He usually did, but Ms. Taft said, “No. I will. Stay and watch the movie.”

The strong way she said it made Jackie say, “Okay,” and sit down.

“Bye,” Raven said.

All the boys said goodbye.

The sun was already behind the trees, and the clouds were pretty shades of pink and purple.

“Does your mother ask where you’ve been when you’re here?” Ms. Taft asked as they walked to the fence.

Raven didn’t know how to answer. Mama had gotten used to Raven being gone all day during the weeks she was feeding Baby, and that had made going to Jackie’s house without her knowing easy. One day after Baby learned to feed herself, Mama said, “You are much more at ease alone in the woods since you raised the jay. You must enjoy your time alone with your kin.”

“Yes,” Raven said. Her stomach felt like a hard knot of wood. Because she hadn’t been alone many of those times she was away from Mama’s house.

Mama hadn’t noticed the flush of guilt Raven felt. She’d beamed, put her hand on Raven’s cheek. “I came to know the joys of being alone with the earth when I was about your age. I’m delighted to see you bonding with the spirits. Raising the bird was an important lesson for you.”

Ms. Taft stopped waiting for an answer. Like Jackie, she had learned not to press Raven with questions about Mama. “Have you thought about what we talked about last time?” she asked. “About school?”

“I think about it a lot,” Raven said.

“Have you talked to your mother?”

“No.”

She stopped walking and faced Raven. “I spoke with the principal at the school. Remember I told you that’s the person who makes decisions?”

Raven nodded.

“I’ve told her about you—how advanced your homeschooling has been—and she says she would be willing to let you into second grade. You’d only have to take a few easy tests to prove you can do second-grade work.”

“Would I be with Jackie?”

“He’s a year older, going into third grade. You would be with children your age in second grade.”

“Would I see him?”

“You would see him on the playground. And Huck, Reece, and Chris, too.” She smiled. “There aren’t many girls your age who can keep up with a pack of older boys like you did today. I’m confident the playground will be easy for you. All of school will be.”

Raven wanted to go. She wanted the playground. She even wanted the hard reading and math and tests the boys talked about. She wanted to show everyone she was smart.

“I could talk to your mother about it,” Ms. Taft said.

Raven wasn’t worried she would force a meeting anymore. She’d let Raven come over all summer without talking to Mama. But it couldn’t happen. Just getting in the gate would be a problem. And the alarms. And Mama’s surprise when she found out Ms. Taft was Raven’s friend. She sometimes thought Ms. Taft knew her better than Mama did. That hurt and felt good at the same time.

“Okay, I can see you don’t want me to talk to her,” Ms. Taft said. “But please try yourself.”

When Raven remained quiet, she said, “I know you want this, Raven. You’re young, but you have a right to ask for what you want.”

Ask for what you want. Raven knew what she would do. She would do the Asking. She would ask the earth spirits to help her. If Mama could ask for a baby and get one, couldn’t her daughter ask for school and get it?

“It’s getting dark. You’d better go,” Ms. Taft said.

She walked Raven the rest of the way to the fence. Inside the house, the boys burst into laughter. Raven looked at the golden light in the windows of the little yellow house. She wondered what funny thing had been said and who’d said it. Probably Reece. He could always make people laugh.

“Someday you’ll have a sleepover,” Ms. Taft said.

Raven saw no way that could happen.

Ms. Taft took her in her arms and held her. She did that sometimes since they had learned they could trust each other. Raven held her tight, breathing in the last sweet smells of her and the house for the day. “Ms. Taft . . .”

“Yes?”

“Sometimes I wish I lived here.”

Ms. Taft held Raven out in her arms. Tears colored with pink sky wet her eyes. “It’s okay to wish that. Sometimes I wish you did, too.”

Raven’s chest hurt. Like it was pressing too hard on her heart. She slipped through the fence boards and ran. She was far away when she realized she’d forgotten to say goodbye.

9

Jackie and Huck couldn’t play. The day after the party, they went to the doctor and shopped for school clothes and supplies. The next day, they had to go to school with their mom while she set up her classroom.

Raven cooked and cleaned with Mama. They discussed her lessons and took walks as they always did. Mama didn’t seem to notice that Raven was staying home more in recent days. Even when she was in the same room with Raven, part of her lived in the spirit world. Raven felt more alone than she used to when Mama was away with the spirits. She hadn’t known anything was missing from those solitary hours until she met the boys. Their absence was a hollow kind of hurting. It made Raven more certain about making an Asking to go to school.