The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making Read Online Free PDF Page B

magic--”
    “That’s wizards,” sighed Hello.
    “And they change people into things--”
    “That’s thaumaturges,” huffed Manythanks.
    “And make people do things--”
    “Enchantresses,” sneered Goodbye.
    “And they do curses and hexes--”
    “Stregas,” hissed both sisters.
    “And change into owls and cats--”
    “Brujas,” growled Manythanks.
    “Well…what do witches do, then?” September refused to feel foolish. It was hard enough for a human to get into Fairyland. True stories must be nearly impossible to get out.
    “We look into the future,” grinned Goodbye. “And we help it along.”
    “Why do you need lizards and buttons for that? And such nice clothes?”
    “Look who’s a witch now?” mocked Hello, snapping her book shut. “What could you know about it? The future is a messy, motley business, little girl.”
    “We have to dress well,” whispered Goodbye, “or the future will not take us seriously.”
    Manythanks put his hands out to his wives. “She’s just a child. We were once children. She knows nothing of the future. Be kind. We can afford to be kind to this one when there is so much ahead of her.” Manythanks reached into his pocket and took out a fat bundle wrapped in wax. He unwrapped it corner by corner, slowly, as if revealing the vanished dove at the end of a magic trick.
    Inside was a thick slice of deeply red cake, so moist it wet the paper, slathered with rich red icing. It glowed in the slight gloam of the seaside. The wairwulf bent down to her, the black tails of his suit whipping in the wind, and offered it, balanced delicately on one flat hand.
    September tried not to snatch it too fast. She swallowed it in three wulfish bites, so starving was she. But--hadn’t the Green Wind said something about eating Fairy food? Well , reasoned September. This isn’t the same thing at all. It’s witch food.
    “I don’t suppose,” gulped September, when the cake had settled in her belly, “that you would tell me what was ahead of me, so I could look out for it.”
    “Hello, I believe we have an utterly unique specimen on our hands: a child who listens,” laughed Goodbye. Goodbye laughed a lot.
    Manythanks shook his head. “That’s really more a seer’s business, love--”
    “I’d be happy to show you your future, little one,” interrupted Hello, but her voice was dark. The witch dipped her bare hand into the gurgling, boiling soup of the cauldron. She hauled out a handful of lumpy muck, the color of bruises and jam gone off. She flung it at the earth, where it steamed and wriggled and reeked. All three witches peered at the gob intently. Mankthanks poked at it with a neatly-trimmed fingernail. It quivered. The sisters looked meaningfully at one another. September tried to peer as well, but did not feel she had the hang of it.
    “My future looks lumpy,” she said uncertainly.
    Goodbye broke ranks with her family and swooped around the great cauldron, kneeling before September. The witch suddenly looked very beautiful, her pale hair swept back, her eyes dark and bright. September did not remember her looking so beautiful before, when she was stirring the pot. But now, Goodbye’s face fairly glowed, her lips perfectly rose-colored, her cheeks high, aristocratic, even blushing a little. “September,” she breathed. Her voice was pure honeywine, warm and deep and sweet. “That’s what you said your name was, yes? I prefer October, myself, but it’s such a pretty name. Your parents must have loved you very much, to give you a name like that. Do you like my name? It’s unusual, like yours.”
    “Y…yes.” September felt odd. She wanted to please Goodbye very much, but more, she wanted Goodbye to like her, to love her, even, and to tell her more about how much they were alike. The witch laughed again. But now it a long, rippling laugh full of notes, almost a song.
    “My sister has no shame at all, September. That’s a very secret thing she did--right in front