The Secret Janara
Page 1
VIKING
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
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New York, New York 10014
First published in the United States of America by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2019
Text copyright © 2019 by John Bemelmans Marciano
Illustrations copyright © 2019 by Sophie Blackall
Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA.
Names: Marciano, John Bemelmans, author. | Blackall, Sophie, illustrator. Title: The secret Janara / written by John Bemelmans Marciano ; illustratedby Sophie Blackall.
Description: New York : Viking publisihed by Penguin Group, [2019] | Series: The witches of Benevento ; 6 | Summary: Primo finds a clue to the identity of the secret Janara, a bottle of the oil that a Janara needs to transform, but what will he do with the knowledge?
Identifiers: LCCN 2018036115 (print) | LCCN 2018041980 (ebook) | ISBN 9780425291559 (ebook) | ISBN 9780425291542 (hardback)
Subjects: | CYAC: Witches—Fiction. | Magic—Fiction. | Fantasy. | BISAC:
JUVENILE FICTION / Fantasy & Magic. | JUVENILE FICTION / Imagination &
Play. | JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General. Classification: LCC PZ7.M328556 (ebook) | LCC PZ7.M328556 Sec 2019 (print) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018036115
Version_1
To Paola Caruso
—J.B.M. and S.B.
CONTENTS
OPENING NOTE
MAP OF BENEVENTO
BEFORE WE BEGIN
1 Stronga
2 The Contest
3 The Head of Diana
4 To Trap a Witch
5 The Janara Is
6 Who's the Donkey Brains Now?
7 Goaded But Not Yet Toaded
8 Conversation with a Monster
9 A Chapter You Really Shouldn't Read
CLOSING NOTE
10 Coda
HERE’S HOW THEY LIVED: TIME
HISTORICAL NOTE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There’s this boy—you know the kind—who always has to be the center of attention. He’s the sort who thinks the entire world revolves around him. Or that it should.
He wants to be great. He wants to be a HERO.
But can he even be the hero of his own tale?
This boy dreams and he schemes, and schemes and he dreams.
But what happens when he realizes that none of his dreams will ever come true?
And then what happens when—even worse—one of them DOES?
Let’s have a look, shall we?
YOUR
EVER-VIGILANT VIRGIL,
SIGISMUNDO
THE Twins’ mom is having the baby.
And it’s going to ruin the whole plan!
The plan being raiding the garden of the Crones and picking it clean. For revenge!
Those rotten Crones are always ordering things from the stand and not paying. And why?
“The tomatoes were bruised!” they say, or, “The eggs were cracked!” And they always blame it on Primo, saying he’s too reckless with the deliveries. Which is almost never true!
But now the Twins are running off, and—uh-oh—one of the shutters in the Crones’ house slams open! It’s the tall skinny one—the one who always stiffs them.
They’re gonna get caught! Or Sergio is, anyway. He’s stuck inside the garden. Primo hops down off the tree to the top of the wall and runs to get Maria Beppina.
At least he can save her.
1
STRONGA
RIGHT now, Primo’s father is reciting.
“It was ten thousand years ago. The great Diomedes traveled far and wide until he came to the place where the rivers Sabato and Calore join. The hero stopped and said, This is the most beautiful land I have ever seen, and I have traveled the world lo these many years since leaving Troy. I shall found a city here, and I shall name it BENEVENTO! And then he took out the Golden Tusk of the Calydonian Boar that he had killed and planted it on this very spot!”
Maria Beppina and Isidora clap, and Primo too.
Not Uncle Tommaso, though.
“No no no, that’s all wrong!”he says, exasperated by Poppa’s ad-libbing. “First off, the tusk wasn’t made of gold—the trophy is made of gold. Fake gold! And Diomedes didn’t kill the boar! Atalanta and Meleager did.”
“How do you know?” Primo’s poppa says. “It’s not like you were there!”
The eyes of Maria Beppina’s father look about ready to explode out of his head.
“I don’t need to have been there! It’s history! History!”
“Ah, you can have your history! No one cares!” Poppa says. “It’s all about the story. Drama—that’s what the people want!”
What Poppa and Uncle Tommaso are arguing over is the Great Pageant of Diomedes and the Founding of Benevento, the play that gets presented right before the Boar Hunt.
The Feast of the Boar is the main festival of the Triggio. The boar is the symbol of Benevento, because of how Diomedes brought the tusk of the Calydonian Boar here. The Calydonian Boar was this terrible monster that terrorized Greece, and all the ancient heroes like Jason and Theseus got together and hunted it, which is the inspiration for the Boar Hunt—the most awesome thing that ever happens in the Triggio.
