Three for three with Ruth Rendell so far. This story concerns another family both too close and at odds at the same time. Dolly, a young very sheltered woman with a birthmark that's kept her in hiding most of her life, dotes on her teenage brother Pup. When he decides to become a magician (sorry, geomancer) Alister Crowley-style and sells his soul to the devil, she supports him all the way. Pup grows out of his adolescent interest and belief in magic. Dolly's not so lucky. She doesn't realize magic isn't real, that her brother didn't really sell his soul to the devil...or did he?