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.Come with me, child, and we'll talk while I brush out my hair." She rumpled the curls on top of Cassie's head as she passed, and Cassie smiled, then rose to follow."You've never been in my room, have you, child?" Lil asked, then continued, "You'd have been too young to remember it, probably, and I daresay it's changed since then.I bought myself some fancy wicker furniture a few years ago – had a devil of a time getting it up here – and that's made it all much brighter.Course, I didn't replace all of the old stuff: I loved my grandmama's vanity too much to ever give it up."They entered a room in shades of pale brown and green, with graceful wicker furniture all around – save for an immense carved mahogany vanity, with three mirrors and multiple drawers.Cousin Lil waved Cassie to a fan-backed chair, then sat down on the mahogany bench before her vanity and began undoing the silver plait that was pinned around her head.Cassie watched, her attention split between Lil's wiry figure and the triple reflections in the mirrors.Her mother had said that Lil was probably somewhere in her late sixties, but it was hard to believe from some angles, more so as she shook out waves of hair that covered her to her waist.Lil laughed, and tossed a picture from the vanity to Cassie: "Yes, child, you may well look like this when you get older – you look much like I did.Course, I only had the one set of holes punched in my ears, and I'd have never cut off most of my hair."Cassie laughed, then studied the photograph in her hands, and was startled at the resemblance.Apparently Lil's wiriness was a product of age, because the woman in the picture was as rounded as Cassie.Though a black-and-white photo, she could see that Lil's skin had been lighter as a young woman, and her hair looked to be as black and wild as Cassie's own, a mad cascade of ringlets falling down over one shoulder to her hip.It was a carefully posed photo, with Lil obviously in one of her best dresses, gazing steadily at the camera out of wide dark eyes under winging brows, and holding.a length of rope."Why did you have rope in your hands, Cousin Lil?" It struck Cassie as an odd prop, much less appropriate than a fan, or a bouquet.At that, her cousin turned on the chair, hands halfway down the braid she was making, and looked at her with an odd question in her eyes."Do you really want to know, Cassie?" she asked.Something in Lil's tone made Cassie pause.She suddenly felt that her answer would change – something? everything? – but her curiosity drove her on to say, "Yes, Cousin, I do."Lil sighed, and said, "All right, then, I'll show you tonight.It's a family heirloom and tradition, and it's time for you to feel it.Now," she continued, in a lighter voice, "you come over here, and let me play with your hair for a while.Your cousins have been doing all sorts of weird things to theirs, and it's been a while since I had my hands in curls like yours, child; I want to see what it'll look like once I take these tiny braids out."Cassie obeyed, and spent the next hour having the dozen tiny braids she'd so carefully put into her hair undone.It had been years since someone had spent that much time focused on her hair, brushing it, massaging her scalp, then brushing it again, so that the longer locks fell in waves halfway down her back.Lil said little as she played with Cassie's hair, except an odd comment when she undid the last braid: "I was right – you've got that wild streak in you, child.It always shows up in the hair." Cassie wondered about it, but the smooth strokes of the brush lulled her.Eventually, the sounds of Lil's foster children drifted up through the hallway, and the two women went back to prepare dinner.After dinner, Cousin Lil nodded at Cassie, and led her back to her bedroom, where she unlocked one of the vanity drawers and lifted out a leather pouch."What do you believe in, child?" she asked abruptly."I.I don't know, ma'am," Cassie stammered."Mama raised us–""Never you mind what your mama raised you, child.Just tell me, do you believe in magic, or has all your city living sucked that out of you?""Truth? I don't know.I'm not supposed to – I mean, I'm a grown woman, and this is the late twentieth century – but there are times when I can feel something, and I don't know what it is, that runs through me, and through the air.""What about elves? Or aliens? Or demons? Do you believe in any of those things still?""I don't know.I want to say no, but I wonder, sometimes.""Good enough," Lil laughed."Good enough, child.Now, you just come with me, and you'll touch the family magic tonight, sure enough.I knew your mama wouldn't have sent you here otherwise; she's no fool, and she didn't raise no fools."They walked out into the woods beside the house, away from the well-tended gardens and the steep driveway to the road.Cassie was struck again by how far the house seemed from civilization, recalling the curving mountainside road she'd followed to get here.Cousin Lil strode as if she'd often travelled the path, only using her flashlight in the darker parts of the woods, until she came to a small clearing.There she stopped, and knelt down to make a fire in a circle of stones that looked like it had been used for that purpose many times before.Cassie stood on the other side of the fire, waiting."Cassie [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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