At least, this is what Primo thinks. For Poppa, the most awesome thing is this pageant. He never wanted to win the Golden Tusk when he was a boy like all the other fathers—he wanted to act in the play. He started helping when he was Primo’s age, and now he is the star, stage builder, and director of the show. Uncle Tommaso is the other main actor and the scene painter. Primo helps with the building, while Isidora and Maria Beppina make the costumes.
“And it only happened two thousand seven hundred years ago, not ten thousand!” Uncle Tommaso says.
Poppa rolls his eyes. “Two thousand seven hundred? That’s such a complicated, boring number! Who even knows what it means? Now ten thousand—that is dramatic!”
The most dramatic thing, however, is just about to happen.
“So here is where you all are!”
It’s Momma. She’s in a fury—even by Momma standards.
“I just walked by the stand and it’s not open!” she says, walking up onto the stage so she can yell directly at Poppa. “How will we make money? How will we eat!”
“But it’s the pageant!” Poppa says, as if that were explanation enough.
But it’s not. Not for Momma, anyway.
She tells Primo to come open the stand with her.
“Hey, no fair!” Primo says. “Why does Isidora get to stay and I have to work?”
But as usual, no one pays any attention to what Primo wants. As Momma drags him away, Isidora gives him a wave and a wicked grin.
Big sisters are the worst.
When they get to the stand, Emilio is there waiting.
“Hey, where were you this morning?” Emilio says to Primo. “Dino and I came to drop off the de
liveries, but no one was here.”
Emilio and Dino—not Rosa. Ever since the baby was born, Rosa has to stay home and help her momma take care of it, so now Dino comes with the cart. Primo will never admit it, but it’s less fun not having Rosa come around.
Primo tells them how his mom dragged him away from helping with the pageant, but that he doesn’t really care.
“I mean, who cares about a dumb play when this year we get to be in the Boar Hunt!”
They are finally old enough to enter the contest—this is the moment Primo has been waiting for his whole life! Whoever manages to capture the boar in the arena wins the Golden Tusk—the trophy—and becomes famous forever! People still talk about how the Twins’ dad won it. And Primo’s own uncle Beppe!
“Tomorrow is the sign-up!” Primo says to Emilio. “It’s fan-tas-tic!”
“Yeah, fantastic,” Emilio mumbles, and says he has to go.
As Primo and Momma open the stand—setting up the table, laying out the produce—he daydreams about how he is going to win the contest. He has a plan, too.
He’ll volunteer to go first. That way, no one else will get the chance to catch the boar before he does! That’s smart.
Primo also has heard that Janara and spirits can influence who wins, so he’s been working on a special spell for his magic ring. First he kisses it, and then he says:
O ring of the Manalonga!
May your power make me stronga!
So I can catch that big, bad boar
And be the champ forevermore!
Pretty great, right?
Suddenly, Primo has the feeling that someone is standing right behind him.
“I need to talk to you . . .” a voice croaks.
Primo turns, and it’s the Crone—the one who discovered them! She looms over him menacingly.
She is about to say something, when:
“You!” Momma comes over and shakes a finger in the Crone’s face. “You are a thief, as far as I’m concerned! Taking things and not paying for them and blaming my poor son!”
“But I—” the Crone says.
“I am sick and tired of you and your sisters and everyone else in this town taking advantage of our family’s good nature!”
“But I—” the Crone says.
“Enough of your buts!” Momma says. “Don’t you understand? Your business is no longer welcome here! Now leave!”
The Crone, looking cowed, gathers up her shawl under her chin and walks back down the hill.
Primo is relieved. Manalonga and Crones are scary, but mothers—they’re the most terrifying beings of all!
2
THE CONTEST
“HOLD still!” Isidora says. “Can’t you quit fidgeting for one instant while I finish sewing?”
No, he can’t. How can Primo possibly stay still when today is the day? The day of all days! The day he finally gets to compete in the great Hunt of the Boar! The day he—
“OW!” Primo yelps. Isidora stuck him with the needle. “Hey! You did that on purpose!”
“Oh no, it was an accident,” Isidora says with wide innocent eyes. Then she looks at Maria Beppina and they both burst into laughter.
“Yeah, yeah, very funny!” Primo says. “But you can’t ruin my mood today. Or how awesome I look in my costume!”
All the boys in the Boar Hunt have to dress like the ancient heroes. Isidora made Primo’s outfit for him, which was pretty nice of her. Not that Primo could ever bring himself to thank her.
“How awesome you look in my costume, you mean,” Isidora says. “But wait till you see the one I made for Rosa. It puts yours to shame!”
Rosa! Primo is furious at her. She entered the Boar Hunt! How dare she? Everybody knows the contest is only for boys!
It doesn’t matter though. Primo is going to beat her. He’s going to beat everyone!
“Girls!” Poppa says, bursting into the house with Uncle Tommaso. He looks frantic; Uncle looks exhausted.
“Here you are! I’ve been searching for you everywhere! Don’t you know we’ve been up all night working on the pageant?” Poppa says. “We need to get our costumes on. Let’s go!”
