The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken

Author:Alexandra Bracken
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: 2017-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

Lunchtime arrived, and with it, six steaming, beautiful pizzas oozing with cheese.

I hovered behind Mr. Gupta as he opened the first set of boxes and set them out for the team, darting around to snatch a plate and napkin. While I did the mental math of how many pieces I could take and not be a selfish jerk.

“Will you chill out?” Nell hissed behind me. “You’re acting like you’ve never had a piece of pizza before.”

I was practically bouncing with glee. “I haven’t had one in…five years?”

“What?” Now it was my turn to hush her. A couple of the kids glanced over from down the single file line we’d formed.

“Grandmother forced the one pizza place in town to close. She claimed it was a ‘health hazard,’” I said as we made our way over to two desks in the corner. “And my mom is all about healthy food at home.”

“Not even at school?” she whispered in horror.

I shook my head.

“What did you eat, then? A ton of hamburgers and chicken nuggets?”

“Mostly couscous, bluefin, cozze in bianco…”

“Are you speaking in English right now?” Nell asked. She put one of her slices on top of my pile. “Here, you’d better take this. Cherish the memory forever.”

And what of my food? Alastor asked, but I was way too busy stuffing my face to care.

Nell must have seen the irritation in my face. “What’s going on? What is he saying?”

“He’s hungry,” I muttered. “But I thought he fed only on emotions?”

That is incorrect.

“Fiends replenish their power from sucking out misery from those around them, but they eat spiders and bats to fill their stomachs.”

That is correct.

“What should I do?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Nell whispered. She stiffened. “You two aren’t buddies, and you aren’t his servant. If you give him an inch, he’ll take a hundred miles. It’s like Shakespeare said—one may smile, and smile, and be a villain! Nothing good can come from a fiend, just remember that. And if he starts to act up again, let me know and I’ll put him back in his place.”

Whoa. Her voice had gotten harder and angrier the longer she spoke. “That’s…I mean, don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the charm you worked the other night, but…if you guys are all magic…magical things, why aren’t you on the same team?”

Nell looked horrified.

“Why?” she demanded. “What has the little worm been saying about me?”

Worm! Al sputtered. That saucy urchin-snouted strumpet!

“He…thinks you are very, uh, special,” I said. That was my mom’s go-to word for whenever a teacher or relative called me something I didn’t understand, like stolid or taciturn.

“Witches are not fiends. Fiends, by definition, are creatures from Downstairs who meddle in our world to better theirs,” Nell said, her voice so low I had to lean in to hear it. “They want servants, but more than that, they want the magic found on earth’s surface to flow down to them. They do that by inflicting misery on us, or managing to get us to inflict misery on ourselves through wars.

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