Half-Witch by John Schoffstall

Author:John Schoffstall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Small Beer Press
Published: 2018-06-18T01:26:19+00:00

Chapter 15

Lizbet jerked upright in bed, clutching the covers to her breast. Maglet crouched at the foot of the bed. She held a flickering oil lamp in one hand. With the other hand she had pulled the covers off Lizbet’s feet. No longer could it be concealed: illuminated by the lamplight, Lizbet’s feet were obviously on opposite the way they should be.

Instinctively, Lizbet pulled her feet back and tried to shove the covers down over them. Maglet yelled, “Oh, no, you don’t!” She grabbed at Lizbet’s ankle and pulled it free of the covers. She leaned over the foot of the bed and shoved her lamp in Lizbet’s face with the other hand. “Hold still, or I’ll make you taste fire, witch!”

“I’m not a witch,” Lizbet said desperately. “I’m not really a witch at all. It’s just my legs. I’ll tell you all about it, if you’ll let me—”

“Lies, lies, witches are all lies!” Maglet shrieked. “You’ve lied enough, no more of your lies! Wake up!” she called. “Wake up, all of you! Come see the witch!”

Grunts and stirrings around the room, and the sound of mattresses groaning, and bare feet thumping onto the stone floor. Women and girls in their nightclothes appeared one by one behind Maglet. They stared at Lizbet’s feet, looked into her eyes, then back to her feet. Lizbet’s blood rose to her cheeks. She told herself she had nothing to be ashamed of, but it didn’t help whatever secret part of her was embarrassed.

“It’s just my legs,” Lizbet said quickly, stammering. “I had blood poisoning and gangrene, so Strix had to make me new ones. I’m not really a witch . . .”

“Gretchen, Isabelle, Sophie,” Maglet said to another of the women, “run for Gregor and Hansel and the Glucks, and tell them to bring rope to tie up the witch. I’ll bet she’s a spy from the Pope of Storms. And some of you, grab the witch girl beside her, before she escapes—”

Lizbet, in her shock and fear and sleepy confusion, had forgotten about Strix. “Strix!” she screamed toward the curtain that separated their beds. “Run!”

“She’s gone!” came a woman’s voice. From across the curtain, the sound of bedclothes being torn apart. “The bed’s empty,” the woman said. “She’s not here.”

Strix had escaped! Thank heavens for that, at least. But Maglet’s bony fist gripped Lizbet’s ankle even more firmly. Having lost Strix, she was determined not to let Lizbet get away. “Don’t try any tricks, witchy,” Maglet said. “And don’t get your hopes up. We’ll find the other spy soon enough. There are miles and miles of sewers. We know ’em all, and she doesn’t. We’ll catch her, you’ll see.”

Maglet’s smile was so smug, and she sounded so sure of herself, that Lizbet’s hopes sank.

lizbet a tiny voice whispered in her ear. It was so low Lizbet could barely hear it.

“What?” Lizbet said.

“You heard me,” Maglet said.

“I wasn’t—” Lizbet began.

hush, silly, it’s me.

It was Strix’s voice. Lizbet glanced toward it. There was Strix, crouching by her bed.

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