It comes out of Wade’s mouth this time, and everyone falls silent. His expression turns furious, and he clenches his teeth so hard I don’t know how they haven’t broken. No one says anything about it. It’s ignored. We don’t talk about it.
“We have trigger words,” Gus says quickly. “It’s part of the curse. Anyway, so yeah… all the men in our families turned tothosebirds. And we’re stuck living here on the farm.”
“Forever?”
“Maybe,” Gus says, with a slight shrug. “We can’t leave. We’ve tried.”
I look from them to Charlie. Back to them. Then to Charlie again.
“This is absurd.”
“Yes, Miss Daisy. It sure is,” Charlie says. “When I learned about it myself, I thought it was crazy talk. Thought Agnes finally done lost her mind. But then I saw it with my own two eyes, and well, seeing is believing, they say.”
Narrowing my eyes, I turn my gaze back on the men.
“Do it, then. Let me see it. Right now. Come on.”
Gus and Rhett share a look. Wade stares at me like he’s about to attack. Gus shrugs and steps forward.
And then… feathers sprout from his skin. He starts to shrink. Limbs contort. And then… he’s a chicken. A head-bobbing, worm-eating, egg-laying… chicken.
He walks up to me, pecking at my boot.
“Holy cow,” I mutter.
Then everything goes dark again.
Chapter Six
Daisy
Myeyespopopen,this time while I’m being carried.
“Oh, that was quick,” Gus says, looking down at me with a sweet smile. “You really should stop doing that, though.”
“I’ll try,” I mutter.
He places me on the couch and helps me sit up.
“Can I sit beside you?”
“Yeah, sure.”
I run my hand through my hair, trying to make sense of this. It’s hard not to believe it when I saw a man change into a chicken right in front of my eyes. But Grannie cursing people? Honestly, it’s not that hard to believe either—if it’s possible. Grannie didn’t like itwhen people told her what to do, and this land has been in her family for generations. I can’t imagine people trying to take it going over well. But a curse?
“I’m… sorry Grannie did this to you,” I say.
Gus shrugs. “We’ve had plenty of time to think about it and thoughwedidn’t do anything, our grandfathers did, and they definitely deserved this. Probably more. They weren’t nice guys.”
I shake my head. “So… all these years, all of the, uh…you know, have been men?”
“That’s right. She’s had our family here for alongtime.”
“Why stay, though? I mean, if you’re able to decide when you change, couldn’t you just go live a normal life somewhere else?”
“That’s the thing… we can’t leave the property. There are a few rules that go along with the curse, and being stuck here is part of it.”
That’s right.Thatconversation is coming back to me now. They said this already… in the kitchen, when they were trying to explain. I pinch the bridge of my nose. It’s foggy, but I vaguely remember what they were saying.
