Chapter 27

They release hands, and he watches Miss Neala remove one of the pieces of linen fabric and spreads it against the table’s surface, removing wrinkles. The vial of red water is taken from the other colors of the rainbow. She finds an eyedropper and dips it into the vial of red liquid. In doing so, she tells him, “One drop. Only one drop. Red of red of red.”

He listens to her say, “Repeat after me, young man…Ka-ta-wan-be-vi-sty.”

He repeats, “Ka-ta-wan-be-vi-sty.”

She holds the dropper approximately eight inches over the linen fabric and releases one droplet of red water. “Mason-tu-wan-ju.”

“Mason-tu-wan-ju.”