A Sprinkle of Sorcery
Page 28
‘Where?’ Charlie demanded, pigtails bobbing as she tried to decipher the words. ‘Where does it say “Widdershins”? I can’t see!’
‘Well, it doesn’t,’ Fliss admitted. ‘Granny insisted they keep our names out of the paper, but everyone knows it was us.’
‘Hardly surprising when you and Father have blabbed about it to anyone who’ll listen,’ Betty remarked, sealing up another box of their belongings.
‘Lucky for us we did,’ said Fliss, though she had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. ‘We might’ve waited for ever to sell this place if something exciting hadn’t happened. Now where’s that box I was about to start packing?’
‘I think Oi’s sitting in it,’ said Charlie. ‘Good luck getting him out.’ She scurried upstairs, and moments later the slam of the larder carried down from the kitchen. ‘Has someone packed the jam?’
‘Nope!’ Betty yelled back. ‘You’ve just scoffed it all!’
Then, ‘Has anyone seen Hoppit?’
‘How can anyone see him,’ Fliss exclaimed, ‘when you keep making him invisible?’
There was a silence before Charlie replied, ‘Found him!’
Betty stared out of the window across Nestynook Green. Loud bangs came from outside where, with Spit’s help, Father was changing the FOR SALE sign to one that said SOLD. At least Spit was meant to be helping, but Betty had caught him three times already gazing through the window at Fliss.
‘Reckon he’ll stick around?’ Fliss asked.
‘He will for as long as he can gawp at you,’ said Betty, watching Spit with a rush of fondness. ‘Who knows? Maybe our strange family could be the one he needed all along.’
Next to Hubbards’ sweet shop, Betty spied an impatient-looking Granny with her basket, surrounded by curious neighbours who were pestering her for gossip.
‘I can’t help thinking Charlie knew all along, you know,’ Fliss went on, as she dusted a shelf above the bar. ‘About Willow, and what . . . what she was.’
‘How could she, when Willow didn’t even know?’ Betty recalled with a chill. ‘Charlie says she didn’t.’ The floorboards above creaked as Charlie scampered about upstairs. ‘Reckons she just knew Willow needed help, but . . . perhaps in some way she was aware.’ She shook her head. ‘Nothing scares Charlie, that’s for sure.’
‘Do you think Willow’s all right?’ Fliss asked.
Betty smiled faintly, though it wasn’t without a pang of sadness at the knowledge that they were unlikely to see Willow again. They hadn’t, she thought regretfully, even had the chance to say a proper goodbye – but there was, at least, comfort in knowing she was now with her family. ‘She is now.’ Betty glanced over the newspaper article again, her eyes lingering on the word compensation. ‘Fliss?’ she said softly. ‘The money that we got. You don’t think . . . ?’
The question hung in the air like a feather. They both knew what Betty meant.
‘Five hundred golden Crows is more money than we’ve ever had,’ Fliss said, lowering her voice. (This part, she and Father had kept quiet about.) ‘And probably ever will have. Granny says it’s hush money, but it seems . . . well, a lot.’ She hesitated. ‘I know that without what happened we’d never have received it, but it seems strange that it came to us after . . . after the island.’
‘Untold riches,’ Betty whispered. Had it been the island’s doing? The most money she had ever owned was a couple of silver Ravens. She could probably count on one hand the number of times she had even seen a golden Crow. Now the Widdershins not only had the chance to leave Crowstone for good, but they could do so with money in their pockets.
‘I know Crowstone’s gloomy and all,’ Fliss said quietly, ‘but I’m going to miss this place. Even if it is shabby, it’s home.’ Her eyes glistened suddenly, and she looked away.
Betty stared round at the swept fireplaces, gleaming brass and draughty windows. She nodded. ‘I’ve always moaned about it here, but I’ll miss it, too,’ she conceded. ‘Only here’s the thing: it’s not where you are, but who you’re with that matters. As long as I’m with you, and Charlie, and Granny, and Father, I am home. We all are. But there’ll always be a little piece of us that belongs at the Poacher’s Pocket.’
And of course what Betty meant was the memories they had made there, which could not be swept away with a broom, or glossed over with a lick of paint. The beer glass of flowers they left the new owners eventually wilted and were thrown out, and the note Granny wrote to go with the enormous bunch of keys was pushed to the back of a drawer. But, like memories, other things of the Widdershins remained, out of sight and undiscovered.
