The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente Read Free Book Online Page B

of place did you come from, with no Queens and bad fathers and Anna-Marees?”
    “Just one Anna-Marie. I come from Nebraska.” September thought. Home seemed very far away now, and she did not yet miss it. She knew, dimly, that this made her a bad daughter, but Fairyland was already so large and interesting that she tried not to think about that. “It’s very flat and golden, and my mother lives there. Every day she goes to a factory and works on airplane engines because everyone’s fathers left for the war, and there was no one left to make airplanes. She’s very smart. And pretty. But I don’t see her much anymore and my father went away with all the others. He said he would be safe, because he would be mainly learning things about other armies and writing them down, not shooting at them. But I don’t think he’s safe. And I don’t think my mother does, either. And the house is dark at night and there are howling things out on the prairies. I keep everything as clean as I can so that when she comes home she’ll be happy, and tell me stories before bed, and teach me about boilers and things that she knows.” September rubbed her arms to keep warm in a sudden breeze that kicked and bucked through the field of little red flowers. “I don’t really have many friends back home. I like to read and the other kids like to play baseball or play with jacks or curl their hair. So when the Green Wind came to my window, I knew what he was about, because I’ve read books where things like that happen. And I didn’t have anyone to miss, except my mother.” September wiped her nose a little. “I didn’t wave goodbye to her when we flew away. I know I ought to have. But she goes to the factory before I’m awake in the morning and just leaves biscuits and an orange on the table and so I thought maybe I wouldn’t say goodbye to her, since she doesn’t say goodbye to me. I know it was vicious of me! But I couldn’t help it. And really, she leaves little notes with the biscuits and sometimes funny drawings and I didn’t leave her anything so it’s not fair at all. But I don’t want to go home either because there aren’t gnomes and witches and wyveraries at home, just nasty kids with curly hair and a lot of teacups that need washing, so I will say I’m sorry later, but I think it’s better to be in Fairyland than not in Fairyland on the whole?”
    A-Through-L carefully put his claw around her shoulders. His talons quite dwarfed her. She wrapped her arms around one and leaned against it the way she might have leaned against an oak trunk back home.
    “Except…things are not all well in Fairyland, are they? The witches’ brothers are dead and they’ve no Spoons and your wings are all chained and sore--don’t say they aren’t, Ell, I can see where they’ve rubbed the skin away. And can I call you Ell? A-Through-L is so very many syllables. Things are not right here, and I haven’t even seen a proper Fairy at all, with glittering wings and little dresses. Just sad folk and no food. And that’s more than I’ve said to anyone in forever, even the Green Wind. I do wish he had been allowed to come with me. I believe I am sick to death of hearing what is and is not allowed. What is the purpose of a Fairyland if everything lovely is outlawed, just like in the real world?”
    “How poor you are, September. You make my heart groan. I know about Homesickness. It begins with H. What will you do?”
    September sniffed and straightened up. She was not one to feel sorry for herself for long. “Mainly, I am going to Pandemonium, to steal the Spoon which belongs to the witch Goodbye, so that she can cook up the future again, and not feel so sad.”
    A-Through-L sucked in his breath. “That’s the Marquess’s Spoon,” he whispered.
    “I don’t care if it is! What a dreadful person the Marquess must be, with her ugly chains and her bow and her silly hat! I shan’t feel at all bad about stealing from her!”
    The