Summary

Chapter 40 is titled “The Stones Come to a Decision.” The Stones say they had bodies and controlled the magic in the distant past. They were sometimes good and sometimes wicked. They feared death and used their magic to become immortal. It worked because they are now immortal. But it also backfired because they are rocks. Their magic became a cloud of fragments – some good and some bad. The Stones “taught a family how to gather the magic together, and contain it in a clay pot” (289). They wanted this family to attach the magic to a dying soul so that the Stones would “pass on” as well. The power of the magic enticed the family to keep it. One of the Stones says they were not always honest about the magic. For example, they said the magic “couldn't” be used for personal gain, rather...