Flora Segunda: Being the Magickal Mishaps of a Girl of Spirit, Her Glass-Gazing Sidekick, Two Ominous Butlers (One Blue), a House with Eleven Thousand Rooms, and a Red Dog (Magic Carpet Books) Read Online Free PDF Page A

crush on Relais Evengardia, the matinee idol, and spent hours mooning about the Cow Palace stage door, hoping for his autograph. But when she finally got to meet him, he was a complete and utter git, and her romantic love for him (and the stage) was squashed forever.
    And with this surge of acute disappointment, I suddenly remembered that I was late-late-late, and now getting later.
    I interrupted, “I am sorry, Valefor. Normally I would love to stay and chat, but I am very late, and I’m going to be in B-I-G trouble when I finally get to Sanctuary, because I don’t have my library book, and this isn’t helping any.”
    “Overdue library book, eh? And Naberius is a fiend on library books, too. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t eat you.”
    “I will be surprised, too. So if you don’t mind, I gotta get my book and get to school. I’m sorry I can’t stay longer.”
    “What book?”
    “High Jinks in Low Places: The Autobiography of Nini Mo, Coyote Queen,
volume 1.”
    Valefor sniffed. “That’s awful tripe, you know. You should read something more educational. I have a lovely book on eschatological extensions and their role in im-manentizing the—”
    Ignoring Valefor’s ramblings, I looked around the room, hoping for a way out other than the way I had come in, and there, set deeply within one of the massive bookcases, was a small silver doorway. It swung open at my touch, revealing a rickety flight of wooden stairs.
    “You can’t get down that way,” Valefor said. “Those stairs lead to the Cellars of Excruciations. At least, I think they do. Thanks to your dear lady mamma, I don’t know anything for sure anymore. But anyway, I wouldn’t go down there unless I were feeling lucky. Are you feeling lucky, Flora Segunda?”
    After my earlier encounter with the Elevator, I was definitely not feeling lucky. I stared into the dank tunnel leading downward and decided to try the windows instead. I am an extremely good climber.
    The windows overlooked a sunlit yard, thick with snarled rosebushes and dusty green hedges. From the length of the Elevator ride, I would have thought we were at least five or six stories up, but it didn’t look that far to the ground. Beyond, I could see the crenulated edge of another roof just beyond a cluster of eucalyptus trees. Judging from the angle of the sun, I was on the west side of the house, and that roof was probably the stables. When I took out my compass to check my guess, the needle spun like a broken top.
    “It won’t work here,” Valefor said, breathing over my shoulder. “I am the lodestar of the House, and the needle will always point to me.”
    “It’s spinning like a wheel.”
    “Well, then it’s broken.”
    Huh,
I thought. The compass was an award for Best Rope Climber at last year’s Gymkhana Exhibition, and it was not broken. Anyway, I was pretty sure I recognized the stables, and outside was outside. I’d rather wander through the daylit garden than go back into the musty darkness. I climbed onto the broad expanse of the window seat and fumbled with the catch.
    “What are you doing?” Valefor demanded.
    “Getting ready to climb down that ivy vine,” I said. “The one that is about to tear most of this wall away.”
    “Well, it’s not my fault. Blame your dear mamma. If she let me do my job, then I would have this wall fixed, and all the other walls, too. And you wouldn’t have to muck out the stables anymore.”
    “How do you know I muck out the stables?” I asked.
    “Your boots have horse hoo all over them. Anyway, why are you leaving so soon? Didn’t you just get here? Come and sit with me for a while and let’s have a nice chat,” Valefor said, suddenly all nicey-nice and beguiling.
    “I have to go. I am late for school. I’m sorry, Valefor.”
    “When you take the dæmon on board, you must row him ashore.
" Valefor grabbed my sleeve with a hand that had about as much substance as a piece of paper. His flesh—if that is what it