by Alex Flinn
“I miss him too. He was the only father I had, and I loved him, and I’ll never see him again or be able to tell him. But can we stop playing this game of competing to see who’s more pathetic? It makes us both pretty pathetic, if you ask me.”
Lisette didn’t answer for a long time. We were at school now. It was early, not crowded, so I just pulled into the parking lot, and suddenly I realized I was going to ask Mother to be nicer to Lisette, whether or not Lisette agreed to be nicer to me. It just wasn’t in me to be mean to her, or to let Mother do it either. Also, it took energy I didn’t have.
Besides, I knew Daddy wouldn’t have wanted Lisette to be miserable and poor.
I chose a parking place and turned to Lisette. “Look, I just wanted to tell you I’m done. I’m done. Daddy’s gone. Warner’s gone, as far as I’m concerned, and I’m done fighting. If we can get along, great, and I’ll share the chores with you, but otherwise, I’m still done.”
I wanted, needed, the conversation to be over. I’d said what I had to say, and Lisette, as usual, wasn’t helping at all. “Anyway, I have to go meet, um, Ms. Meinbach about newspaper.”
I got out of the car, slammed the door, and started walking toward the school.
“Wait!” She was running after me.
I stopped. “What is it?”
She caught up with me. “My … our father. I should tell you.”
“What?”
“He always loved you. I tried… I felt like I was his daughter. He should love me best, but even after I chased you away, he talked about you all the time, about how close you’d been, how he missed spending time with you.”
I felt tears springing to my eyes. “He said that?”
I didn’t know, until then, how much I needed to hear it, and from her, because she was the only person who would never lie, never try to be nice.
“Yeah,” she said. “Pissed me off, and in the end, I was thinking maybe I was stupid, trying to compete. Maybe I should just back off, try to get along. Then, he died, and it was too late, and your mother was so mean.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“He loved both of us.”
“Thank you for telling me that,” I said.
An awkward pause. We both stood there, like you do when you think you’re supposed to hug someone, but you really, really don’t want to. I didn’t love Lisette. I never would. I no longer wanted to be sisters, or even friends. I just wanted to get along, for my father’s sake and for my own.
Finally, I started to walk away.
“Meet me here after school. I’ll drive you home, and I’ll talk to my mom.”
Her voice stopped me. “Emma!”
I turned. “What?”
“I’ll see you then.”
It wasn’t the apology it should have been, but I thought it was an agreement. I said, “Okay.”
KENDRA (AGAIN)
Lisette and Emma didn’t become bestest friends. They weren’t sisters. They became the most they could ever become—two girls, stuck together, who no longer hated each other.
“Do you consider that a success story?” Emma asks me over coffee.
I haven’t been to school in a while, but I still drop in on Emma sometimes. When she asks where I’ve been, I always say, “You don’t want to know.”
But the truth is, I’ve been watching a lot of daytime TV, searching the morning talk shows for the next poor soul who needs my help, perhaps. Thought it’s hard to admit, I really like helping people find love. It makes the time pass faster.
The problem with spending a hundred or so years in high school is, after a while, it’s all review. Even the social parts seem like they’ve happened before. So sometimes, I take a few months off. I’ll start again in the fall. Someplace new.
“A success,” I say to Emma. “I’d consider it a rousing one. You’re still alive, and I’m not getting toasty at the stake. Some of my fails have been pretty epic.”
“I see.”
I don’t tell her about Doria. There was no need for her to know. But I can’t take credit for my successes, like Operation Beastly or Emma’s finding love, without also acknowledging my failures.
“How’s it going with Travis?” I ask her. “Are you in love?”
Emma tries to act all casual, but I can see her smile.
“You are then?” I say.
“I think so. He invited me to Italy over the summer, to stay in his villa while they’re filming his movie.”
“Italy?” This sets the wheels in my head to turning. It’s been a long while since I’ve been abroad, nigh upon a hundred years, and longer still since I’ve seen Italia. The people I knew there would be long dead, a good thing in this case.
“And when is that?” I ask.
“June. As soon as school’s out. Mother’s coming along as a chaperone.”
“I see. And Lisette?”
Ah, how I remember Italy in summer. There had been a charming gondolier named Giacomo. He’d admired my blond hair (I was always a blonde when I went to Italy—I like to stand out) and sang me romantic songs. Of course, he was no more, but there would be others, I suspected. And I could make new friends. They say Italian witches always know where to buy the best shoes.
