Eliza Vanda's Button Box by Emily Rodda

Author:Emily Rodda
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

The Witch’s Mirror

‘I can’t believe we’re doing this,’ Milly hissed a few minutes later, as she and Victor walked towards the little house, leaving Adora behind them. ‘I can’t believe you offered! You don’t like mending. You don’t like taking risks. You tried to stop me going into Rainbird’s just because Zollo had lost his temper, and now you’re happily dragging me into much worse danger!’

‘You didn’t have to come,’ Victor muttered, touching his pocket where the little gold flower mirror nestled as if to make sure it was still there.

‘We’re supposed to stay together!’ snapped Milly. ‘And as if I’d let you go alone, anyway!’

Victor sniffed, but then glanced at her sideways and gave a small, crooked smile. ‘Thanks, Milly,’ he mumbled. ‘And, by the way, it was good thinking to bring the poppy basket. In case we have to make a run for it, right?’

Milly nodded, pressing the green basket to her side and feeling a bit better. Victor looked pale and sick. It seemed to her that the farther he got away from Adora, the more he regretted offering to return the mirror. He wouldn’t give up now, though. He had too much pride to break his promise.

She glanced over her shoulder. Adora was standing where they’d left her, staring after them with her tiny hands clasped.

They reached the side fence of the house. The sweet scent of roses drifted in the air. Milly glanced nervously at the two little trees standing very upright on either side of the front gate, like guards. They seemed somehow familiar, but she couldn’t think why.

‘Best we don’t try the front,’ said Victor. ‘Besides, we know we can get in the back way.’ He sounded as nervous as Milly felt.

Following the fence, they crept around to the back of the house and found another gate. Sheets hung on a clothesline in the sunny yard, which smelled of the mint, rosemary and other herbs that grew in patches everywhere. Small brown hens pecked around in a pen that filled one corner of the yard. They took no notice as Milly and Victor slipped through the gate and crept past the clothesline to the back door.

‘It doesn’t feel dangerous, does it?’ Milly murmured. But her teeth were chattering as Victor turned the doorknob and pushed.

The door creaked horribly as it opened. The sound seemed incredibly loud — more like a yowl than an ordinary creak. Milly and Victor froze. But there was silence in the house beyond the door, and after a moment they moved on, into a kitchen with an old wood stove, shelves of plates and pots and a small round table with two chairs.

‘That’s strange,’ Milly whispered. ‘How could—’

Victor wasn’t listening. He was hurrying into the dim corridor that led away from the kitchen, looking anxiously from side to side.

‘Here!’ Milly heard him whisper. And, still puzzling over the odd thing she’d noticed, the thing that didn’t make sense, she followed him.

He’d found the witch’s bedroom. It wasn’t anything like Milly had imagined.

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