A Question of Magic (16 page)

Serafina thought about telling the old man that she had no control over the answers she gave and that the gift was more a courtesy than a payment, but she didn't think she wanted everyone to know that. She depended on the gifts, and the more she thought about it, the more she thought they really were payments of a sort. If Baba Yaga didn't receive something when she answered questions, she might avoid people so she wouldn't age, an idea that Serafina found very appealing.

She realized now how much her hopes had been tied to the old man's answer. She'd thought someone might have seen blue roses in a faraway market, or someone might have known someone else whose cousin had them growing in her garden. Hearing him say that no one knew anything about them made her hope melt like a patch of ice on a warm day. Without the tea, her ever-aging body would probably die of old age before the fairy Summer Rose returned.

“Thank you for asking around,” she said, her heart so heavy that she found it difficult to breathe.

The old man shrugged. “I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful.”

Serafina glanced toward the window, wondering how soon she could tell the house to leave, then turned back to the old man when he suddenly leaned toward her, squinting.

“What's wrong?” she asked, his close scrutiny making her uncomfortable.

“My eyes must be failing me,” he replied. “You look a lot older than I thought you did the other day. I could have sworn that you were my age, but now … How old are you, if you don't mind my asking?”

Serafina struggled to her feet, her mind made up. “I'm a lot younger than I look.”

“Well, you look a lot older than me. About that proposal …”

“Don't worry,” she told him, taking him by the elbow so she could hustle him to the door. “I don't plan to marry you. If I were you, I'd hurry home. It's time I was on my way, and you don't want to be in my yard when I leave.”

Although Serafina usually preferred to wait until dark to tell the cottage to move, this time she couldn't bring herself to wait that long. The most she could do was watch through the window until the old man was out of sight before calling in Maks and taking a few items from the cupboard. She was sitting at the table when she told the cottage, “Chicken hut, chicken hut, take me to Mala Kapusta and walk gently. My body is getting too frail for this kind of thing.”

Maks braced himself as the cottage stood. When the floor was fairly level again, he strolled to Serafina's side and rubbed against her leg, purring. She didn't respond, so he jumped onto her lap and nudged her arm with his head. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“Something I should have done long before this.” Scowling at a teardrop on the parchment, she thought about what she wanted to say. It took her nearly an hour to write the letter, and the cat stayed in her lap
purring the entire time. When Serafina finally finished the note, she sat back to read it while the ink dried.

Dear Alek,

You mean so much to me, but I can't share your hope and expectations. We aren't meant to be together. I have run out of the blue rose tea that keeps me young and can't find any more. My body has aged so much that I can't have long to live. I love you and always will, but do not look for me. Go live your life without me. I'm sure you will meet someone else to love someday.

Love,

Fina

There were so many other things that Serafina had wanted to say, yet she couldn't bring herself to say them. She wanted to tell Alek that she was devastated, that she would love him forever, that she really didn't want him to find someone else to love but because she loved him she wanted him to be happy, even if it meant he would love someone else. Her tears were flowing freely when she finished the letter, but she was careful to keep them from falling on the parchment.

It was midafternoon when the cottage reached Mala
Kapusta, but Serafina didn't care who saw her. Before the cottage had finished settling to the ground, she told the skulls and bones not to bother making the fence because they wouldn't be there long, but they didn't listen and flew out the door, forming the fence even as she hurried across the road. Two letters and a fresh bouquet were waiting for her in the hole in the tree. One letter was from Alek, the other from her father. After shoving her own letter into the hole, she made her way back across the road and climbed onto her bed to let herself have a good cry. “Chicken hut, chicken hut, take me somewhere far from any towns or villages,” she told the cottage. She didn't bother to tell it to be gentle.

A few hours later, with her tears dried and her curiosity growing stronger, she finally opened the letter from her father.

My darling daughter,

I'm writing to you because Alek says he has a way to get letters to you. He has also told us what happened to you. Your mother thinks her grandmother really did have a sister named Sylanna, but we are still angry that we were deceived like that. To think that a member of our own family would trick us about an inheritance!
As for Viktor, everyone was furious when we learned that he let you go into the cottage alone. Your mother hasn't spoken to him since.

We worry about you, but Alek assures us that you are well. The widow Zloto comes by every day to ask if we've had any word of you. Your mother thinks we should invite her to move in, she is here so often. I don't know if I could survive that much chatter!

Ah—our big news! Three days after you left for Mala Kapusta, your sister Alina gave birth to a healthy baby boy. We were thrilled, although our joy would have been greater if you had been here with us to welcome him to our family. Your mother and I think he looks like Alina did as a baby, but Widow Zloto insists he looks like her brother-in-law did when he turned ninety-five.

Everything is going well with my work. I have a new apprentice, but he is clumsy and has fallen off a ladder twice. Perhaps I should help him find a safer career that does not involve ladders.

Your mother and I worry about you day and night, but especially about your travels through Vargas while it is at war with Khrebek. Alek is
also worried and has been trying to find a way to free you of being Baba Yaga. I do what I can to help him, although I am no longer a young man. Be assured that none of us will rest until we have brought you home again.

Love,

Your father

The other letter was from Alek.

Fina,

I thought it might help keep your spirits up to hear the news from home, so here it is. I finished the sword and even my father says it is the best work I have ever done. Now Sir Ganya wants me to make another just like it as a gift for his brother.

I think you'll be interested to hear that my father is suddenly the most eligible bachelor in town. Since my mother's death, Father hasn't looked at another woman. That does not mean that they have not been looking at him. Now, after three years, they all seem to think that he is fair game. The butcher's sister has been bringing Father fine cuts of meat. The tailor's twin daughters have both been after him. One mends his clothes, the other stops by
to clean our house. Now the niece of the owner of the Roaring Lion tavern is bringing him hot meals. When he stops in at the tavern, she gives him free ale. I asked Father which woman he likes the best, but he said he cannot choose. Separately, they are taking very good care of him, but if he proposes to one, he will disappoint the rest and not have such a fine life!

