Zerie bit her lip She couldn’t break a promise to her mother But she needed to know how she’d swept the floor so fast She felt as if she might burst unless she figured it out I don’t even know how I did it she finally said I doubt I could do it again Good Mama went inside But that wasn’t a promise Zerie whispered
1 Where are you going Zelzah asked as Zerie jumped down the porch steps Zerie stopped just long enough to give Zelzah’s round-faced baby a kiss Vashti needs some help with the bread basket she’s making today We’re going into the woods to find the perfect branches for the handle she said Zelzah smiled Have fun Zerie felt bad for lying to her sister but this was the way it had to be Since the moment she’d discovered her talent two years ago Zerie had been forced to do a lot of fibbing She couldn’t let Zelzah or Mama or Grammy or anybody else in the family know what she and her best friend
were really going to do in the woods It was bad enough that Zerie and Vashti practiced magic at all It would be even worse if the people they loved got involved Zerie knew her mother wanted her to ignore her talent It wouldn’t be fair if Mama got in trouble because of Zerie But how could she ignore her magic It was the most important thing in her life Well except maybe Ned Hi Zerie Ned Springer called as she slowly wandered past his round red-brick house Sure the Springer home was in the opposite direction from the woods But Zerie knew Ned would be out on the porch that wrapped all the way around the house tinkering with some clockwork machine That’s where he always was Zerie pushed a lock of her curly red hair behind her ear and waved at him What are you making she asked A cuckoo clock he replied With a
hummingbird that comes out and flies around the clock once for every hour Wow I can’t wait to see it when you’re done Zerie told him She loved all of Ned’s clockwork machines almost as much as she loved watching his strong bare arms as he worked Or his thick dark hair with that one curl that always fell over his soulful brown eyes Where are you going came another voice Ned’s younger brother Brink peered at her through an open upstairs window Oh um Zerie tried to think of a good reason she’d be passing the Springer house on the way to the woods I was well I was There you are Vashti Weaver came running up the dusty road We should hurry or Tabitha will think we’re not coming You’re meeting Tabitha Ned asked Hi Vashti
