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“Should Dorey be there, too?” Lavinia asked, rising and feeling a quiet joy as Wolf Dancer slid the dress over her head, then knelt down and slipped her moccasins on her feet.
“The spell is meant to help Dorey, too, so, yes, she should sit with us during the spell casting,” Wolf Dancer said.
He drew her against him. “Never be afraid of anything our people do, especially Shining Soul,” he assured her. “He is a man of good heart. He works for the well-being of our people, including you and your daughter, as well as Twila and Joshua.”
“Can Joshua and Twila join us?” she asked.
“It would be good to have them there, too,” Wolf Dancer said. “But I will urge everyone else to stay in their homes until Shining Soul is finished.”
The fact that he would have his people stay away made Lavinia wonder again about what was going to happen. Yet she cast her doubts aside, resolving to trust anything that Wolf Dancer had planned for her and her daughter.
She gave him a soft smile as he reached for full buckskin leggings instead of his breechclout. As hedressed, she marveled anew that she was there with him, loved by him.
It was like a dream come true for her!
Yet now she wondered what else besides spells she would witness while living with him. She hoped she was ready for whatever might come her way.
Chapter Twenty-eight
O! How this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day.
—William Shakespeare
The village was quiet. All but those who were participating in Shining Soul’s spell were inside their homes.
Except for the birds’ chatter in the trees, there were no other sounds as Shining Soul knelt
in front of his hut, using his wand to draw a circle on the ground.
Lavinia sat close to Wolf Dancer, while Dorey, Twila, and Joshua sat a little further away.
All of their eyes were on Shining Soul as he sank down stiffly in the middle of the circle he had just drawn, his stuffed owl headdress on his head.
Gazing up, he lifted his hands heavenward and began to pray. Not a sound was made elsewhere as his voice rose into the cloudy sky. “Oh, Master of Breath, whose breath gives life to all the Seminole people, hear me as I come before you to seek your help,” he cried. “I am one of your children, small and weak. Master of Breath, I need your strength to cast a spell on someone who has brought heartache to those who do not deserve it. Oh, Master of Breath, I seek not to be superior to my brothers, but I need power enough to cast a spell this day.”
Lavinia gasped when she saw Shining Soul fall suddenly quiet, seemingly going into a trance, his eyes rolling back into his head.
Wolf Dancer had forewarned Lavinia of all that she would witness today, and she had then told her daughter and Joshua and Twila, so they would not be too afraid.
Wolf Dancer had told Lavinia that while Shining Soul was in a trance, his spirit would leave his body and soar to the heavens, where he would converse with the Sun God, asking this god to hear the same plea that he had spoken aloud to the Seminole’s Master of Breath. It was then that Shining Soul would disclose his wishes to the Sun God.
Wolf Dancer had further said that the Sun God was the most important god to his Seminole people. But now, in the midst of the ceremony, Wolf Dancer reached over and took Lavinia’s hand as they waited for Shining Soul to return to himself.
Wolf Dancer looked over his shoulder and saw that Dorey and Twila were clinging tightly to one another, their eyes wide with a mixture of fear and wonder as Shining Soul’s eyes remained rolled back in his head.
Wolf Dancer glanced over at Joshua, who seemed just as afraid, but who even now, as Wolf Dancer watched, placed an arm around both girls, drawing them closer to him.
Wolf Dancer sensed that perhaps enough timehad elapsed for Shining Soul to complete his conversation with the Sun God. Just as he turned to look at Shining Soul, the elderly man’s eyes opened and blinked several times.
“It is done,” Shining Soul said, looking from one to the other of his audience. “Visible only to me, the Sun God did not await my ascent into his sky home, but instead came to me and hovered just above my head as I spoke of my wishes. The Sun God replied, assuring me that he would play a major role in what happens to the evil white man.” “How will it be done?” Lavinia asked, even though she found it peculiar to act as though she believed in this strange sort of magic. But while she was with Wolf Dancer, she had begun to believe that anything was possible.
“He did not divulge to me how, but only said that it would be done,” Shining Soul explained. “He told me to wait one sleep and then go to the huge white house when the moon is full. That will be the time when the evil man’s end will begin.”
Shining Soul rose slowly to his feet.
He teetered as though he might fall, then steadied himself just as Wolf Dancer went quickly to help him.
