A Question of Magic (12 page)

“I'd be happy to teach you,” said Serafina. “I taught my fiancé, Alek.”

“I didn't know you had a fiancé. What is he like?”

“Tall, blond, handsome—”

“Tell me more!”

“He's a blacksmith, like his father, and is so strong! He's very kind, too, and is always helping others. I met him when I was six years old. Some bullies were picking on a younger boy in front of my house. Alek made them stop, although the boys hit him, and his mother scolded him for ruining his clothes. He's very sweet, too. He brings me flowers at least once a week. Is there a boy that you like?”

Dielle nodded. “Danya lives down the street. His father makes very fine pottery and Danya's learning to be a potter, too. You've never seen such gorgeous blue eyes! And his voice!” Dielle sighed and had a faraway look in her eyes. “He sang me a song he'd made up once. It was so beautiful!”

“He sounds very nice,” said Serafina.

“Oh, he is! Don't tell anyone, but he kissed me behind his father's kiln last week. It was my very first kiss and it was wonderful!”

“Really? When Alek gave me my first kiss, neither of us knew what we were doing. It was nice, but we got much better with practice.”

“I like practicing,” said Dielle, and both girls laughed.

“Listen!” Serafina said, going to the cupboard. “If you want to learn to read and write, we can start now. I
don't know how long I'll be here, but I'll give you a lesson every time you visit. I have an extra quill I can give you. Here's a little pot of ink and some parchment. I'll show you how to write the alphabet and you can practice at home.”

“Can you show me how to write my name first? Mother would be so pleased!”

“Of course!” said Serafina. The two girls bent over the parchment until Boris announced that another visitor was at the gate. When Dielle left, Serafina gave her what food she could spare, wishing she had more to give. She was reluctant to see her friend go.

Although Dielle's visit had cheered Serafina, talking about Alek had made her miss him more than ever. Once again she had a restless night and woke the next morning tired and sluggish. She ate her breakfast and went about her morning chores wondering if Dielle would come to see her that day. By midmorning, when she hadn't had any visitors at all, she decided that she couldn't stand being inside for another minute.

Taking the empty firewood basket, Serafina set off for the nearby forest to search for firewood and kindling. She had collected a good supply when she noticed a hole in a tree trunk much like the one in Mala Kapusta where Alek left his notes. A soft sigh escaped her when
she thought of Alek. She was startled when a voice spoke to her and a woman only as tall as her shoulder appeared.

“What is wrong, child?” the woman asked.

Serafina expected to answer in her Baba Yaga voice and was astonished when she didn't. Her feelings must have shown on her face because the woman laughed and said, “Don't look so surprised. I asked my first question of a Baba Yaga long ago.”

“Who are you?” Serafina asked. The little woman's face was exotic looking, with deep green, slanted eyes and a bow-shaped mouth. Her softly curling hair was a lighter green and hung all the way to the ground, draping across her shoulders and nearly covering her yellow gown.

“I'm the fairy Summer Rose,” the woman said. “I've been watching you off and on since the day you became the new Baba Yaga. I wanted to see how you would deal with the responsibility. I thought you were doing very well, considering, but you've seemed distraught lately.”

Serafina's heart leaped in her chest. Here was someone who wanted to know how she felt and might actually be able to help her! She felt as if a wall were breaking inside her as all the confusion over Alek poured out in a flood of hopes and fears. She told the fairy about how
much she and Alek loved each other, of the plans they'd shared, and how those plans had been dashed the night she went to collect her inheritance. The fairy seemed to know all about the responsibilities of a Baba Yaga and even had some things to tell Serafina.

“There wouldn't be a Baba Yaga if a crazy witch by that name hadn't lied to a fairy long ago. The fairy got so angry that she cursed the witch, making her answer truthfully to the first question anyone asked her. It didn't take long for Baba Yaga to tire of answering questions, especially when she saw how doing so made her grow older and none of her own magic could make her any younger. She dug up skulls and bones to make a fence that would scare people off. When that didn't work, she resorted to killing her visitors. It was her magic that made the skulls talk and stay with her when the cottage moved. She was the cat's first owner and made him talk, too, so he could be her spy.”

“She sounds like a dreadful person!” exclaimed Serafina. “What happened to her?”

“She grew older with each question and finally died of old age, a much kinder end than she gave to her victims. The old witch's final cruelty was to pass on the curse to her last visitor, a young woman who had come to ask a question despite the danger.”

“So the young woman became the next Baba Yaga?”

“She did, indeed. The witch couldn't end the curse, but she could add to it. She made sure that others would inherit the job. Unlike her, they would all be innocent and pure of heart: the people she hated the most.”

“And the blue rose tea?” asked Serafina.

“I took pity on the innocents the witch cursed,” said the fairy. “I told the new Baba Yaga that drinking the tea would return her to the age she would have been if the curse hadn't aged her. Each Baba Yaga was supposed to pass the knowledge on to the next, but things have gotten a bit jumbled over the years.”

“Were you the fairy the witch lied to—the one who put the curse on her?”

Summer Rose nodded. “I've never been able to abide liars.”

“Thank you for telling me all this. The cat doesn't like answering questions, and that book tells me very little.”

“The book was just meant to get the new Baba Yaga started. It was never supposed to tell you what to do once you were able to figure things out for yourself. As for the cat, he has a mind of his own. He'll help you only if he wants to, and even then you might not always
consider him very helpful. I wish I could help you more, but I'm going away now and I'm not sure when I'll be back.” The fairy smiled and patted Serafina's arm. “I just wanted to say that you shouldn't be discouraged and that I think you should see your Alek. Everyone needs a little encouragement now and then.”

