Wundersmith_The Calling of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

Author:Jessica Townsend [Townsend, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510103856
Publisher: Orion Children’s Books
Published: 2018-09-17T04:00:00+00:00

‘I’m sorry I haven’t been around much lately.’

Jupiter had hailed a carriage to take them home. Which was lucky, as it began to rain almost the moment they stepped inside it. (Or – was it more than luck? Could he see the weather before it arrived? Morrigan wanted to ask, but the lump in her throat was back and wouldn’t let her speak just yet.)

‘My work at the League has been … Well, no excuses. I’m sorry. That’s all.’ He really did seem sorry. More than that, he seemed sad.

‘It’s all right,’ said Morrigan finally, in a croaky voice. She meant it. Although she really had been annoyed with him, his apology was heartfelt, and he looked so desolate and tired that she couldn’t hold on to her frustration any longer. It had been getting too heavy to carry around, anyway. She was glad to be rid of it.

They sat in silence until it, too, grew heavy.

‘I breathed fire.’

‘Mm.’

‘I didn’t know I could do that.’

‘No,’ said Jupiter thoughtfully. ‘Nor did I.’

They were silent for another block, listening to the patter of rain and the clip-clop of hooves, and then—

‘But how did I breathe fire?’

‘I’m afraid I don’t know, Mog.’

‘Am I –’ she paused to swallow, and choked out a half-laugh – ‘am I turning into a dragon or something?’

Jupiter snorted. ‘Well, let’s see. Do you feel scaly?’

‘No.’

‘Got talons?’

She checked her fingernails. ‘No.’

‘Sudden urge to hoard treasure?’

Morrigan considered for a moment. ‘I don’t think so.’

‘Then no, I doubt it.’

‘Will they ever let me go back?’ she asked, turning to look at him.

‘The Elders will come around,’ he said. ‘We’ll find a way to make them come around. I promise. And look – the summer holidays are about to start, anyway. Six whole weeks to cool off and chill out. By the time school starts back again, they’ll have had a change of heart.’

‘You think so?’

Jupiter thought for a moment. ‘I know Elder Quinn pretty well,’ he said finally. ‘She’s … not unfair. Sometimes she just needs time to see what is the fair thing to do.’

They settled into silence. Morrigan watched the busy streets go by through a filter of fat raindrops spattering the glass. When they were just a few blocks from the Deucalion, Jupiter cleared his throat.

‘I know you might not be inclined to share confidences right now,’ he said in a quiet, careful tone, ‘but is there anything you want to tell me, Mog?’

She hesitated.

‘Have … have you ever heard of the Ghastly Market?’

Jupiter took a moment to answer.

‘Yes,’ he said finally. ‘Why?’

And he listened intently while she told him all that had happened that afternoon in her Decoding Nevermoor class. He didn’t get cross that she’d broken Mildmay’s Tricksy Lane rule, and he didn’t make her promise never to do it again, and he didn’t express the tiniest sliver of doubt about what she’d seen and heard.

‘Devilish Court, you said?’ He wrote the name in a tiny notebook he’d pulled from his pocket. ‘I’ll look into it.’

I’ll look into it.

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