Read Online Wormwood Gate by Katherine Farmar - Free Book Online Page A

raise her hand.
    â€˜That’s that sorted,’ said the face. ‘Good night, so. And good luck.’ The window closed, somehow, and the curtains closed behind it, leaving the two of them alone on the windowsill.
    â€˜Well,’ said Aisling, ‘that was strange.’
    â€˜Oh,’ said Julie, ‘“head of the house”. I get it now.’
    Aisling laughed. ‘Me too! God, that’s awful. Is this place run on puns or something?’
    Julie grimaced. ‘I hope not. Like something out of a Piers Anthony novel.’
    â€˜You’ve read Piers Anthony?’
    â€˜Yes. Why, have you?’
    â€˜Well … no. I’m just surprised that you have.’
    â€˜You don’t actually know me that well,’ said Julie, a note of bitterness in her voice that gave Aisling a strange pang. ‘Anyway,’ she said briskly, ‘let’s get going.’
    The rest of their climb was conducted in a silence punctuated only by grunts and pants and the occasional muttered swearword. When they got to the roof, Julie lay back against the sloping slate tiles and stared up at the sky. Aisling sat down beside her. From here, she could see the stars, and they looked different; she tried to pick out constellations, but she couldn’t see them – not even Orion, which was always the easiest to see when it was in season. The stars seemed to have been sprinkled randomly on the sky, like hundreds-and-thousands on a cake. They were thickly and evenly spread – much more so than in the night sky she was used to – but they didn’t seem to form any patterns. Nothing to navigate by, even for a migrating bird.
    A discouraging thought occurred to her.
    â€˜It’s just struck me,’ she said, panting, ‘if it turns out that the queen’s guards can fly, this whole exercise will have been a wasted effort.’
    Julie slapped Aisling’s arm half-heartedly. ‘Don’t be so negative! We’ll never get back with that kind of attitude.’
    â€˜I’m just pointing out possibilities. Give me my boots back.’
    Julie handed her the boots, and Aisling set to untangling the laces.
    â€˜Were you a Girl Guide or something, Julie? This knot is ridiculous.’
    â€˜My dad sails,’ said Julie. ‘He taught me how to tie knots when I was a kid. Proper knots that won’t come undone with a tug.’
    â€˜I wish this one would come undone with a tug. Or that I’d brought that candle up with me.’
    â€˜Don’t be stupid. How could you climb with a candlestick in your hand?’
    â€˜How can I untie this knot when I can barely see the laces? Wait – hold on a second – aha! Victory is mine!’
    The knot came undone and the boots fell to the roof with a thump.
    â€˜Those things are so complicated,’ said Julie as Aisling was putting them back on. ‘I don’t know why you bother with them.’
    â€˜And I suppose your hair just looks like that when you get out of bed in the morning, and your eyelids are naturally purple?’
    â€˜Point.’ Julie rolled over on her side, which looked uncomfortable. ‘But why go to so much effort to look weird? Do you like people staring at you?’
    â€˜Depending on who I’m hanging out with, I can be the most normal person in the room.’
    â€˜I doubt that.’
    â€˜I know a guy who had his tongue split.’
    Julie sat bolt upright. ‘Seriously?’ She looked like she was about to vomit.
    Aisling laughed. ‘No, but I know somebody who knows a guy who had his tongue split. I promise you, I may be the weirdest person you know, but I am not the weirdest person I know. Not by a long shot.’
    â€˜I was right, then.’
    â€˜About what?’
    â€˜You do dress like that to fit in with your spookykid mates.’
    Aisling could feel her cheeks warming up. ‘Maybe,’ she muttered. ‘I mean, that’s not all