Serafina practically flew into the cottage. She'd made up her mind; she'd brew a cup of blue rose tea, drink it, then tell the cottage to return to Mala Kapusta, where she'd wait for Alek to show up even if there was fighting going on. The thought of seeing him again was enough to make her smile. Humming to herself, she put the kettle on to boil and did a little dance step as she carried the clay jar holding the blue rose tea from the cupboard to the table. She was turning to check on the water when she heard Boris shout. Before she could get to the door, it banged open and five men dressed in homespun clothes barged into the cottage, nearly filling the room.

The men moved aside as the roughest-looking one drew closer, almost stepping on Maks, who was standing, back arched and hissing, between him and Serafina.
When the man drew back his foot as if to kick the cat, Serafina scooped up the animal, holding him out of the man's way.

“We're here to get some questions answered,” the man snarled, looking down his long, narrow nose at her. Serafina's eyes were drawn to his mouth, where a scar crossed both of his lips. When Serafina didn't say anything, he said in a louder voice, “Answer me, girl. Are you Baba Yaga or not?”

The cat stopped squirming to turn his green-eyed gaze on Serafina's face. “I am Baba Yaga,” she answered in her Baba Yaga voice.

“Is it true that you have to answer our questions with the truth?” asked a short man with a bright red burn mark on his face.

“I must answer the first question you ask me with the truth,” Serafina said, aware that they'd now wasted two questions.

“What do you mean, the first question?” asked the leader.

“Maybe it means she's not going to answer any others,” said the man with the burn.

“I don't need your help,” his leader told him, cuffing the back of the shorter man's head. “So tell me,” the man said to Serafina. “How can I break into the home of
Master Vasylko Demidas, the richest man in the kingdom, so that I might steal his gold?”

Serafina wasn't surprised that he was a thief or that he would ask such an unsavory question. “Actually, you already asked me a question. I'm not able to answer more than one for each person.”

She flinched when he grabbed her arm and shook her. Maks hissed and swiped at the man with his paw, missing only because Serafina jerked him back out of reach.

“I didn't ask you a question yet!” the scarred man shouted in her face.

“Yes, you did,” said the shorter man. “You asked her if she was Baba Yaga.”

“That doesn't count. It wasn't the question I came here to ask.”

“It doesn't matter,” Serafina said as she tried to pull away. “Whatever you ask first is the only question I'll be able to answer.”

“Really?” said the leader. “I bet you'll tell me with a little persuasion.”

Serafina gasped when the man twisted her arm behind her, and pain shot through her shoulder. Maks wiggled in her other arm and she loosened her grip. With a loud yowl, the cat launched himself at the man's
face, swiping with his front claws before dropping to the floor.

“Run, Maks!” Serafina shouted as the man let go of her to clap his hands to the long scratches striping both sides of his face. Blood dripped from his cheeks as he tried to grab the cat, who fled out the door.

“I'll kill you and your blasted cat!” the man snarled, pulling a long-bladed knife from its sheath.

He was coming at her with his dagger ready when two of his men stepped between them, blocking his way. “Don't kill her!” said one. “We get questions, too! You kill her and we won't be able to ask them!”

The man glared at his companions as if deciding whether he should kill them as well. Looking frantically around, Serafina was trying to come up with a way to break free when the man shoved his dagger in its sheath. “Ask your questions; then one of you can take care of her,” he said, and stomped out the door.

Serafina didn't think that her chances looked very good. There were still four men in the cottage, and she'd already answered a question for the shorter man with the burned face. That meant she would answer three questions, and then they would kill her. She could tell the house to go, but the men would still be in the cottage, unless …

The men were arguing with one another, vying to be the first to ask her a question, when she made her way to the bed and sat down. She wished she could warn the cat, but he was outside, probably hiding from the angry man. Two of the thieves were standing by the door when Serafina said in a loud voice, “Chicken hut, chicken hut, take me away from here, and be rough!”

The house stood so quickly that Serafina's stomach felt as if it had plummeted to the ground. She grabbed hold of the bed frame as the cottage tilted from side to side. The two men by the door fell out, screaming, while the other two tumbled to the floor and slid from one side of the room to the other. One man reached for the table leg and had almost gotten a grip on it when the cottage lurched to the other side. He slid across the floor, scrabbling at the floorboards, even as a violent wind carried the skulls through the doorway. They snapped at the man on their way past, and he covered his head with his arms. Unable to stop himself, he flew out the opening, screaming. The man with the burned face was the last thief in the cottage. Despite the floor angling under him, he was able to get to his feet for a moment before the bones clattered through the doorway, hitting him like clubs and shoving him toward the threshold. He
fell, thrashing his arms and legs, while the wind flung the yowling cat past him into the cottage.

When the door slammed shut behind the last man, Serafina sat up on the bed. “More gently now, please, house,” she called out, and the cottage settled down to its usual amble.

“Clever girl,” said Maks, rubbing against her side. He started purring when she scratched him behind the ears.

“I wish I'd thought of it sooner,” Serafina told him. “Those were terrible men! And just look at this mess!”

A cup had broken and the pitcher holding fresh wild-flowers lay in shards on the floor. What she found most distressing, however, was that the clay jar that held the blue rose tea was gone. She searched the cottage and eventually found the jar under the bed, but it was empty and the cork was missing.

“Maybe there's more in the cupboard,” she muttered to herself as she picked up the empty jar. Though she examined every container on every shelf, she couldn't find any more blue rose tea.