Chapter 18 Summary

Williams, assured that he will triumph, invites the narrator to Mercer House. Williams says he has been concentrating on positive thoughts along with Minerva, the mistress of a deceased root doctor in South Carolina low country. Minerva, who makes a living out of communicating with the dead, regularly calls on Dr. Buzzard, the root doctor, to help her with her own techniques. Williams drives them to Beaufort, where Minerva lives in a small wooden house. The two enter the house and Williams introduces Minerva, a pale-skinned black woman with strangely styled hair and an eerie voice. She tells Williams that Danny is trying to work against him. Williams tells Minerva he wants a curse to be put on Lawton, so she instructs him to begin writing Lawton's full name on paper. Minerva receives a phone call, and she offers love advice to a...