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d78cf6b
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I'm interesting, she thought. I'm unusual. But I'm not beautiful....
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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32ce532
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You must love teaching', one mother said to Mr. Shevvington. 'Yes indeed. I think of each class as a zoo.' He laughed..'Twenty-six to a cage.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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e9f5803
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Girl! English, eh? What is your name? Indians stole you, eh? I'll send news to your people." His excellent speech meant that he did a lot of trading with the English. It meant, Mercy prayed, that he liked the English. She found her tongue. "Will you take me to France, sir? Or anywhere at all? Wherever you are going--I can pay." He raised his eyebrows. "You do not belong to an Indian?" She flushed and knew her red cheeks gave their own answe..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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0b43f32
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What do you mean--your family?" he said. "Joseph, you do not have a in this terrible place. You have a master. Do not confuse savages who happen to give you food with " Joseph's face hardened. "They are my family. My father is Great Sky. My mother--" The minister lost his temper. "Your father is Martin Kellogg," he shouted, "with whom I just dined in Montreal. You refer to some savage as your father? I am ashamed of you." Under his tan, ..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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1b3342f
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She had spent the summer forgetting to be English--and Tannhahorens had spent the summer forgetting the same thing.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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0e4ad1e
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Seventh grade had a full complement of creeps, weirdos, future criminals, and nerds.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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4eef68e
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They won't let you see her," said Ruth flatly. "Now tell us, Mr. Williams, why has ransom not come? Do people have short memories or no memory? Why do they not rescue us? I get so angry sometimes." thought Mercy."
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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76d0903
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If I were a seagull I wouldn't have to stick around If people argued- I would fly off, swerve, wheel, dip, scream. a thousand wings of company if I have friends two strong wings of my own If I don't
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friends
seagull
strength
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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cb34675
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It wasn't that she stopped being nice; she stopped being anything
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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64ae2e9
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I must remember that. Things become what you expect them to become. But I am granite. Nothing can shatter me.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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e6f1652
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Tannhahorens did not look at Mercy. The tip of his knife advanced and the Frenchman backed away from it. He was a very strong man, possibly stronger than Tannhahorens. But behind Tannhahorens were twenty heavily armed braves. The Frenchman kept backing and Tannhahorens kept pressing. No sailor dared move a muscle, not outnumbered as they were. The Sauk let out a hideous wailing war cry. Mercy shuddered with the memory of other war cries. Ev..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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b19f802
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Perhaps nobody knows anybody.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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0eeedc4
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Perhaps nobody knows anybody..It was a terrifying thought: like "the alone". That you could know people well, and know them again the following year, and then know them more...and yet remain strangers forever."
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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c66b9e4
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People could not accept the presence of Evil. They had to laugh, or shrug. Walk away, or look elsewhere.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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781b4f3
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What capacity the Indians had not to worry. In Deerfield, all had been worry. Worry about the Lord, worry about sin. Worry about today, worry about tomorrow. Worry about crops, worry about children. But Indians set worry down. The next day, Mercy didn't see Ruth once, nor the day after that, nor the third day. Finally she sought out Otter. "Is Spukumenen ill?" said Mercy anxiously. "She has been sold," said Otter. "She is in Montreal with t..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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b19f0b5
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It was an hour before the Indians paused again, and then they stopped so abruptly that prisoners were tripping over each other. It frightened Eben. What was going to happen? What dread plan might the Indians have for their white prisoners now? No Indian lifted a weapon. They stood motionless, looking west. Eben watched for several moments before he was able to pick out distant figures coming toward them. It was not rescue. If those were Eng..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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46a1005
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She was envious of Sally, who had gotten a perfect husband in Benjamin Burt. Horrified by Eliza, who had married an Indian, even if Andrew was a Praying Indian. Sickened by Abigail, whose choice was a French fur trader twenty years older than she was. How could Abigail marry a Frenchman? The French were the enemy. The English were at war with the French! Besides, Jacques had no teeth. If Mercy had to marry the enemy, she would not pick a to..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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570c985
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It was the work of a warrior to enter the cave, jab the bear awake and tempt him, grumpy and stuporous, to come out where he could be shot. No fur was so warm, no meat so good, no claws better ornaments. Of course, one swipe of that great paw could break a man's jaw or rip off an arm, but that was why it was so admired and why the warrior who goaded the bear got the claws: such impressive risk.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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79ec7ff
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Remember how in Deerfield there was nobody to marry? Remember how Eliza married an Indian? Remember how Abigail even had to go and marry a French fur trader without teeth?" Mercy had to laugh again. It was such a treat to laugh with English friends. "Your man doesn't have teeth?" "Pierre has all his teeth. In fact, he's handsome, rich and an army officer. But what am I to do about the marriage?" Sarah was not laughing. She was shivering. "I..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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86905bb
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My French family will put up a terrible fuss," said Sarah anxiously. "Pierre might even summon his fellow officers and do something violent." Eben grinned. "Not if I have Huron warriors behind me."
