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people are going to react and you don’t need them mistreating you. Or worse.”
    “Oh, Mother. It’s not like they’re going to burn me at the stake. Besides, I don’t just go around bragging about it or wearing a T-shirt. And anyway, Nana Bud was a witch,” Liza had pointed out, feeling both small and defensive.
    Mabel had let that one pass. “And she kept it quiet, too. Didn’t go blabbing her mouth about it to everyone. Just do what you want, you always do, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
    She was used to her mother’s heightened paranoia about the people around her. Mabel was always convinced people were talking about her and excluding her from things with malicious intent. If Mode hadn’t said something along the same vein, she might have just ignored her. But he’d also sent out a warning.
    “Don’t talk about witches while you’re there!” his text had read.
    Liza had been confused about the “while you’re there” part. He still didn’t believe she was going there to stay. But his words, coupled with her mother’s, had made her nervous. She was in a politically conservative area. What if they mistook her for a devil worshipper or something?
    Still, she wasn’t going to hide it anymore. She hadn’t practiced, not really, in years. And that had been hurtful, wounding to hide that part of her away. She liked her abilities, she enjoyed having powers, and she hated having to pretend to be something she wasn’t.
    No, if she was going to get off on the right foot in Kudzu Valley, she was going to have to be honest, even if it made both of them uncomfortable.
    At last, Liza had turned around and studied the young woman standing before her. She was a perky little thing with beautiful curly hair and big green eyes. At the grocery store Liza had been surprised to see so many people wearing flannel pajama pants that dragged to the floor, their edges brown and frayed from the ground. She’d never seen such a thing before and it had taken her aback, making her wonder if that was the popular women’s style in Kudzu Valley. (If so, she was out of luck. She wanted to fit in, but no way was she giving up her clothes.)
    So now, as she took another look at her young neighbor, Liza felt a certain amount of respect for the woman’s stain-free khaki pants, wrinkle-free pullover, and black pea coat. She wore little ladybugs at her ears and a matching necklace.
    “It’s a family thing,” she’d explained to Jessie. “Kind of a legacy I guess you could call it; it’s just something that’s been passed down over the years. My grandmother was the same way, and my sister is in her own way, but they could always control themselves better. Sometimes I just let my temper get the best of me. I was thinking about something I really shouldn’t have been and it just kind of…happened.”
    “Huh,” Jessie had replied.
    Liza couldn’t judge the blank look on her face and felt it rude to violate her thoughts at their first meeting.
    “I guess it’s not that different than having a musician for a parent or an artist,” she’d said, “and then getting some of that ability yourself. We’re all different. I can’t do all the things that my grandmother did and my sister can’t do the things I do. But we all have a part of it.”
    Jessie nodded then, and didn’t appear to be particularly shocked.  “Yeah, people talked about Rosebud sometimes. I only seen her out in the garden when we rode our horses up here. She was always real nice. Others, though, they’d come up here when their kids were sick or they had some kind of problem that doctors or church couldn’t fix.”
    Liza smiled. “She enjoyed getting company up here. I think she regretted not having a bigger family. She always liked taking care of people.”
    “My mom brought me up when I was eight. I kept getting these ear infections. Went up to Lexington and had saw a specialist. Had surgery and tubes and everything. Nothing helped. I’d wake