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Prologue

Seven Years Prior

Fog clung to Booker Mountain like an old ragged coat The pickup’s chancy headlights poked frail tunnels through the h the road was narrow and treacherous, Madison didn’t worry Her grandmother Min could find her way blindfolded and sound asleep

Min rarade steepened Her face was set in hard, angry lines, but Madison knew Min wasn’t mad at her She felt rescued, cocooned in the pickup with John Robert on her lap and Grace ja, her head braced against the , her hair hanging in knots around her face Min hadn’t taken the time to comb it

"Won’t Maone?" Madison asked, speaking softly so as not to startle John Robert, as sucking his thumb with that drunk-baby look on his face

"Carlene could do with a little worrying, if you ask e of a baby and a toddler for two days"

"Soested "Or maybe Harold Duane asked her to work late"

"The tavern’s only open till two She had no business staying out all night"

"I’e, Mama says"

Min snorted and rolled her eyes "I know you are, honey You’re rown up than your mama You were born wise"

They swept past the brick-and-stone wall and lighted gateposts that n with her hand as they passed the broad driveway

"What’s that for?" Madison asked, knowing it was a hex

Min didn’t answer Min always said good Christians didn’t hex people

"Why do you want to hex the Ropers?" Madison persisted Brice Roper lived there He was in her class at school He had this glow around hilow rich people had, maybe Brice had four Arabian horses, and he’d let you ride the at the Ropers

"The Ropers want our mountain," Min said

Madison blinked Booker Mountain? What would they ith that? "But their place is much nicer," she blurted out

If you liked fancy stone houses with pillars and grassy lawns and miles of white fence And Arabian horses

"Coal," Min said bluntly "Bryson Roper can’t get the rest of his coal out of the ground without going through Booker Mountain And that belongs to me"

They rounded the last curve, past the mailbox that said M booker, reader and adviser The pickup rattled to a stop at the foot of the porch steps

Madison carried John Robert and Min carried Grace Madison walked flat-footed across the weathered planks of the porch, so she wouldn’t get splinters in her bare feet By the time they’d climbed the steps and crossed the porch and carried the kids to the back bedrooray color

Madison felt the cold kiss of fear on the back of her neck "Graht?"

Min only waved her hand, too breathless to speak She clawed open the neck of her blouse, revealing the opal necklace she alore The one she someti ones settled in bed, Madison built a fire in the stove and made coffee for both of them Min didn’t even complain about how sheto be a cold winter," Min predicted, settling into the only chair with ar a shawl around her shoulders Some of her color had co ti, it was best to listen Still, Madison was old enough to wonder how a person who could foretell the future could run into soat the table in the front roo in front of the fire Only one thing would make it better, if Min would only say yes

"Read the cards forthe cards was a serious business, her grandmother always said, and not done for the entertainirls

But Min studied Madison alikeof coffee, then nodded "All right It’s time Fetch the cards from on top of the mantel"

"You mean it?" Madison scrae her mind

Min kept two decks of cards in a battered wooden box with a cross carved into the top She called the cards to Madison, with a few extras The box also held a leather pouch full of pebbles and little bones, but Madison had never seen Min use those

Min handed her the thicker deck Madison shuffled the cards aardly, cut theain

"Lay them out in three rows of three," Min said, and Madison did