I miss you, Serafina. Every time I see something interesting or think of something funny, I want to run to your house to tell you about it. Although that cannot happen now, someday we will be together, I am sure of it.

Before the war started, I traveled through Vargas to learn what I could about freeing you of the Baba Yaga curse. Although I did not learn anything of value, I did not give up. Lately I have been talking to people who have come to Pazurskie for refuge from the war. Many do not even believe in Baba Yaga, but there are also many who talk freely about you. I still hope to meet someone who can tell me what I need to know.

I understand that you travel from place to place throughout the region. Be careful, sweet one. I hate
that we are apart, but I hate even more that you spend any time at all in a kingdom that is at war.

Love,

Alek

Clutching both letters to her chest, Serafina lay down on her bed and let the rocking motion of the walking cottage lull her to sleep.

Serafina stood in her doorway, looking out across the endless progression of rolling waves. The cottage had brought her to the top of a seaside cliff just the day before, and she could envision herself staying there for a very long time. Although she had no idea what kingdom she might be in, it seemed that the cottage stayed mostly in Vargas. She doubted she'd meet anyone here, however. As far as she could tell, there were no villages or towns nearby, and the only ships she'd spotted had been too far out on the water for her to see clearly. She thought it was perfect.

Maks brushed past her on his way out the door. “I'm going to look around. Maybe I'll find a nice crisp grasshopper for breakfast.”

“Don't get lost,” said Serafina.

The cat made a delicate coughing sound. “I never have!” he said, and scampered off between the bones of the fence into the tall grass beyond.

“I think I'll go for a walk, too,” Serafina said to herself, and went inside to retrieve her shawl. A few minutes later she was back and ready for Boris to open the gate.

“Stay close by,” he said. “You never know what you'll find in wild places like this.”

“There isn't even a road, Boris,” Serafina replied. “I don't think we'll see any people here.”

“It wasn't people I was talking about,” the skull muttered, swinging the gate closed behind her.

“He means ogres and trolls and …,” Yure began.

“I'm sure she knows what I mean,” Boris told him.

Yure's jaws closed with a snap.

Good
, thought Serafina.
If ogres and trolls live here, maybe fairies do, too. This could be where Summer Rose came. I might be able to find her yet!

Serafina glanced from side to side as she tried to decide where to explore. To the left of the cottage, the tall grass continued until the land dropped out of sight about two hundred yards away. To the right, wind-stilted trees grew all the way to the cliff's edge, but a glint of
water farther back among the trees caught her eye. She would go that direction first.

The wind was stronger than Serafina had expected, buffeting her as she walked to the woods. She was relieved when she finally reached the shelter of the trees. It didn't take her long to find the water—a stream that switched back and forth through the forest until it plunged over the edge of the cliff. Upthrust rocks formed a partial barrier on one side, cutting down on the wind even more. Although she could still hear the ocean, the sound was muted and the wind was no more than a gentle breeze. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, enjoying the smells of the forest and the salty tang of the ocean.

“I like the way it smells, too,” said a deep, rumbly voice.

Serafina looked around, but all she could see were the trees and rocks. Then something that she'd thought was a boulder shifted. Serafina gawked in astonishment when she realized that it wasn't a boulder but an exceptionally large man.

“Please, sit down and join me,” he said, gesturing to the rock where he'd been perched. “It's been so long since I've had someone to talk to.”

Serafina hadn't expected to see anyone in the woods.
If she had known that there was anyone nearby, she would have stayed in her cottage or even had the cottage move again. The last thing she wanted to do was answer another question and grow even older. She looked as stunned as a deer caught in the firelight that was poised to take off if only she could look away.

The big man chuckled. “Don't worry, I'm not going to ask you any questions.”

“Then you know who I am,” said Serafina.

“Of course. I saw the chicken footprints and followed them here. When they led me to a house instead of an enormous chicken, I knew that I'd found Baba Yaga.”

Serafina was torn. She was still afraid that he would ask her something, even if he didn't mean to, but then again it would be nice to have someone to talk to who didn't expect anything from her. Curiosity finally made her ask, “Are you a giant?”

“I am, indeed,” he said, looking serious. “I'm the very last of my kind.”

“That explains why you're lonely,” Serafina said, half to herself.

The giant nodded. “I've been alone for five years, and they've been the longest years of my life.”

“What happened to the other giants?” she asked.

The giant didn't seem to mind her question. He
shrugged, and it was like a hilltop moving. “I went away for a few years, and when I came back, all of my family and friends were gone.”

Without realizing it, Serafina had drifted closer to the giant until she was only a few yards away. She was near enough now to estimate his height; he had to be at least twelve feet tall. “If I sit down, will you sit down, too? You're too tall to talk to if you don't.”

“It would be my pleasure,” he replied.

She glanced at the boulder that he'd been using as a seat. It was chest high, far too high for her to climb onto.

“Here, let me help you,” said the giant. He set his hands gently on her waist, his enormous fingers overlapping, and picked her up as easily as if she were a tiny bird. Then he placed her on the boulder, and she sat, dangling her legs over the side, while he lowered himself to the ground beside her.

Even though the giant was sitting, Serafina felt like a tiny child in the company of an adult. His head was more than twice as big as hers, each eye as large as a goose egg. The thought popped into her head that she wouldn't want to be around when he blew his nose, and she had to stifle a fit of giggles by pretending to cough.