Such as a strange old map, hidden under a cobwebbed floorboard with a tarnished coin. It might once have been part of an old childhood game.
Or something else entirely.
Acknowledgements
My biggest thanks must go to my editor, Lucy Rogers, who is wise, patient and just strict enough. I sometimes think you know the Widdershins sisters better than I do. (That was the most stressful game of pass the parcel, ever.)
My agent, Julia Churchill, who is – as ever – a star, and the brilliant team at A.M. Heath who’ve taken the Widdershins on many journeys overseas – thank you!
Laura Hough and Olivia Horrox for the most FANTASTIC sales and marketing work, and the rest of the children’s team at S&S UK, as well as editors Jane Tait, Jenny Glencross and Leena Lane for their sharp eyes and the nitty-gritty.
Melissa Castrillón and Jenny Richards for another dream cover. Swoon. I am SO lucky.
Huge thanks to Tanya Lace, the winner of the competition to name the shipwreck. Your entry, ‘The Sorcerer’s Compass’, was perfect!
Thanks to Alan Milford for kindly and patiently advising me of boating terms. Any mistakes are my own.
I’m massively grateful to all the booksellers, teachers, librarians and bloggers who’ve been so supportive of A Pinch of Magic (and beyond), in particular: Scott Evans, Gavin Hetherington, Liam Owens and Sue Chambers.
Sophie Anderson, Claire Barker, Abi Elphinstone and Emma Carroll: I can’t thank you enough for the speedy reads and kind words.
My family: Theresa for all the Jack-sitting, and the Cat Chat WhatsApp group for letting me bounce ideas, making suggestions and saving my sanity on a daily basis.
Not least, thanks to you, the reader, for following the will-o’-the-wisps and coming on this adventure.
Team Widdershins!
JUMPING JACKDAWS!
Charlie Widdershins’ Favourite Crow Facts:
• Crows are part of the Corvidae family, which includes ravens, magpies, jackdaws and rooks. In folklore they’re often believed to be unlucky.
• Crows are highly intelligent. They can remember faces – and even hold grudges!
• Members of the crow family – such as ravens and magpies – can mimic human speech, just like parrots.
• Crows have been known to leave gifts such as sea glass, buttons and beads, in return for kindness and food. Sometimes these gifts include dead baby birds and crab claws. YUCK!
• A group of crows is called a ‘murder’.
Spooky!
Granny Widdershins’ Superstitions:
• Bad luck comes in threes.
• A black cat crossing your path brings good luck (unless it’s Oi).
• Never stir a pot or cup widdershins (anti-clockwise). Always stir clockwise, in the direction of the sun.
• A spiderweb in a window is a sign money is coming. Don’t sweep it away until the money arrives (and make sure you don’t harm the spider)!
• Never mend clothes while wearing them: to do so is unlucky. You might also end up with a pin in a bad place!
Counting Crows
One for marsh mist
Two for sorrow
Three, you’ll journey far tomorrow
Four for prison
Five for health
Six, the gallows
Seven, wealth
Eight for shipwrecks
Nine for laughter
Ten for happily ever after.
Michelle Harrison lives in Essex and has a son, Jack, and three cats: Marmite, Sorsha and Widdershins.
Her first novel, The Thirteen Treasures, won the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize and was followed by The Thirteen Curses and The Thirteen Secrets. Michelle has since written One Wish, a prequel to The Thirteen Treasures books, The Other Alice, which won the Calderdale Book of the Year Award and A Pinch of Magic, the first of the Widdershins’ adventures.
A Sprinkle of Sorcery is her eighth novel and a sequel to the bestselling A Pinch of Magic.
For more information, visit Michelle’s website:
www.michelleharrisonbooks.com
Also by Michelle Harrison
The Thirteen Treasures
The Thirteen Curses
The Thirteen Secrets
One Wish
The Other Alice
A Pinch of Magic
For older readers
Unrest
First published in Great Britain in 2020 by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
A CBS COMPANY
Text, map and chapter illustrations copyright © 2020 Michelle Harrison
This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
No reproduction without permission.
All rights reserved.
The right of Michelle Harrison to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
PB ISBN 978-1-4711-8386-7
eBook ISBN 978-1-4711-8387-4
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY