He handed her jeans to her and put on his shirt.

“Do you still want to do homework?” he asked.

“I’m not in the mood. Would you take me home?”

“Sure.”

He had driven about halfway to her house when he asked, “Is everything okay with us?”

“Yes. I just wasn’t ready.”

“Some people are all fired up to do it at thirteen. Some wait till they’re out of high school. It’s all good.” He looked at her, smiling. “But I can tell you’ll want to do it soon.”

He seemed to speak from experience. Both Jackie and Reece had said that about him.

“Have you done it before?” she asked.

“Yes,” he said.

“A lot?”

“Come on. You’re not supposed to ask that.”

She wondered why.

He parked in the usual place, away from the driveway cameras. They kissed, and everything felt all right again.

He said, “This may not be the right time to ask, but do you want to go to prom with me?”

Senior prom was a big deal at school. Of course he would ask her. He’d said he was in love with her.

“That sounds fun,” she said.

“Are you sure your mother will let you? We’ll be out all night. And you have to get a dress and everything.”

“I think she will.”

“Great. Let me know what color your dress is so I can match my tux.”

“Okay,” she said, though she wasn’t certain what it all meant.

Mama was in the house when she arrived.

“Did you go out with Chris today?”

“Yes,” Raven said. “He asked me to go to the senior prom.”

“What was your answer?”

“I said yes. But I need a dress.”

“And shoes. We can find all that online.”

“He said we’ll be out all night.”

Mama smoothed her hair. “Of course you will, pretty girl. And I bet this won’t be your only prom. You’ll be asked every year.”

The drastic change in Mama unsettled Raven. Or was it the thought of being out all night with a big group of teenagers? She usually felt exhausted from trying to fit in at the end of a school day, and that was only seven hours. How would her raven spirit handle a whole night? She thought of the way she’d felt in Chris’s bed, the urgent desire to fly away. She almost wished Mama had said she couldn’t go to the prom.

5

Raven lay awake for a long time thinking about what had happened with Chris and why she was uncertain about staying out all night with him. Her raven spirit must be making her feel afraid.

She shouldn’t let it. She had the right to feel human with men. Mama said she should experience that joy.

The next morning, she wore a sweater Chris liked. She couldn’t wait to tell him she’d ordered three prom dresses; she was going to see which one she liked best.

The bus was quieter than usual. Jackie’s girlfriend, Sadie, got on, and she looked like she’d been crying. She went straight to Raven. “Have you heard?” she asked.

Raven shook her head.

“Jackie’s dad died in a car accident last night.”

“Mr. Danner . . . died?”

“Yes,” Sadie said, her voice breaking.

She and some of the other girls started crying. They’d had Mr. Danner for gym class in elementary school as well. Raven wanted to cry with them. She wanted to cry for Jackie and Huck and their mother. But she couldn’t. Again, her raven side wouldn’t let her. It just sat on its branch apart from her sadness.

Everyone at school was talking about Mr. Danner. Jackie and Huck weren’t there. The lunch group was quiet, even Reece, but some talked in quiet voices about the car accident. They said Mr. Danner was in a head-on collision after someone swerved into his lane on a highway. He was coming home from the grocery store.

Chris was very quiet. He didn’t invite Raven over. She didn’t want to go anyway. Everything felt too sad.

That evening, as the sun set, Raven walked to the fence on Hooper’s land, keeping her distance from the edge. She sat in the grass and stared at the lit windows of Jackie’s little yellow house. Finally, the raven let her cry. She cried until dark and walked home in moonlight.

Jackie and Huck didn’t come back to school all week. Chris invited Raven to drive with him to the memorial service and funeral. They were having it on Saturday because so many people wanted to say goodbye to Mr. Danner.

Chris had been to Jackie’s house, and he said that Jackie, Huck, and their mother were heartbroken. He used that word, heartbroken. It hurt Raven’s heart just to hear it. She did Askings on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, imploring the earth spirits to please heal the broken hearts of the three people she loved. She made the last Asking in front of the Madonna Wolfsbane, using only two materials, the strongest: stones and her hair. She asked the spirits to give Jackie the strength of her own spirit to help him heal. She asked Madonna, too, because she might understand Jackie’s world better than the spirits did.

The memorial service in the church was so crowded that people stood in the aisles. The raven in Raven was nervous among all the people in the enclosed space. Chris and Reece took her to a seat near the front of the church. Jackie, Huck, and their mother were seated in front of them. After the minister spoke words for the people of his religion, many went to the microphone and told funny or sweet stories about Mr. Danner.