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By Root 1184 0

rare tropical plants from South America and India that only experienced healers, herbalists, and shamans were likely to use. In the center of the pentagon was a fountain with a stone creature holding a vase that dribbled water into the catch basin. The creature stood about three and a half feet tall, half man and half goat, with great, batlike wings on his back and a trim and pointed Vandyke running from his chin to his ears. Reseda did not bring it home from a compound in Barre, Vermont, that sold mostly (but not exclusively) tombstones and have it transformed into a fountain for her greenhouse because it bore a distinct resemblance to Baphomet. The truth was, she wasn’t a Satanist or attracted to most satanic rituals; but she was a bit of a bomb thrower, and she liked the idea that designing her greenhouse in the shape of a pentagon and placing what looked like a stone demon smack in the center would fuel rumors among the sorts of people who were never going to be her friends anyway. Besides, she liked goats and she liked handsome men with their shirts off. She thought both were cute in a diminutive sort of way.

“I find the twins very interesting,” Anise was saying, her parka draped over her folded arms.

“You’ve spent too much time with horror movies and pulp paperbacks. You always find twins interesting. I’m a twin. The world is filled with twins. Trust me: We’re not interesting.”

“These ones are prepubescent, and they have been traumatized. They’re like the Dunmore boys. You know the tincture. You know the recipe.”

Reseda bent over the patchouli and rubbed one of the egg-shaped leaves between her thumb and forefinger, breathing in deeply the perfume. Patchouli made her feel young. “The Dunmores were well before my time,” she said after a moment. “Besides, it was the girls’ father who was traumatized. We don’t know if Hallie and Garnet were.”

“You’re not a mother; I am. Their scars are different from their father’s, but nearly as deep.”

“The pair struck me as rather resilient.”

“I’m sure they are. But their father is an airline pilot who survived a plane crash. Most of his passengers died.”

“You really don’t like to fly, do you?” Reseda observed.

“You know I don’t.”

“When was the last time you were on an airplane?”

“I was twenty-three. Laurence and I flew to Aruba on our honeymoon. It took three planes to get there back then.”

“Was it pleasant?”

“The honeymoon? Absolutely. But I was scared to death every moment I was in the air. Of course, I didn’t know then what I know now.”

“I don’t like that expression: scared to death.”

“It’s apt.”

“It demonstrates both fear and naïveté.”

“Perhaps in my case it’s a control phobia—or the lack of control. That’s why many people dislike flying. But I think my point is still valid. Captain Linton crashed a plane into a lake.”

Reseda went to the table with the motherwort and the hypnobium. She felt Anise’s eyes on her back. Anise loved working with hypnobium. She was one of the few women who was capable of using it in food as well as in potions. She was almost able to mask its bitterness with dark chocolate and sugar; no one could hide the taste completely, but Anise was able to make it edible. “The captain had help,” Reseda reminded her. “It wasn’t his fault.”

“True. But here is what I keep thinking about: The family came to us. The girls came to us. Sheldon Carter was an old fool selling a house. He had no idea what we needed. Lord, he had no idea even what we are.”

“What you are. I wasn’t there.”

“Sometimes I think you don’t approve of us, Reseda.”

“Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.”

“My point is simply that it wasn’t you who found the family and enticed them north. They found the house on the Web and Sheldon responded.”

“That’s true.”

“And so it must mean something. You of all people should see that.”

“Perhaps,” Reseda murmured, but she didn’t turn around. She honestly couldn’t decide if it meant anything at all. The world was awash in coincidence and connection; usually, it took time to deduce which was which.

* * *

Chip told Emily