(You can find Bethina and the others in the Amaranthine saga & Brothers of Darkness. This story takes place at the Cotterill Plantation in Virginia in 1947.)

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Bethina folded the last sweater and stuffed it in the well-worn suitcase. The luggage had seen many years, and many trips, some before she was born. Her parents had taken it on their honeymoon, such as it was, a story she'd heard a dozen times or more.

With nothing else to pack, she ...