Papa came back after a bit and said Uncle Earn was gone, and then he and Mama talked all serious to Lan and me about what had just happened. Mama said she and Papa couldn’t do much to keep people from talking, and they could do even less about what people chose to think, but there were some things they could do, and we’d see for ourselves in a few more days. Papa wanted to ask me more about Cousin Marna and the other children, but Mama said firmly that it was getting late and that Lan and I should be in bed. I still had a million questions, but I couldn’t get them out my tongue.

The very next day, Lan came running out into the yard, wide-eyed. “You’re supposed to be with your tutor,” I told him. “You better go back in before they miss you.”

“I’m not having magic lessons today,” he said. “Mama told me to come outside and stick with you.”

Lan’s tutor never came back. Years later, I learned that Papa had spoken to him about teaching both of us and had dismissed him outright when he refused. There must have been some discussion with Grandfather, too, but neither he nor Papa ever spoke of it after. At the time, Papa only told Lan and me that there would be no more private tutoring. We would have a lesson with Mama in the morning, and another with Papa in the evening, and in between Lan and I were to stick together. I think Papa must have said something to our older brothers as well, because for the next week, one or two of them always seemed to be around when the cousins came by ready to tease and make trouble. It was the best week I ever remember spending in Helvan Shores.

Then, on Monday evening, Papa held a Family Council, and everything changed.

CHAPTER 2

GETTING OUR WHOLE FAMILY TOGETHER ALL AT ONE TIME ALWAYS made me feel a little strange, because I hardly knew my oldest brothers and sisters.