pMary Thresher is nine years old when the story begins. She was adopted as a baby by her new Indian parents. They are wealthy, but live simply and allow Mary to have freedom in what she wants to think and do. She began dabbling in witchcraft when she was still only nine years old. One of her friends gave her a parrot that was possessed with the spirit of an old sea captain. The parrot's name was Joque. He told Mary and her friends all about his life and the many women he had known. Mary located witchcraft books on the internet and studied them. She and her friends learned how to call up magical animals to be their pets.p pMary's father decided that it would be good for Mary to learn about the Indian Gods and medicine. He took her to her grandfather, Cloud of Thunder, who was a medicine man. He trained her as a medicine woman. Mary talked to the many Gods that were in the desert. Finally after about a year of training, she went to the Jade Goddess who lived in a cave on a nearby mountai