Read Online Hero by Alethea Kontis - Free Book Online Page B

would be enough to withstand the chaos.
    Before them, in a raven’s shriek and a shower of glittering blue calcite, the ceiling collapsed.

5
Earthbreaker
    SOMEHOW, MAMA had fresh bread in the oven and a bowl of fruit on the table by the time the gray-sailed ship weighed anchor. Papa and Peter were hard at work on the well, pumping out water into buckets and testing each. Papa was worried that the salt brought by the new ocean might taint the groundwater. Saturday had a vision of bodies shriveled up beside the lapping waves, crusted in crystals and parched to death. She wondered if she could solve this problem as easily as she’d caused it, but trying anything now would put Thursday and her crew in jeopardy.
    Mama had ordered them all to diligence save Monday, who had held up a graceful finger and stopped Mama mid-sentence. So Monday was the only one who watched over the ship that carried their beloved, long-lost, pirate-wed sister until her feet touched the meadow now acting as a reluctant shore.
    “She’s here!” Monday ran down to meet the skiff. Saturday watched to see if her eldest sister’s feet touched the ground.
    Saturday and the rest of the working brood paused to look at Mama, who wiped floury hands on her apron and said, “Well, let’s go, then,” as if she’d been waiting impatiently for hours. The words broke the spell, and they dropped their pails and pots and made their way toward the shore. Having banished the dark clouds far to the west, the shining sun sparkled mercilessly on the magical sea.
    Monday embraced Thursday with an eye for never letting go. Saturday could only make out two tanned arms wrapped about Monday’s pale satin waist and a mop of burnished copper curls buried into Monday’s shoulder.
    When she was near enough, Thursday escaped Monday’s heavenly clutches and almost tackled Saturday in her enthusiasm.
    “You’re stronger than I remember,” said Saturday. “And skinnier. And shorter.”
    Thursday threw back her head, gave a raspy laugh that scared the gulls, and kissed her sister on the cheeks. “Well met, Earthbreaker,” she said. “I am here to escort you on your travels! My humble boat is at your service, Mama.”
    Mama’s joy at the reunion quickly hardened. “Then you know about Tesera.”
    “Yes,” said Thursday. “I cannot imagine.”
    “But—” Saturday started, and then silenced at the look Thursday gave her. Effectively, the Woodcutters had lost most of their daughters over time: Monday to marriage, Tuesday to Death, Thursday to her Pirate King, and Wednesday to Faerie. Sunday, in the palace, was still close enough to home, and Friday’s apprenticeship wouldn’t be forever . . . but it was enough to make Saturday keenly aware of what it would be like to never see one of her sisters again. For all that she wished it aloud sometimes, she never really meant it.
    “You saw this in your spyglass?” Mama asked.
    “I did.” Thursday still looked pointedly at Saturday. “In a manner of speaking. Mine is a very different sort of glass from the one that summoned us here.”
    “What was it
supposed
to do?” Saturday asked cheekily.
    “Does it matter? Sea glass isn’t
supposed
to be shattered into a million pieces . . . but I should have expected nothing less from you. Where’s your bag?”
    “My bag? But . . . how do you know . . . ?” And then Saturday remembered the properties of Thursday’s enchanted spyglass. It could not only see across leagues to other sides of the world, but it could also see certain events through time. Thursday must have known that Mama would want Saturday to accompany her.
    Finally, a chance to leave the towerhouse, and on a pirate ship to boot! But what should have been excitement over a journey on the high seas was dampened by the thought that Saturday would spend the whole trip looking for Trix’s dead body floating among the waves.
    “Erik ought to go with you,” said Monday. “He can accompany Mama