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If I kill the other, twill be the perfect revenge.
I look away, eyes filling with tears. She will kill me. It
is all over. But I cannot let that happen. I swallow my tears
and turn to her. Good fairy, I am sorry for your misfor-
tune. My father was, indeed, wrong to accuse you in such
a way. It was cruel.
The old woman nods. Aye, it was. And it is for that
reason that I must seek justice.
But killing me for my father s cruelty is not justice. Can
you not see that? I allow the tears to run down my cheeks
and implore her. I am not my father. To kill me would be
just as great an injustice as was done to you. Please do not
do this.
I wait for her response. She starts to speak, then stops
and looks down. Finally, after a long while, she says, You
had best return to your sewing.
I do, wishing that I might have a quantity of seed pearls
to sew on, to prolong the job. But, of course, I do not ask.
It is no use. It is no use.
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Chapter 43:
Jack
j
e get into Euphrasia at high noon, with Dad wearing
Wdress shoes and carrying a briefcase and a laptop. The
hedge is a lot smaller, so it s easier to push through. But I see
Dad s eyes get big when he sees the place. It looks even more
like Colonial Williamsburg than before. Now there are a
bunch of people in old-fashioned clothes doing old-fashioned
things like watering horses. The plants are still dead and the
paint is still faded, but the people are alive.
I didn t believe you, Dad says. I thought I was indulg-
ing you.
I know.
It s amazing. All this . . . for three hundred years.
We walk farther until we come to the castle. My dad s
trying to check his BlackBerry when I hear a voice cry,
There he is!
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And another. Seize him!
And soon, two meaty hands are clenched around my
neck while another guy grabs my arms.
Hey! my dad yells. Hey! What s going on here?
This is the villain who has taken my daughter, the
king says. Tell me where she is.
Here we go again. I don t have her. Please! I came to
help you look for her.
We already went to the cottage on the highest hill. She
was not there.
You went already? You know, it s kind of hard to talk
with this gorilla holding my neck. Any chance he could not
do that?
The king gestures to the guard to let go of me, which
he does slowly.
I say, Did you go to Malvolia s cottage yourself ?
Of course not. I cannot climb hills. I have henchmen
to do that for me.
I look at the henchman. Hey, aren t you the same guy
who was guarding the dungeon the day I escaped?
The guy nods sheepishly.
You did a great job then. Is it possible you missed
something when you went to the cottage?
Nay. Cuthbert here was with me, and he ll tell you
there was naught in that cottage. Right, Cuthbert?
They exchange a look. Right.
And you searched the whole cottage, Pleasant? the
king asks.
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Pleasant?
Yes, sire, Pleasant says.
From top to bottom?
Aye, the smaller one, Cuthbert, says.
Even the cellar? the king asks.
Nay, there was no cellar, Pleasant says. But we looked
in all the closets.
They looked, the king says. And now there are more
men out, visiting every house in Euphrasia. I will leave no
stone unturned in the quest for my daughter.
Then let me go, too. I want to look for Talia. You could
send these guys with me.
The two guards don t seem too happy about the idea
of going out again, but they can t exactly say that, so they
just grunt.
The king looks at me and Travis, obviously seeing two
able-bodied guys who can help look for his daughter, and
says, Very well. If there is anything you can do, I will not
stop you. I only want to see Talia again. I said . . . He looks
away. I said horrible things to her. I do not want to go on
living if I cannot set them right. And you . . . He glances
at Dad. You will stay with me, as assurance that they will
return.
And so Travis, Cuthbert, Pleasant, and I go to look for
Talia.
328
Chapter 44:
alia
T
j
he bodice is finished, and Malvolia s design for the skirt
Tis quite plain. It will be short work. My life may end
tomorrow, or tonight. I gaze out the window at the night
sky, at the stars which are brighter in Euphrasia than any-
where with electric lights. I try to sew slowly. A tear falls
from my eye. I use the strip of silk which I have secreted in
my waistband to wipe it away. It is hard to believe I once
so wanted a dress like this. Now I shall have it, but at what
cost?
Keep working, Malvolia says.
I sigh, then return the fabric to the waistline of my
pants against future tears. I begin to sew the skirt, using
even more minuscule stitches.
I have decided something, Malvolia says after a time.
What is that? I say, although I dare not hope she has
329
decided to let me go.
I have decided not to kill you. Tis not your fault that
your father was unjust to me, any more than Baby George s
death was my fault. Twould be wrong for me to kill you.
So I may go? I almost drop my needle from joy.
Thank you!
No. It will not do to let you go. But I will give you a
chance at life.
A chance?
You almost fulfilled the terms of my curse. You slept
three hundred years, and you were awakened by a kiss. But
I am less certain than you that twas love s first kiss. After
all, the young man did not wish to marry you.
People do not marry at sixteen in the twenty-first
century.
Ah, that is true indeed, Malvolia says. In this cen-
tury, everyone thinks they are going to be something called
a rock star. But it does make it harder to say, They lived
happily ever after. So I have decided on a test.
A test?
Aye. I will finish this dress, for you are the slowest
seamstress I have ever encountered.
I went slowly on purpose, so you would not kill me!
. . . and after I have finished it, you shall wear it, and I
shall prick your finger with a spindle.
Again? I am not pleased with this turn of events.
Again. You will fall asleep, and I will place an enchant-
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