I walked toward the house, as much as I felt like staying where I was. I don’t know why I was so nervous. I hadn’t expected the Greats to seem so regular. They could’ve been any group of old folks, hanging out on the porch on a sunny afternoon. Except that they were all dead.

“Yeah. I mean, yes, ma’am. It’s me.”

Uncle Abner stood up and walked over to the railing to get a better look. The enormous crow was still perched on his shoulder. It flapped its wings, and he didn’t even flinch. “Like I said, we won’t be gettin’ any pie—or much else—now that the boy’s up here with us.”

Twyla waved me over. “Maybe he’ll share a bit a his with you.”

I climbed up the scuffed wooden steps, and the wind chimes tapped against one another. There wasn’t so much as a breeze.

“He’s a spirit, all right,” Sulla said. There was a tiny brown bird hopping around the table. A sparrow.

“ ’Course he is.” Ivy sniffed. “Wouldn’t be up here otherwise.”

I gave Uncle Abner and his scavenger a wide berth.

When I was close enough, Twyla jumped up and threw her arms around me. “Can’t say I’m happy you’re here, but I am happy to see you.”

I hugged her back. “Yeah, well, I’m not all that happy to be here either.”

Uncle Abner took a swig of whiskey. “Then why’d you go and jump off that fool tower?”

I didn’t know what to say, but Sulla answered before I had to think of anything. “You know the answer to that, Abner, about as well as you know your own name. Now stop givin’ the boy a hard time.”

The crow flapped its wings again. “Somebody should,” Uncle Abner said.

Sulla turned and gave Uncle Abner the look. I wondered if that was where Amma had learned it. “Unless you were strong enough to stop the Wheel a Fate yourself, you know the boy didn’t have a choice.”

Delilah brought a wicker chair over for me. “Now, you come on and sit down here with us.”

Sulla was still flipping cards, but these were ordinary playing cards.

“Can you read those, too?” It wouldn’t have surprised me.

She laughed, and the sparrow chirped. “No, we’re just playin’ gin.” Sulla slapped down her cards. “Speakin’ a that—gin.”

Delilah pouted. “You always win.”

“Well, I’ve won again,” Sulla said. “So why don’t you sit down here, Ethan, and tell us what brings you ’round our way.”

“I’m not sure how much you know.”

She lifted her eyebrows.

“Okay, so you probably already know that I went to see Obidias Trueblood, this old—”

“Mmm hmm.” She nodded.

“And if he’s telling the truth, there’s a way I can get back home.” I was stumbling over my words. “I mean, to the home where I was alive.”

“Mmm hmm.”

“I have to get my page from—”

“The Caster Chronicles,” she finished for me. “I know all that. So why don’t you go on and say what you need from us.”

I was sure she knew, but she wanted me to ask anyway. It was only proper.

“I need a stone.” I thought about the best way to describe it. “This will probably sound strange, but I saw you wearing it once, in kind of a dream. It’s shiny and black.…”

“This one?” Sulla held out her palm. There it was. The black stone I saw in my vision.

I nodded, relieved.

“Darn right you do.” She pressed the rock into my hand, closing my fingers around it. It pulsed with a kind of strange warmth that seemed to come from inside.

Delilah looked at me. “You know what that is?”

I nodded. “Obidias said it’s called a river’s eye, and I need two of them to get across the river.”

“Then I reckon you’re one short,” Uncle Abner said. He hadn’t moved from the railing. He was busy packing his pipe with dry leaf tobacco.

“Oh, there’s another one.” Sulla smiled knowingly. “Don’t you know?”

I shook my head.

Twyla reached over and took my hand. A smile spread across her face, her long braids slipping over her shoulder as she nodded. “Un cadeau. A gift. I remember when I gave it to Lena,” she said in her heavy French Creole accent. “River’s eye is a powerful stone. Brings luck and a safe journey.” As she spoke, I saw the charm from Lena’s necklace. The smooth black rock she always wore hanging from the chain.

Of course.

Lena had the second stone I needed.

“You know how to get to the river and get on your way?” Twyla asked, dropping my hand.

I pulled Aunt Prue’s map out of my back pocket. “I have a map. My aunt gave it to me.”

“Maps are good,” Sulla said, looking it over. “But birds are better.” She made a clicking noise with her tongue, and the sparrow fluttered onto her shoulder. “A map can lead you astray if you don’t read it right. A bird always knows the way.”

“I wouldn’t want to take your bird.” She had already given me the stone. It felt like I was taking too much. Plus, birds made me nervous. They were like old ladies but with sharper beaks.

Uncle Abner took a long puff of his pipe and walked toward us. Even though he wasn’t looming over me from the sky, he was still taller than me. He had a slight limp, and I couldn’t help but wonder what caused it.