Page 23 of Potions & Prejudice


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We slowly made our way upstairs to the dark second floor. Windows sat at each end of the hallway, but similar to the ones downstairs, the grime on the glass was so thick, barely any light was allowed through.

“Prue?” I called out, a slight shake to my voice.

“In here,” she called, her own voice wobbling. Relief flooded me that she’d at least answered.

Adelaide andI hurried to the last door in the hallway. I braced myself as we approached, not sure what we were going to find.

When I rounded the doorway, my mouth fell open.

Prue sat on the ground, tears streaming down her face as books surrounded her. “This house has a library,” she said, holding up a book. “And it’s full of books. So many books. Ones I’ve never read.”

I crossed my arms. “Prue Moonflower! You scared us. Next time you’re excited, maybe find a different way to express it.”

Prue didn’t even respond, eyes already drifting to the book in her lap. Dust smudged her hands and cheeks, and she didn’t seem to notice all the motes floating in the air.

Adelaide nudged me. “Go easy on her. She’s found her happy place,” she whispered. “I don’t know if you’re going to be able to tear her away from this room.”

Adelaide was right. You did not want to come between Prue and her books. I grabbed my older sister’s arm and dragged her into the dark hallway.

“Is everything alright up there?” Elm called.

“Yes,” Adelaide called back. “Prue found a library.”

“Oh, Witch Superior,” Mama muttered. “That girl can sniff out a book a mile away.”

“What should we do?” Adelaide asked. “You know Elm has offered us perfectly acceptable rooms at the inn.”

“No,” I said quickly.

Adelaide gave me a look. “It would be clean and not spelled.”

“It would also be full of people. People who might have questions about the mysterious witches who just appeared in Thistlegrove.”

Downstairs a crash sounded, and we stilled.

“Everything’s okay,” Elm yelled. “Just an overturned chair.”

Adelaide turned her attention back to me. “What about us is mysterious?”

It was my turn to give her a look. “Maybe the fact that none of us besides Mama has our magic?”

“Then what’s the solution?” Adelaide asked. “We can’t stay in that tent without its protection spell. You don’t want to risk staying at the inn, so...” She glanced around the dark hallway of the little cottage.

Elm wasn’t really doing us a favor by letting us stay in this cottage. Itwasn’t even his. In fact, it sounded like we’d be doing everyone in Thistlegrove a favor by staying here, fixing it up, possibly fixing its attitude.

If anything, staying here might ingratiate us with the residents of Thistlegrove. If we made this cottage hospitable again, it might even keep them from asking too many questions. Besides, we wouldn’t be here that long. We just needed to get our cart fixed. And somehow find the money to pay for it. Any way I looked at it, we didn’t have a lot of options. Adelaide was right. We couldn’t stay in that tent when the protection spell wasn’t working.

“We have no home,” Adelaide said softly, running a finger along the wall.

“Yes we do.” I spread out my arms. “This is our new home.”

Eleven

ELSPETH

“Why is everything so sticky?” Adelaide stared down at the floor, frowning. Auggie was out foraging for mushrooms and herbs. Mama was dusting, and Prue was upstairs “cleaning” the library.

I’d checked on her several times, and her version of cleaning involved a lot of sitting on the little cushion by the window and reading. I hadn’t seen Prue so animated in a long, long time, and I had to admit it was nice.