Zel by Donna Jo Napoli Read Free Book Online Page B

her relief. “We can all live together.”
    I swallow the bile that has risen to my tongue. I was mistaken; my daughter is not ready to choose. But that is no problem. There is time still. If I use enough skill and care, I will persuade Zel by the time her moon blood first flows.
    I shut my eyes. The gosling is already deteriorating under the roasting sun. Ants have invaded the shell. The smell of rot attracts them. “Zel,” I say, knowing now that I always knew I would eventually come to this lie, me, who has never allowed a lie to soil the air between myself and my blessed daughter, saddened by the unfairness of the price I have had to pay for this precious daughter, angry at that unholy price. “Zel, I must tell you a horrible thing.”
    Zel takes my hands. Her cheeks slacken. “What, Mother?”
    I open my eyes. “Death would knock on our door.”
    “Death?” Zel squeezes my hands.
    “Yes.” I am amazed at the ease with which the lie comes. The ease exhausts me. Evil is heavy, indeed. “There are those who wish you ill, Zel. Who have always wished you ill.”
    “Mother!” Zel stands up. She looks around the room as though she would run away. “What are you saying?”
    I know we must keep holding hands. “There are those who would push you from one of our cliffs, those who would kill you.” I speak with a certainty not my own.
    “Me?” Zel shakes her head. “But why, Mother?” Her words come out slowly, like stones rolling in wet grass. She shudders.
    “We must protect you.”
    “Who wants such a thing? How do you know? Maybe I can talk to the person. I have done no harm.” Zel frees her hands from mine. Frenzy lights her eyes. “You can come with me. Together we . . .”
    “Yes, together we can protect you.” I stand. The pronouncement rises from my lungs, through my throat and mouth; yet I know what I say only as I hear it. “The gosling is dead.”
    “The gosling?” Zel stares at me. Then she runs to the window. The goose sits on her nest. Zel cannot see the egg, but I know she realizes I am right. I stand beside her and watch the tears move down her cheeks. “Tiny life, tiny bones.” Zel presses her palm against her mouth. When she releases it, she turns to face me. Terror tightens her jaw. “What has the gosling to do with me, Mother?”
    “You cannot take gifts people offer.”
    “I asked for the egg, Mother.”
    “But the youth insisted on giving you something.”My voice is so quiet, it is barely audible. “You must not be near people.” My fingers take Zel’s braids. “You will grow your golden hair.” I speak without yet knowing where my words lead.
    Zel twirls around. She raises her fists. “I don’t see any sense to your words.”
    My confusion was equal to Zel’s, but now it is past. I am already calling together the powers I know. They pulse in my veins, soak through my muscles. They tell me of a tower abandoned centuries ago. “A safe place. You will see.”
    Zel’s tears stream now. They drop to her smock. They make dark circles over her breasts.

Chapter 9
Zel
    urry, Mother,” Zel whispers into Mother’s ear. Did she just hear a cry behind them, an evil cry as of a hungry predator? The stalker comes. “Hurry.”
    Zel clings tighter. There is water all around. Water below them. Water that would suck them under, yet Mother races over it as though it is solid. Oh, mercifulwater that supports Mother’s weight. Zel’s feet do not touch the water. Her arms are wrapped firm around Mother’s neck. Mother’s cloak shields them both.
    But Mother’s cloak is not thick enough to ward off a dagger. Mother is stronger than Zel realized, for she carries her now without huffing and puffing. Still, Mother cannot fight off an enemy. “Flee faster, Mother.”
    Zel listens hard. She hears nothing but the slap of water on water. She dares to peek from the cloak upward. The sky is aglow with stars and a full moon. In this glow she and Mother must surely be visible to whoever