The Spellshop

But I do know books—and that meant there was nothing she couldn’t know, eventually. That was a magic in and of itself.

This was a magic made from the music of words, and she spoke the syllables to the seeds with every bit of conviction that this was right and that this would work

Times have changed. The world has changed. I can change too

The fireflies would flicker around her as it became too dark to read, but still she’d stay, to watch the fireflies over the water and listen to the birds and the squirrels settle in for the night and the night hunters, the owls and the cats, begin to wake. Once, she’d even glimpsed a unicorn sipping from the pond, but it could have been only a white deer and a trick of the twilight.

It was said if you weren’t welcome on an island, the merfolk would foul the water near your home and refuse to swim close to shore. The sighting of a merbaby … She knew it was only superstition that they predicted good fortune, but it made her feel as if her luck was turning. I’m doing the sensible thing. It’ll be all right. I’ll be careful

Gentle waves lapped at the posts of the dock. Shaded by trees that clung to the sides of the cove, the air was cooler, and it smelled of salt and seaweed, rather than flowers and honey. She loved both smells.

“Magic belongs to the people now. I’m people. And we’re very far from Alyssium.”

Her lungs felt full of the sweet-as-honey air, and the ache in her muscles was a good kind of ache

In the front of the cottage, Fiction. That’ll be all the flowers.”

“What about the berries?”

“Journals of Scientific Papers,”

It was the longest, most passionate speech she’d ever heard the spider plant make.

In her soothing librarian voice, Kiela said, “All right. From here on, the word ‘weed’ is banned in this garden.”

He lowered his leaves, pleased