are ahead.”
A flat voice startled her from behind. “What are you doing? Everybody’s waiting for you at the table.” Lexi stood on the front doorstep wearing her apron and a cross expression. Nell wondered how long the older girl had been watching. She didn’t get up until her sister went back inside, worried that Lexi would trample the flowers, just to be mean.
The next day Nell woke to the hiss of her father’s cursing. Slipping out of bed, she wandered into the main room where Chase was ramming his shoulder against the front door. “It won’t open,” he breathed, giving the door another push. Nell went to one of the shuttered windows and found it too was locked tight from the outside.
They went through the kitchen where Lexi was just getting up, and tried to force the cottage’s back door. Chase was able to open it wide enough to push through, and Rawley squeezed past next. Pulling her boots on, Nell followed them outside, eager to solve this mystery.
Her hair stood on end when she saw the cottage. Green vines had grown up around it overnight, entwining her home in a thick netting. Worse yet, the oaks and maples towering on either side had all somehow bent their trunks inward, forming a cave of limbs over Nell’s house. The sight of the old trees cloistered together at such an unnatural angle made her mother gasp whenshe came out to see. “How could they grow like that – and in one night?”
The family walked around the tree-domed, ivy-shrouded house, only to find something even more bizarre: intertwined with the vines were several ridiculously large crocus plants – directly outside Nell’s window. They were the very plants she had tended just yesterday. Now they sagged against the thatched roof, huge purple blossoms rimed with frost.
Nell’s father set to work at once cutting the strange vines, but the task was difficult and long. It was as if the ivy on the cottage had been growing unchecked for twenty years. And as for the way the trees bent over the house… there was no explaining that at all. Neighbors assembled, gawking at Nell and her family. None offered to help Chase chop the thick cords: no one wanted to go under the great leaning oaks, or touch the freakish flowers.
The unwanted attention was too much for Lexi. She reared on Nell, exclaiming, “She did it! She put a spell on the house!”
Chase set down his axe. “What’s this rubbish, Alexandra? It’s not Nell’s fault that spring’s sprung on us all at once.” He tried to laugh, but the sound was forced. Like everyone else, the man had been shaken by the sight. What’s more, while the rest of the village had a light layer of snow on it, the grass around the Shoemakers’ cottage was thick and green. It looked as though some wellspring of warmth had enveloped the house overnight. He didn’t understand why this had happened any more than the others, but he wasn’t blaming Nell.
“Well I say she’s cursed!” Lexi shouted. With a dozen other villagers standing just beyond their gate, she leveled her finger accusingly at Nell. “I saw her whispering outside yesterday. She used a troll’s charm to make the flowers grow!”
Nell’s mother gave Lexi a dark look. “Alexandra, that’s enough.”
“And she thinks she can talk to dogs too!” Lexi cried.
If anyone would accuse Nell of witchcraft, it would be her sister. All winter Lexi endured Nell’s whispering to Sola and Rawley. She would pretend not to hear the secret little conversations, but the way Nell spoke to her pets made it almost believable. The cat and dog would sit motionless, staring at Nell all the while. It infuriated Lexi – who knew it was all a lie, of course. Nell had found a sure-fire way to annoy her, but that was over now.
Villagers wandered away from the peculiar vegetation, muttering and shaking their heads. “Lexi, go inside,” Chase commanded. He pulled the last tangle of vines from the roof and piled them behind the cottage, but
A flat voice startled her from behind. “What are you doing? Everybody’s waiting for you at the table.” Lexi stood on the front doorstep wearing her apron and a cross expression. Nell wondered how long the older girl had been watching. She didn’t get up until her sister went back inside, worried that Lexi would trample the flowers, just to be mean.
The next day Nell woke to the hiss of her father’s cursing. Slipping out of bed, she wandered into the main room where Chase was ramming his shoulder against the front door. “It won’t open,” he breathed, giving the door another push. Nell went to one of the shuttered windows and found it too was locked tight from the outside.
They went through the kitchen where Lexi was just getting up, and tried to force the cottage’s back door. Chase was able to open it wide enough to push through, and Rawley squeezed past next. Pulling her boots on, Nell followed them outside, eager to solve this mystery.
Her hair stood on end when she saw the cottage. Green vines had grown up around it overnight, entwining her home in a thick netting. Worse yet, the oaks and maples towering on either side had all somehow bent their trunks inward, forming a cave of limbs over Nell’s house. The sight of the old trees cloistered together at such an unnatural angle made her mother gasp whenshe came out to see. “How could they grow like that – and in one night?”
The family walked around the tree-domed, ivy-shrouded house, only to find something even more bizarre: intertwined with the vines were several ridiculously large crocus plants – directly outside Nell’s window. They were the very plants she had tended just yesterday. Now they sagged against the thatched roof, huge purple blossoms rimed with frost.
Nell’s father set to work at once cutting the strange vines, but the task was difficult and long. It was as if the ivy on the cottage had been growing unchecked for twenty years. And as for the way the trees bent over the house… there was no explaining that at all. Neighbors assembled, gawking at Nell and her family. None offered to help Chase chop the thick cords: no one wanted to go under the great leaning oaks, or touch the freakish flowers.
The unwanted attention was too much for Lexi. She reared on Nell, exclaiming, “She did it! She put a spell on the house!”
Chase set down his axe. “What’s this rubbish, Alexandra? It’s not Nell’s fault that spring’s sprung on us all at once.” He tried to laugh, but the sound was forced. Like everyone else, the man had been shaken by the sight. What’s more, while the rest of the village had a light layer of snow on it, the grass around the Shoemakers’ cottage was thick and green. It looked as though some wellspring of warmth had enveloped the house overnight. He didn’t understand why this had happened any more than the others, but he wasn’t blaming Nell.
“Well I say she’s cursed!” Lexi shouted. With a dozen other villagers standing just beyond their gate, she leveled her finger accusingly at Nell. “I saw her whispering outside yesterday. She used a troll’s charm to make the flowers grow!”
Nell’s mother gave Lexi a dark look. “Alexandra, that’s enough.”
“And she thinks she can talk to dogs too!” Lexi cried.
If anyone would accuse Nell of witchcraft, it would be her sister. All winter Lexi endured Nell’s whispering to Sola and Rawley. She would pretend not to hear the secret little conversations, but the way Nell spoke to her pets made it almost believable. The cat and dog would sit motionless, staring at Nell all the while. It infuriated Lexi – who knew it was all a lie, of course. Nell had found a sure-fire way to annoy her, but that was over now.
Villagers wandered away from the peculiar vegetation, muttering and shaking their heads. “Lexi, go inside,” Chase commanded. He pulled the last tangle of vines from the roof and piled them behind the cottage, but
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