,” I said. “I was in this dark world with all these stars. And it was scary, you know? It terrified me.”

“What is often scariest to us is what we don’t understand,” she said.

“There were these three guys, and they were dressed in rags . . .”

“The Gentlemen?” said Grandma, grabbing my hand. “You’ve seen them?”

“Maybe,” I said. “How do you know about them?”

“There isn’t much about this land that I do not know,” said Grandma.

“There was this other thing there,” I said, “something in the darkness.”

Grandma shushed me. “Don’t speak too much of it. These are your visions and yours alone. You have to solve them yourself. The question is, what are they trying to tell you? Is there a clue to unlock?”

Two worlds. Open doors. A secret in the woods.

“Maybe,” I said. “I just don’t know yet.”

“That’s okay. Perhaps our journeys together in the daylight will be more revealing. Come now. Take your place.”

We sat on our knees in supplication, the hummingbirds whirring like blood-drop-bright thoughts above us, while Murphy was off fertilizing the garden. I kind of felt bad sitting here in a trance, enjoying the sunshine, when Murphy was doing all the hard work, and I told Grandma as much.

“But this is hard work,” said Grandma, “and important. Is there anything more difficult than going inside oneself, than opening every last locked door in your heart to welcome the Spirit inside? Fearsome work has been appointed to you, dear boy, and you must be brave to do it.”

“I know,” I said. “It’s just, you know, not backbreaking, like spreading mulch or something, or running a marathon. That seems way harder.”

“To each is appointed the task that he can do,” said Grandma. “Murphy has her own duties and responsibilities, many of which she is only coming to realize she has. You, dear boy, are the vessel of a higher power, but Murphy must play her part as well. So shut your eyes, Lee, and don’t bother concentrating. Let everything go—your mother, your sister, your stepfather, even me. Don’t listen to me. Just breathe the meadow in, the forest and the woods. Breathe the air. Let the Hummingbird Grove fill you. Whatever lives in this place, let it also live in you.”

I didn’t know how I was supposed to not listen to Grandma and follow her instructions at the exact same time, but I figured I might as well try. I imagined my mind as my old bedroom, and all kinds of junk was on the floor—T-shirts, underpants, old fast food bags, crunched Coke cans, Mars bar wrappers, all that. And then I took a big broom and swept it all aside until there was nothing left, until not even my bedroom floor was there. It was only darkness, like the space between stars.