As the rest leave, Nonna Jovanna comes over to Primo.
“Look how handsome you are!” she says, pinching his cheek. “Just like my Beppe! I had a dream last night that you won that Golden Tusk, just like he did!”
Primo fixes his laurel crown and goes outside. “Hey, Sergio!” he hollers across the street. “You coming?”
He still can’t believe it, but Sergio entered the contest, too. Rosa he can understand, but Sergio? Of course, Sergio has been acting all strange lately, like he’s someone else. Someone brave. He’s become a lot more fun, but also kind of annoying.
“Are you ready to lose?” Sergio says, walking out of his house. He makes a muscle, showing off. Not that there’s much to show. “I’m gonna lift up that Golden Tusk with one hand!”
Make that super annoying.
They head over to the steps of the church of the Theater where all the contestants are gathering. The blacksmith’s kid is already there, and so is Mozzo. Then Rosa shows up.
“Are you ready to lose?” Rosa says.
“Yeah, yeah,” Primo says. “Sergio already used that line.”
“Really?” Rosa says. And shrugs.
They take their places for the procession, but it takes forever to get moving. But then when it starts to happen, it’s really happening! Primo can hardly believe it.
The drums! The horns! The parade begins! They start to march. People lining the street cheer the contestants on, and it’s like all the cheering is for him! Primo!
The procession ends in the central arena of the Theater. Primo is ready for the hunt, but first there’s the whole pageant thing. It’s so boring! And after that comes a long speech that is even more boring, and then Sergio’s stepdad explains the rules of the hunt. Like everybody doesn’t know them already!
Each contestant gets a turn to try to capture the boar. One turn lasts as long as it takes for the water to drip out of a hanging jug. When the time jug is empty, the horn blows and the next contestant goes. If no one captures the boar in the first round, the turns start over again.
Before the Town Crier can even ask for the first volunteer, Primo has his hand up. “Me! Me! Me!” he yells.
And he gets picked!
His heart is beating so fast it’s like it’s going to pop out of his chest.
He kisses his magic ring and says his spell. O ring of the Manalonga! May your power make me stronga!
All the other boys—and Rosa—move back into the crowd, behind the barrels that rim the arena to protect the crowd.
Suddenly, Primo feels very alone.
Except he’s not alone.
The boar is staring at him from across the Theater, its tusks rattling the bars of its cage.
The horn blares!
The gate opens!
The boar is OUT!
Primo holds the coiled rope in his left hand and the loop in his right. He charges up to the boar, but now the boar is charging up to HIM. He tosses the loop at the beast. And misses!
Primo stops, skidding in the dry dirt and kicking up dust, and starts running the other way. Now the boar is almost on him and he whips at the animal with his rope!
The boar grunts and sits down.
Everyone in the Theater laughs.
Why are they laughing?
Then Primo realizes:
The boar is going cacca!
This is Primo’s big chance!
Moving forward, he holds out the looped end of the rope, ready to collar the boar. He’s close—so close! And just when he’s ready to slip it around the animal’s neck . . .
The boar stands up and charges right at him! Primo runs the other way, ju
st ahead of the boar’s tusks! Now he’s getting chased around in circles, and everyone in the Theater is laughing again.
He leaps up onto the stage, ripping his costume in the process, but at least he’s out of the way of the boar and he can plan what to do next and—
BLAAANH!
It’s the horn.
His turn is over.
Over!
How can it have all happened so quickly?
And why is everyone still laughing?
Primo is humiliated!
“Nice try, son,” Poppa says, patting him on the back. He’s still on the stage, in his Diomedes costume.
Having to watch everyone else go is torture.
The only good thing is that none of them—not Biaso, not Ceruzzo, not even little Efi—do any better than he did. Sergio is up next, and Primo is worried that he—being suddenly brave and all—is somehow going to win. But he does not.
He goes charging right up to the boar and—POW!—gets rammed and tossed up in the air by one of the boar’s tusks.
OUCH!
“He’ll be okay,” Poppa says as Sergio gets carried out of the arena. When the hunt starts back up, all the contestants are running scared from the boar. None of them wants to get gored!
Primo starts to feel better. He’s got a chance! It doesn’t look like anyone will catch the boar in the first round.
Now Mozzo goes. His older brother won the contest last year and it’s like he told him some kind of secret, because almost immediately Mozzo has the boar pinned. In fact, it looks like he’s going to win—but then the boar takes off, dragging him behind until Mozzo faceplants into the pile of boar dung. Hah! The whole crowd roars with laughter. This is great!
Only Rosa is left to go. If she can’t catch the boar, it will be Primo’s turn again! And now that the boar is all tired out, he’ll definitely be able to catch it. And no one will be laughing then. They’ll be cheering!