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" 'Oh, yes, I do. I know your ghost goes everywhere with you. I know you lived all your life among adults. You have no real knowledge of children. That's what Fr. Kev told me. At least that's what I could drag out of him. I almost got Fr. Kev into bed, but in the final go-round he proved to be immovable. He's what anybody would call a good priest, but he's loosening up when it comes to gossip, though not, you understand, about anything he hears in the confessional. ¡¯

"Her eyes were so green that I could scarcely concentrate on what she was saying.

" 'And did he warn you off of me?' I asked. 'Did he tell you I was crazy?¡¯

"She laughed a sweet laugh and she bit down on her lower lip as if she was thinking. 'You've got it backwards. They're out to protect you from me. Course they do want to keep me under lock and key. That's why I was at the front door of the house waiting for you. I am now considered to be a raving slut. I had to see you before they did. And I'm not the only witch in the family. ¡¯

" 'Mona, what do you mean when you say "witch" ? What are you talking about?¡¯

" 'You mean you've never heard of us?¡¯

" 'Yes, but only good things -- like Dr. Rowan's dream of Mayfair Medical, and Fr. Kev and how he came South to revisit the Irish Channel where he was born, that sort of thing. We go to St. Mary's Assumption Church. We see Fr. Kev all the time. ¡¯

" 'I'll tell you why Fr. Kevin came South,' she said. 'He came South because we needed him. Oh, there's so much I wish I could tell you, but I can't. And when I saw you in the Grand Lumini¨¨re, when I saw you talking to Goblin and embracing Goblin, I thought, God, you've answered my prayer, you've given me someone with secrets! Only now I realize it doesn't change things with me. It can't. Because I can't tell you everything. ¡¯

"She began to cry.

" 'Mona, you can tell me! Listen, you can confide in me completely. ' I kissed her tears. 'Don't cry, Mona,' I pleaded. 'I can't stand it, seeing you cry. ¡¯

" 'I don't doubt you, Quinn,' she said. She sat up in the bed, and I sat with her. 'I'm not sure Ophelia actually cries in the play, does she? Maybe crying is what keeps people from going mad. It's just that there are things that can't be told,' she went on, 'and there are things that nobody can do anything about. ¡¯

" 'It's always been my way to tell,' I said. 'That's why you saw me embracing Goblin. It would have been very easy at a certain age for me to stop embracing Goblin. I could have maybe sent Goblin away to wherever he came from. But I never kept him a secret. There is a ghost who haunts me too, and then there is a stranger, the man who beat me up and put me in Mayfair Medical. I just let these things come out. I believe we have to do that. ¡¯

"I handed her the paper tissues from the bedside table. I took another and wiped at her tears.

" 'I know I'm going to marry you, Mona,' I said suddenly. 'I know it. I know it's my destiny. ¡¯

" 'Quinn,' sh

e said, wiping her eyes, 'that isn't going to happen. We can have a little while, talk to each other, be with each other like this, but we can't ever really be together. ¡¯

" 'But why?' I demanded. I knew that if I lost her I would regret it always. I thought that Goblin knew it. That's why Goblin had gone away with no argument. He knew this was too strong, and he hadn't said a word to me.

"Yet I remembered what Goblin could do now. Goblin could break these windows if he wanted. Goblin had told me that he liked being angry. Could I tell Mona that? Should I tell anyone that? I felt a twinge of my panic, and I hated it as unmanly. With Mona, I wanted to be manly.

" 'Come back with me to Blackwood Manor,' I said. 'It's where I live. We can stay in my room, or I'll put you in my Pops' bedroom if you want the proprieties. Pops just died. The room's all cleaned and ready. He didn't die in the room. They packaged up his personal things right away. Where's the phone? I'll tell them to get it ready. Give me your size of clothes. Jasmine will go to Wal-Mart and get whatever you need to tide you over. ¡¯

" 'God, you're as mad as one of us,' she said with honest amazement. 'I thought we Mayfairs were the only ones who did things like that. ¡¯

" 'Just come. Nobody in my house is going to mess with us. My Aunt Queen may have some sage advice. She's pushing seventy-nine, or so she says; sage advice is to be expected. And I have a new private teacher, Nash, but he's a perfect gentleman. ¡¯

" 'So you don't go to school, either,' she said. 'Cool!¡¯

" 'No, never have, going to school never worked with Goblin. ¡¯

"I flew into action. She watched with continued amazement as I spoke on the phone to Jasmine. Petite everything, white shirts, pants, cotton underwear, a few toiletries, and away we went.

"As soon as I got behind the wheel I realized I had been awake for over thirty-six hours. I began to laugh at the way everything looked, and at the way everything was working.

" 'Here, let me drive,' she said.

"I was glad to give in.

"She took over like a pro and off we sped, catapulting out of the narrow French Quarter streets and on to the interstate.

"I couldn't take my eyes off her, it was positively sexy the way she drove, that somebody so delectable could drive, and when she shot those green-eyed glances at me I felt weak and overjoyed, and in that mood, that crazy, elated mood, I spoke to Goblin.

" 'I love her, old boy, you understand, don't you?¡¯