“No, Lisette’s not going,” Emma says. “I mean, we’re getting along better now, sort of, but I just don’t think it would be fun.”
“Good call.”
And, of course, Italian cooking is sublime.
“I thought so,” Emma says. “I talked Mother into sending Lisette to theater camp in New York. She’s really excited about it.”
I’m excited too. Emma’s mention of theater camp reminds me how I’ve always enjoyed the opera. Perhaps I might learn the role of Tosca or Medea and make my debut at La Scala one day, using poor Doria’s voice. The world should hear it, and after all, I have nothing but time on my hands.
“I’m happy for you, Emma,” I say. “Maybe I’ll see you there.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. Travis will be working a lot. It would be cool to have a friend there, to sightsee.”
A friend. I grin. I’ve made a friend, a real one, first in a hundred years.
“I’ll be there,” I say.
Yes, I have nothing but time.
For the moment, that strikes me as a good thing.
About the Author
ALEX FLINN loves fairy tales and is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling BEASTLY, a spin on Beauty and the Beast that was named a VOYA Editor’s Choice and an ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. Beastly is now a major motion picture starring Vanessa Hudgens! She also wrote A KISS IN TIME, a modern retelling of Sleeping Beauty, and CLOAKED, a humorous fairy tale mash-up, as well as BREATHING UNDERWATER, BREAKING POINT, NOTHING TO LOSE, FADE TO BLACK, and DIVA. Alex lives in Miami with her family. Visit her online at www.alexflinn.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
Historical Notes
Kendra and Emma aren’t real, but some of the stuff in this book is. Specifically:
The Great Plague of 1665 killed about 100,000 people in London and spread to other areas of England. Most notable of these was the village of Eyam in Derbyshire, England. The villagers quarantined themselves, and seventy-five percent of their population died. Many of the descendants of those who survived have been found to have a genetic mutation called Delta 32, which may have protected against the plague and other diseases, possibly including AIDS. You can learn more about Eyam at www.eyamplaguevillage.co.uk.
I have taken some (many) liberties with the story of Louis, Dauphin of France. Louis was a real person who lived from 1729 to 1765. He was the son of Louis XV and the father of Louis XVI, who was the king married to Marie Antoinette. Louis married Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain. No peas or princess quest was actually involved. However, the two were said to have been very well matched and in love. Sadly, Maria Teresa died a little more than a year after their marri
age. Louis, faced with providing an heir, remarried shortly thereafter to Maria Josepha of Saxony. However, when he died almost twenty years later, his heart was buried with Maria Teresa.
On April 15, 1912, the “unsinkable” ship, Titanic, sunk on her maiden voyage. One thousand five hundred seventeen people were lost while 706 survived. The ship did not have enough lifeboats, and those they had were released half full. Had the lifeboats been full, another four hundred people could have survived. Only two lifeboats picked up survivors from the water, and only one actually went back to do so. This was Lifeboat 14, led by Fifth Officer Harold Lowe. Among those who died were the Sage family, who were traveling to America, having purchased a pecan farm in Jacksonville, Florida. Mother, father, and nine children all died. It is said that one of the daughters, Stella, was on a lifeboat but got off because her family could not go. Learn more about the people of Titanic at www.encyclopedia-titanica.org.
To read some of the “real” stories upon which the stories in this book are based, visit www.surlalunefairytales.com.
Credits
Cover art © 2012 by Howard Huang
Cover design by Sasha Illingworth
Copyright
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Bewitching
Copyright © 2012 by Alex Flinn
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.epicreads.com
Flinn, Alex.
Bewitching / Alex Flynn. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Tells the story of Kendra, a witch, and the first three hundred years of her life, including takes on a classic fairy tale, the 1666 plague in Britain, the Titanic disaster, and the story of a modern-day, plain stepsister.
ISBN 978-0-06-202414-5 (trade bdg.) — ISBN 978-0-06-202415-2 (lib. bdg.)
ISBN 978-0-06-213194-2 (international ed.)
EPub Edition © JANUARY 2012 ISBN 9780062104069
[1. Witches—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.F6305Bg 2012
2011024244
[Fic]—dc23
12 13 14 15 16 LP/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
Back Ads
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pvt. Ltd.
25 Ryde Road (P.O. Box 321)
Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia
http://www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East - 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W, 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollins.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77–85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollins.com