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“Yes, Philip,” I said, giving him a weak smile
My son had a pet griffin My daughter relished the taste of blood
I was beginning to understand why ood option
—
WHEN WE REJOINED THE REST of the fahtly colored uathered around a table covered with snacks and beverages, talking a mile a minute Apollo ith them
“Yet you listened to my ancestor Sarah Bishop, and went back to Hadley as she told you to do,” Sarah was saying “That took courage—giving up drealory to look after your mother and sister”
“It didn’t feel courageous at the ti pistachio nuts at a furious pace, and throwing the shells on the ground for Apollo to peck at “Some people accused me of cowardice”
“Obviously they didn’t live with your father” Sarah cut through any tension Marcuswith her usual combination of complete honesty and compassion
I gave her shoulders a squeeze and sat down in front of the iced tea pitcher My aunt looked up at me in surprise
“Everything okay?” Sarah asked
“Of course” I pouredabout what to do about Apollo”
“He didn’t like being separated froatha said
“I’m not surprised” Marcus ate a handful of pistachios “The bond between a fa it?”
“She doesn’t seehtfully
“Give it tiine she’ll feel differently when Philip chooses to play with Apollo and not her”
“Maybe Apollo is the familiar for both of them?” Matthew said hopefully
“I don’t think it works that way,” I said, dashing his hopes He looked so forlorn that I gave hi wheels, remember? Each one is different, and perfectly suited to the weaver’s talents”
“So because Becca and Philip are fraternal twins, they’ll have different abilities, and therefore different familiars,” Marcus said “Got it”
“We still don’t know if Becca is a weaver, of course,” I reminded them
Everybody looked at me with pity, as if I’d lost my mind
I sighed “Let’s look on the bright side At least we’ll have so an eye on them”
Matthew had consu to look less dazed
“It’s true that Corra was quick to defend you if you were in danger,” Matthew said
“And she was even quicker to coical boost,” I said, taking his hand in mine
“Don’t you think it’s fascinating,” Agatha said, “that the power you possess coical creature, no less”
“I’ve alondered hoeavers discovered they were different if there weren’t other weavers around to help the spells instead of just learning to work therimoires and the practices of other witches,” Sarah said “Now I know”
“Dad had a heron,” I reht to ask him how old he hen Bennu showed up”
“It seems to me that familiars are a little like an inoculation,” Marcus said “A bit of reater harm Makes perfect sense”
“Does it?” I was so used to thinking of Corra in bicycle terms that it was difficult to switch to a different metaphor
“I think so A familiar is like a childhood vaccine,” Marcus said “With all this talk of 1775, I’ve been thinking a lot about inoculation Apart from the war, it was theBunker Hill brought it all back to me”
“Until the Declaration of Independence was signed, surely” I felt on faed medicine”
“No such luck, Professor Bishop” Marcus laughed “Do you knohat they were celebrating in Boston on the fourth day of July in 1776? Not so in faraway Philadelphia, I can tell you that The talk of the town—and the whole colony—was the Massachusetts legislature’s decision to lift the ban on smallpox inoculations”
Even today, there was no effective treathly contagious and potentially fatal The infection led to a high fever and pus-filled blisters that left disfiguring scars Matthew had ainst it before we tile blister that had erupted at the vaccination site I would carry the mark for the rest of my days
“We were uns,” Marcus continued “There were rumors of infected blankets and sick people deliberately left behind when the British withdrew froeons were going to be as necessary as soldiers if anted to win the war She was right”
“So you trained to becoeon after Bunker Hill?” I asked
“No First I went home and faced my father,” Marcus said “Then winter ca When the battles resuain from all over the colonies, the number of smallpox cases rose until ere on the brink of an epidemic
“We had nothing in our ht it, and only one hope of surviving it,” Marcus continued
He turned his left pal a round, white scar with a dimpled center on the underside of his forearm
“We deliberately gave ourselves a mild case of smallpox to make us immune It would be alh incidental exposure,” he explained “Our independence froht have been celebrated in Philadelphia, but in Massachusetts ere si chance at survival”
Massachusetts Historical Society, Mercy Otis Warren Papers
Letter from Hannah Winthrop to Mercy Otis
Cae, Massachusetts
8 July 1776
(EXCERPT FROM PAGE 2)
The reigning Subject is the Siven up its Fears of an invasion & is busily e the Infection Straw beds & cribs are daily carted into the Town That ever prevailing Passion of following the Fashion is as Predominant at this time as ever
Men Wo to innoculate is I think as e was the last Year
But ah my Friend I have not mentioned
the Loss I have met hich lies near my heart the death of
ood Madam Hancock, A powerfull
attachment to this life broken off, you who knew her worth can
Lament with me her departure Ah the incertainty of all Terristrial happiness Mr Winthrop joyns ards to Coll Warren
& you, he hopes we shall be favord with his company with you & your son
Yours in Affection
Hannah Winthrop
12
Pain
AUGUST–SEPTEMBER 1776
Zeb Pruitt returned to Hadley after the disastrous Quebec caht the sh toith the fingers of August fog that were settling in the valley after the passing of the summer heat
Anna Porter was flitting around her father’sin the hive of activity around the counter where people met to purchase newspapers, coffee, and flour—the three ossip The store shelves were not as full of goods from abroad as they once were The Porters could still find plenty of local suppliers of iron nails and cooking pots, saddles and shoes, and hog-bristle brushes, but there was no tea, little silver, and no porcelain Writing paper was in short supply, and the few books available were from Boston and Philadelphia, not London Spices and tobacco were now behind the counter, for fear that desperate shoppers ht steal what little stock the Porters could acquire o;Yes, Philip,” I said, giving him a weak smile