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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12abd43
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None of the captives possessed the freedom to choose anything or take care of anyone. It turned out that Eben Nims believed otherwise. Eben was looking at Sarah in the way every girl prays some boy will one day look at her. "I will marry you, Sarah," said Eben. "I will be a good husband. A Puritan husband. Who will one day take us both back home." Wind shifted the lace of Sarah's gown and the auburn of one loose curl. "I love you, Sarah," s..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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4bc695c
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The Indians, it seemed, had paused here on their journey south from Canada to go hunting before the battle. Under the snow were stored the carcasses of twenty moose. Eben had to count them himself before he could believe it, and even then, he could not believe it. Eben was no hunter. If he'd gotten one moose, it would have been pure luck.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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6cc5b1b
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Stop being picky!" yelled Mandy. "You're down to twelve minutes and you still have to swipe your credit card!"
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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3c010b2
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Her father drove up and down car aisles, looking for a good slot. Who cared about a good slot? Just park the car already!
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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0a1dd92
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He would have said Stephen was a sort of human tire iron;
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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4a7815b
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Mercy could not keep up the pace. Gradually the line passed her by, until she was walking with Eben Nims, and she must not fall farther behind than that, because the Indians behind Eben were the end of the line. Daniel held tight and sucked his thumb. But not only did Marah refuse to walk, she kept yelling that her feet were cold, and she wanted Stepmama, and she needed her mittens, and she was hungry. Mercy could walk, though not fast enou..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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58e423b
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They crossed field after field, the Indians constantly demanding more speed. Mercy did not know why the Indians were in such a hurry. They had killed anybody who could chase them.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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b937df7
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The rock-hard wetness of her heavy leather shoes had frozen her toes and blistered her heels. But now her feet were cozy inside the soft moccasins. She felt guilty about the others, still suffering, and then, astonished, saw that all the prisoners were being given moccasins. She and Eben Nims stared at each other. "They they would take this many prisoners, Eben," whispered Mercy. "They have enough moccasins to go around. They have little ..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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89449f8
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Eben's moccasins were lined with thick black fur. His boots were abandoned at the edge of the trail. Eben thought of Deerfield men getting this far in pursuit and finding a hundred pairs of shoes.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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d236b84
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Joanna Kellogg, one of Joseph's sisters, was stumbling. For Joanna, the world was blurred. Her eyes didn't focus the way other people's did. Leaves on trees were green blots against a blue sky. She couldn't recognize people until they were within a dozen paces. When an Indian brave took Joanna's hand, she had not seen her mother die and did not know this was the killer. She was only ten, but her pack was nearly as large as the ones grown me..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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87eb2a3
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In a dark and twisted grove of spruce, a place Eben would have avoided in summer at high noon, the Indians stopped for the night. If he had ever seen a place where an evil spirit would dwell, this was it.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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579e036
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During the march, when Mercy was finding the Mohawk language such a challenge and a pleasure to learn, Ruth had said to Eben, "I know why the powwow's magic is successful. The children arrive ready." The ceremony took place at the edge of the St. Francis river, smaller than the St. Lawrence but still impressive. The spray of river against rock, of ice met smashing into shore, leaped up to meet the rain. Sacraments must occur in the presence..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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1d9479a
