Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch by Serena Valentino Read Free Book Online Page B

don’t meddle with the likes of me. Not anymore. Not after our dealings with the Dark Fairy.” Pflanze wondered for the briefest of moments if Nanny could read her thoughts, but she decided the old woman was simply talking to herself as she often did, and as she continued to do then. “It’s time to find their little sister, Circe. We need to know what’s come over these men! Clearly they’re enchanted and it’s not by your witches. It’s someone else’s magic and I don’t like it one bit!”
    Pflanze didn’t blink an eye at Nanny’s mention of knowing her mistresses. Other witches didn’t frighten her, especially sweet elderly witches who’d lost most of their powers. Hopefully Nanny would remember the proper incantation to call up Circe. Pflanze knew it, of course, but had no means of conveying it to Nanny—not any that she intended to use, anyway. Not unless Nanny really
could
read her thoughts. Pflanze’s magic was unlike the witches’. It took long stretches of time to recharge. It sometimes took Pflanze years to recover after using her magic, so she had to choose very carefully the precise time in which to employ it.
    Nanny gave Pflanze a funny look, like she knew what she was thinking, and it made Pflanze wonder….“Oh, yes, precious kitty, I can hear you! Old Nanny isn’t as batty as everyone thinks! Give me the spell, girl! It won’t cost you anything to think!” Pflanze wondered if Nanny had been skillfully hiding her powers all that time, or if they’d recently been coming back to her.
    “Ever since you arrived, dear, they’ve been coming back to me like the divine winds! I suppose I should thank you.”
    You’re welcome
, Pflanze thought. Then, because she had learned to conceal her thoughts from her witches long before, she thought to herself—quite secretly, mind you—that this was a very curious situation, one that needed some attention and investigation. Clearly Nanny had been growing more powerful by the moment, and somehow Pflanze was the cause, but even more important, Nanny remembered some dealings with the cat’s mistresses and the Dark Fairy, whom her witches seemed to fear—but she couldn’t think of that right then. She needed to focus on finding Circe, not only to make her witches happy but to see if she had any part in the spell that had overtaken all the young lads camped out on King Morningstar’s castle grounds. It did seem like Circe’s magic—that was the sort of thing she would do, try to bring about a match for Tulip—but it was getting out of hand; it wasn’t like Circe to let her magic run amuck, and that was what bothered Pflanze most. If Circe had cast the spell, she would know its outcome and she would come at once to mend things. Unless something was detaining her…
    “Yes, my precious! My thoughts exactly! I’m worried Circe may be in trouble, as well!” The old woman and the cat’s conversation was interrupted by the clamor of a couple of castle guards running into the kitchen. The scene was rather ridiculous really, the men standing there wide-eyed, looking at Nanny and Pflanze, wondering what to make of an old woman chatting with a cat while clearly in the middle of some witchery. It was remarkable that one man was able to bark out their orders.
    “Up…to the tower at once!” he stammered.
    “Here now, young man, I won’t have you—or anyone—ordering me to towers, or to anywhere else, for that matter!”
    “Excuse me, mum, but the queen commands it! The castle is under siege!”

T he Dark Fairy’s crow was perched in the apple tree outside the witches’ gingerbread mansion. It looked at the odd sisters, who were whispering in their kitchen. From the expressions on their faces, the crow could see they didn’t find his mistress’s message at all pleasant.
    “Do you think she knows?” hissed Ruby.
    “She knows something! Why else send the warning?” Lucinda was incensed. “And who is she to warn us? She who meddles in the lives