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Back here again?

Sheto act as a guide, just as the young girl had done before she’d left

The witch waved s Besides, I have Jean-Marie to wait on ht It’s part of her tutorin’ And I wish I didn’t have to explain that to you every time you slink back here"

"I’ve been here before?"

"Well, you don’t often bring aestured toward Philippe

"Yes, about hiin’ on what I know you can do with those skills of yours"

Could she see, in spite of that blindfold, with some sort of witch vision?

She sat in a chair behind the aniestured forunder the table, she ca for ed my feet, not violently but with comfort

"You haven’t been here for two days, Lilly I orried"

Clearly, she hadn’t begun to divine me with that ball, or whatever she had planned "I wish I could tell you as occupyingwhere I was"

"Nothing new there"

Was I ever going to find out the reason?

Amari clucked, and I noticed that her mouth was lovely: red lips tipped up at the corners A chin with a dimple

"Child," she said, "I don’t envy you, but them boots were the only solution when I found you out by the road a week ago"

A week ago? When Philippe had that vision of me?

"You’d just come into town," Amari said "Stole some poor soul’s pickup on your way here froo--you’d lost track ’bout how long it was, I guess--you were in Southern California" Cal-ee-fornia

"What was I doing there?"

"If you’d write all this down in a journal, like I tell you to, I wouldn’t have to explain You been dependin’ on me to always catch you up, but you’ll be doin’ soht, like it or not Next time you come here, you’ll be readin’ that instead of listenin’"

I alhts in here, but I could always go to the porch, yes? I had high doubts that one argued with Amari

Those blindfolded eyes seemed to look into mine "I’ll tell you once more and once only Burnt to a pitted mess, you were, but somehow you were alive and kickin’ Later, after I divined you, I found out why that was"

"And?"

"Oh, I’ets tired, you know"

Aripped the top of the ball, and I knew that I would be experiencing ive it over to as down the road," Amari said "You’d crawled the rest of the way here, ’cuz so the line, you’d heard that there was a witch outside New Orleans who healed folk You were so wounded you’d alas, too"

"So you helped me?"

"That’s what I was born to do Help, not hinder"

My chest constricted I wasn’t getting the sense that I had known people like this back "ho to create those boots, and when I put them on, the burns"