Read Online A Bitter Magic by Roderick Townley - Free Book Online Page A

hard voice. “I’ve been down at the wall every morning. As you
know
.”
    He looks at me as though I’ve said something odd.
    “How did you get in?” I continue.
    “Getting in was easy. The hard part is getting out.”
    “Have you come here to steal from us?”
    Ha! For that, he doesn’t have an answer
.
    “What,” he manages to say, “put that idea in your head?”
    “Simple enough question.” I level my special stare. “You’re a known thief. You sneak in here—”
    “Where did you get the idea I was a thief?”
    “Don’t deny it. I saw you running out of that shop last week. You had a big bundle under your coat, and the owner—”
    “You saw
that?”
    I cross my arms. A small army of cross-armed Cisleys surrounds the boy, all of them glaring.
    He looks down with a puzzled smile. “You thought I’d stolen, what? A clock?”
    “What else? You were running out of a clock maker’s shop.”
    “Yes, I was. But with a cat.”
    “A
what
?”
    “I got some memorable scratches that day.”
    “Wait. You were running.”
    “Ever notice how cats feel about rain? I was trying to get him home.”
    I don’t believe him. I half believe him. I want a reason to hate him for not showing up on the seawall, morning after morning.
    “Why was the owner chasing you?”
    “I didn’t know he was until the next day. He’d forgotten to tell me something about the cat.”
    I wait, arms still drill-sergeant crossed.
    “He wanted to warn us not to feed him milk. Best mouser in Ravensbirk, but he can’t digest milk. Unfortunately, we found out too late.”
    An answer for everything.
    “We?”
    “Me and Gwen.”
    “She’s the girl—”
    “She’s my little sister.”
    Try not to look surprised
. “Of course.”
    I shelve my other questions and cut to the important one: “So,” I say, “what are you doing here?”
    “Helping out my dad. He’s redoing some chairs for your uncle. My job is to carve birds and vines on the chair backs.”
    I reach out and flick a curl of sawdust off his shoulder. “And somehow you ended up on the second floor, tangling with mirrors.”
    “Serves me right. I was looking for you.”
    “Here I am.”
    “Still angry?”
    Good question
.
    “While you’re making up your mind,” he says, “can you show me how to get out of this place?”
    “I’m as lost as you are.”
    “That’s ridiculous! You live here!”
    “Please tell Uncle Asa that when you see him.”
    It strikes me as funny that I could get lost between my rooms and my mother’s, and never be seen again. Then another thought, equally silly:
Gwen. Gwen’s his sister!
A giggle escapes me.
    Cole looks relieved to see it. “Any ideas?”
    “Let me think.”
    Yes, Miss Magic Girl, think of something
.
    “Wait. What do you smell?” I say. “Besides yourself.”
    He looks around, sniffing. Shakes his head.
    There’s that other ability I have. Is it possible for a sense of smell to be…magical? “Let’s go this way.”
    He follows close as we slip around glass walls, past hordes of reflections. “It’s getting stronger,” I say over my shoulder.
    “What is?”
    “Roses.”
    On we go until, stepping around a final trapezoidal pane of glass, we find ourselves in a corridor a few yards from Mother’s door.
    I slip my key in the lock. Hesitate. Cole’s never been here before. Is it violating Mother’s privacy? I feel her resistance, like Elwyn when he’d pull back on his leash.
    The scent of roses is strong.
    I look around at Cole. He nods.
    I turn the key.

Chapter Thirteen
    Silence enfolds us. We walk softly, letting our eyes adjust, making sense of the lumps of dimness in the sitting room. I draw a match from my pocket and light a table lamp, turning up the wick. A white rose glows in its crystal vase.
    A different rose this time, taller than the other. Who changes them? Who waters them?
    Not watching my step in the semi-dark, I bump into Cole. He catches me by the arm. I’m more aware than ever of his