Page 19 of The Rules of Magic

“I already do,” Franny dared to say. “I spent a great deal of time in the library when we were at Aunt Isabelle’s.”

“Some things should be left alone,” Susanna told Franny. “You won’t be going back to Isabelle’s or to that library.” She turned to Jet. “And you stay away from that boy. Do you hear me?”

“Yes. I hear you.” Jet’s eyes were raised to meet her mother’s. She appeared to acquiesce, but her expression was cool. “Loud and clear,” she said.

Their father called to them. “May I ask what is going on here?”

They exchanged a look, agreeing it was best to keep him in the dark, but they all trooped into the kitchen.

“Well, hallelujah,” he said when he saw Jet. “One problem solved and another begun.” He gestured to a crow tapping on the window, clearly wishing to be let in.

Franny went to unlatch the lock and push up on the window frame. “There you are.” She was actually delighted to see him.

“Oh, for goodness’ sake, Franny, must you have creatures around?” their mother said.

“Yes, I must.” The crow flapped inside and made himself comfortable on a curtain rod.

When they went to their room, the crow flapping after them, Jet was despondent. “She’s never loved our father.”

“She loves him,” Franny said as she made a nest out of a sweater atop her bureau. “Just in her way.”

Jet got into bed and pulled up the covers.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Franny said, getting into bed beside her. “Tell all.”

“Mother hates Levi and she doesn’t even know him. I think she hates me, too.”

“We don’t have to listen to her,” Franny said. “Or be like her. She definitely would have chosen caution.”

Jet closed her eyes. “I won’t listen to her.”

They lay there side by side, defiant, convinced that, if there were curses, then there must also be cures for every mortal plight.

In November, April Owens came to New York, having told her exasperated parents that she’d been invited to visit her cousins, which was far from true. She had already spent what should have been her first freshman semester of college working in a coffee shop in the North End. She had been accepted to MIT, delighting her stupefied parents, who had no idea she was so intelligent, but had deferred because she felt she had other things to attend to. It was too exciting a time to be tied down to school. On the eighth of the month, Senator Kennedy from Massachusetts had won in the closest presidential election since 1916. Hatless and handsome, he had given people faith in the future when he gave his acceptance speech. I can assure you that every degree of mind and spirit that I possess will be devoted to the long-range interests of the United States and of the cause of freedom around the world.

April came directly to the Owenses’ town house. She had a packet of lavender in her pocket, for luck.

“Look who’s here!” Susanna Owens tried to sound cheerful when she opened the door, but her pose was a flop. In fact, she looked panic-stricken at the mere sight of her niece. She most certainly didn’t want the responsibility of overseeing this difficult girl, whose influence might lead her children to the brink.

As for April, she was unreadable as she slipped inside the house, a Cheshire cat who had arrived with a single suitcase. She looked younger than she had in the summer, her white-blond hair pulled into one long braid, her face free from makeup. She was dressed in black, with knee high lace-up boots.

“Surprise, surprise,” April said. She turned to Jet, whom she considered a pal. “Although I’ll bet you knew I’d be here.”

The family turned to Jet. “What is that supposed to mean?” Dr. Burke-Owens said, always looking for a neurosis to pin down. “Are you and April in cahoots?”

“It doesn’t mean a thing,” Jet said, doing her best to skirt the issue. When she and April exchanged glances, she was glad she’d said nothing and was stunned to read her cousin’s thoughts. April did have something of a cluttered mind. Certainly, it couldn’t be this.

“You can read me like a book,” April assured her cousin. “You know why I’m here.”

“Jet?” Susanna said with alarm. Since the incident with that boy, she had taken to checking her daughters’ room every night, and she made sure to pick up the extension should Jet receive a phone call—which only caused Jet to be very adept at quickly hanging up.

Now Jet gazed at the floor and refused to respond. She never divulged privileged information, hers or anyone else’s, though she knew why April had come. If their cousin wished to make a scene, so be it.

“It’s silence, is it?” Susanna said. “Well, then April can stay the night but she’ll leave in the morning.”

“You’re kicking me out? Just like that?” April shook her head in disbelief.

“Your parents will want you to come home,” Susanna said. “I’ll phone them.”