Story's End by Marissa Burt Read Free Book Online Page B

milady,” she said as she handed the key to Una.
    “Very good,” Una said, and with a twist of her wrist, the key was hidden away in her cloak. “You needn’t come to my castle again,” she said. “I will return when the time is right.” She wouldn’t meet the old woman’s eyes. Instead she brushed past the torn curtain that shaded the window and out through the wooden door. Peter gave the witch an awkward bow. He paused at the doorway, and as he looked back, he saw the bent form of the old woman. Her shoulders were shaking, but no noise was coming from her toothless mouth. Even so, Peter was sure of it. She was weeping.

Chapter 7
    U na set her mouth in a grim line and turned down yet another snaking alleyway. The quill Jaga had given her was safely tucked away in her cloak, and with every step she took, she could feel the key’s weight in her pocket. Peter and Indy seemed to think the quill was a fake, some Dystopian trick to make money, but whether it was real or not, Una knew one thing. Her parents were hunting for the Lost Elements. Why else would her mother have servants like Jaga collecting quills that might be the silver one?
    “The Hollow’s no place to be after nightfall,” Peter said for the millionth time as he caught up with her. “We don’t even know if Jaga was saving the quills for Duessa. It could have been some other Lady.”
    Una elbowed her way through a cluster of hobgoblins, leaving a flutter of angry pixies in her wake. She wasn’t about to tell them that the reason she knew it was Duessa was because Jaga had confused Una with her mother. She thought I was her. Una tried hard to remember what Duessa had looked like from that brief moment in Alethia’s garden, but all she could picture was her violet eyes. Eyes like mine.
    “Una might be onto something,” Indy said. “The original Elements were used to write the whole land of Story. With that kind of power, the Enemy could do”—he ducked under the cloud of swearing fairies—“just about anything.”
    “Aren’t you always complaining that the grown-ups never let us do anything?” Una glanced back at Peter. “Well, here’s the chance to do something. Imagine how happy everyone will be if we come back with news that we’ve found a secret way into Duessa’s castle. That could really help the Resistance.”
    “They would be less mad about us sneaking off. . . .” Peter shrugged. “As long as we’re back before bedtime.”
    They were in the center of Horror Hollow now, and the brightly painted buildings on either side of them gave off yellow pools of light. The doors nearest them burst open, letting out a sound of brash laughter, and a brawling pair of gnomes tumbled into the street. The bigger of the two pinned his companion to the ground and punched him hard in the face. Their greenish skin almost glowed in the eerie lamplight.
    Peter grabbed Una by the elbow and whisked her away from the brawl. “Do you see now why the Hollow’s dangerous? Messing around in the Villainous parts of Story is risky stuff.”
    “I get it,” Una said. She really did, but hearing Peter’s warning didn’t change her mind. Being afraid wasn’t an option. The disaster at Heart’s Place made it clear that the Enemy wasn’t sitting around waiting to make his next move. And she wasn’t going to either. First, she’d find her parents. Then she’d find out what they were planning.
    All day Una had clung to the flicker of hope that she could stop the Enemy before he found all the Elements, before he did something horrible. And maybe that would make up for setting him free in the first place. Learning that Duessa was looking for the Silver Quill had fanned the flicker into a roaring flame. Her father had the Dragon’s Ink, she was sure of it. Why else would he gulp it down? He was planning to do something with the Elements of Story. And this was Una’s chance to find out exactly what.
    If she was very lucky, she’d be able to spy on her