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We will freeze to death, thought Mercy. Why go to the trouble of carrying a hundred pairs of moccasins when they won't make a fire? Her Indian knelt and, with his bare hands, scooped out a hole in a snowbank. She expected him to store his plunder in the cavity. He had to make a lot of hand motions before she understood that this was her shelter for the night. Not a house, nor a bed, nor even a stable. A hole in the snow. Mercy wanted to rai..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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ffbc7b3
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She had no choice but to go to him. She set Daniel down. Perhaps they would spare Daniel. Perhaps only she was to be burned. She forced herself to keep her chin up, her eyes steady and her steps even. How could she be afraid of going where her five-year-old brother had gone first? O Tommy, she thought, rest in the Lord. Perhaps you are with Mother now. Perhaps I will see you in a moment. She did not want to die. Her footsteps crunched on th..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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6a7ea58
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If only she had never stolen Sarah-Charlotte's milk. None of this would have happened.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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46be07f
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All his life Reeve had reacted to good news and bad by wanting to throw things.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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2c7f7f3
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Brian and Lizzie were both really smart. Really quick. Plain basic types like Janie and Reeve could always get cornered.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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e10ba75
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There were no Middle Ages in America, dumb-o," said his sister. "White people hadn't gotten here yet. Only Europe had Middle Ages."
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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8736a56
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Barbies are warm and tan and always the same, thought Janie, but real people are not always the same.
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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4c294e7
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And then a creek, so fast-flowing that even in this wicked cold it had not frozen. The Indians stood in ice water up to their thighs, handing the small children across, but the adults had to wade. Wet clothing froze to the body. In this wind, at this temperature, that could spell death. Should you fall in and get entirely wet, could you even get back on your feet in the force of that current? Would not your heart stop and your lungs fill? T..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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bef7e41
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I will be brave, she told herself. I will stay strong. she said to Him. She had never needed Him more, but in this cold white wilderness, she could not feel His presence. The snowball fights ended. The sledding stopped. The march went on. Nobody could help Mercy. Everybody had their own trembling legs and hearts to deal with. Tannhahorens appeared by her side. He had covered his ears and shaved head with a great scarlet muff of a hat. In h..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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ea28d63
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From the river they walked back to the town, and the boy was taken into the fire circle outside the powwow's longhouse. Here he was placed on the powwow's sacred albino furs. A dozen men, those who were now his relatives, sat in a circle around him. The powwow lit a sacred pipe and passed it, and for the first time in his life, the boy smoked. Don't cough, Mercy prayed for him. Don't choke. Afterward she found out they diluted the tobacco w..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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2024b41
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You know what is happening with Eben, don't you?" "Will he marry Sarah?" Mercy asked excitedly. "We don't know how it worked out. Tell us." "Father Meriel will honor Sarah's decision to accept Eben. I guess it's going to be quite an event. The French family does not accept Sarah's decision, and they're going ahead with their wedding plans. Eben's Indian family are going ahead with wedding plans. There's going to be one bride, two grooms a..
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Caroline B. Cooney |
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f8a4492
|
Munnonock," said Mercy's Indian. Eben did not know the word or any of the syllables in it. Mercy frowned, trying to work it out. She shook her head at Tannhahorens. He pointed at her. "Munnonock," he said again. His voice lingered on the 's and n's humming like a bee, and then, hand on his chest, he repeated his name, "Tannhahorens," and pointed at Mercy. "Munnonock." Mercy had been given an Indian name. Even shivered. Names had power. It ..
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Caroline B. Cooney |