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"Please, son You’ve got to do it You’ve got to keep her here"

His father, leading him to the bed Memphis’s mother wasn’t much more than bones, her hair thinned to candy floss Beneath the blanket, her body was still She stared up at the ceiling, her eyes tracking so beyond Memphis’s vision He was fourteen years old

"Go on, now, son," his father said, his voice breaking "Please"

Memphis was afraid His mother seemed so close to death that he didn’t see how he could stop it He’d wanted to heal her before, but she wouldn’t let him "I won’t have my son responsible for that," she’d said firood or bad" But Memphis didn’t want his mother to die He put his hands on her His mother’s eyes widened and she tried to shake her head, to duck his hands, but she was too weak

"I’ to help you, Mama"

His mother parted her cracked lips to speak, but no sound carip take hold, and then he was under, pulled along by currents he couldn’t control and did not understand, the two of the trances, he always felt the presence of the spirits around him It was a calm, protective presence, and he was never afraid But it was different this tiraveyard, heavy with mist The shades did not feel quite so benevolent as they pressed close to hiray man in a tall hat sat upon a rock, his hands ive me for her, healer?" the man asked, and it seemed to Memphis as if the wind itself had whispered the question The man nodded to his fists "In one hand is life; in the other, death Choose Choose and you ht have her back"

Meht or left?

Suddenly he saw hisone!"

The ers "The choice is his!"

His htened, but she did not back down "He’s just a boy"

"The choice Is His"

Memphis concentrated on the ht one The man smiled and opened his palm, and a shiny black baby bird squeaked at him

Memphis’s mother shook her head "Oh, my son, my son What have you done?"

Memphis had no memory after that He’d fallen ill with a fever, Octavia told hi, he woke to see Octavia covering the mirrors with sheets His father sat in his chair, his shirt one," he whispered, and in his eyes, Memphis saw the accusation: Why couldn’t you save her? All that gift, and you couldn’t save the one person who raveyard dirt froe and stuck it back in his notebook Then he headed toward hoht he heard so? Couldn’t be But yes, there it was, just under the roar of the wind Or was it only the wind itself? Meate and took two steps on the broken path How ht to hio up those stairs! Stay away fro in the yard of the oldest,inside The folly of standing at the boarded-overof a decrepit house suddenly dawned fully on Memphis, and he backed away He was i place in the city Why had that thought occurred to hi echoing fro the front gate screaes

Back in Harle out of step with the people out for a good ti across the street frorand town house on 136th Street Several nice cars were parked outside, and a butler stood at the door The lights were ablaze, and inside, Me one of her fareatest talents--ined hiant audience But the path frohted salon seeht about going to the Hotsy Totsy or the To on There was almost always a party somewhere But instead, he headed toward home, the memory of hison the stoop of a brownstone playing his guitar softly, even though there was no one to hear it Memphis tried to sneak past