The Sisters of Straygarden Place by Hayley Chewins

The Sisters of Straygarden Place by Hayley Chewins

Author:Hayley Chewins [Chewins, Hayley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781536216158
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2020-04-14T16:00:00+00:00


Mayhap and Pavonine found the droomhunds in their father’s old study, wrestling on the moss-green rug. The walls were covered in dark-blue silk, little silver stars stitched into it. The curtains were drawn, making the room feel like a cave. Lamps glowed dimly on the walls. Their father’s desk was untouched, his collection of bat skeletons arranged on shadowed shelves behind it.

The tiny bones made Mayhap’s skin tingle. She was still shaken from the porridge incident, and she didn’t feel like being inside the dark shell of her father’s once-favorite place. Her thoughts were loose in her head.

She grabbed at Seekatrix, who was wriggling about on the carpet with Peffiandra, but he scrambled away, his clipped nails skittering on the polished marble floor. Peffiandra darted off, too, hiding underneath the armchair behind the desk.

Pavonine sat on the floor, cross-legged, and called to her droomhund, and Peffiandra ran to her immediately. Mayhap wished Seekatrix would do the same, but something had come over him. He was running in zigzags so that she couldn’t pick him up. Just as she thought she’d cornered him, he ran past her so quickly that her fingers only brushed his fluffy back, grasping at air.

Frustration burned in her throat. “Seeka,” she moaned, standing straight with her hands on her hips. “Please. We don’t have time for this.”

She followed him behind the desk, where he sat panting. He barked twice and looked up.

“Seekatrix,” said Mayhap, “stop!” She stamped her foot.

He wouldn’t. He carried on growling, barking, growling some more. These were not warning sounds or sounds of fright. They were sounds that said, I have had enough of you being upset. I want to play.

“May,” said Pavonine. “Tell him to stop.”

Peffiandra was huddled in her arms.

“I’m trying,” said Mayhap. She kneeled beside her droomhund. “What is it, Seeka?” she said.

He looked up and whined.

Mayhap followed his gaze to the bat skeletons. “I think he wants the bones,” she said.

Pavonine only yawned.

Mayhap sighed. Perhaps if she gave him one of the skeletons, he would stop barking.

“All right, boy,” she said, dragging the armchair over to the shelves.

She stood on it and peered into the uppermost shelf. The bat bones were connected by wire as thin as strands of spiders’ silk. It made her shudder, touching them. Something churned within her. “Hmmm,” she said. “Which shall I choose?”

Seekatrix wagged his tail.

She looked into the second-highest shelf.

The bones were the color of piano keys, as delicate as twigs. They made her think of her own bones, and Seekatrix’s bones, too. Do droomhunds have bones? she wondered.

She put her hand over one of the little skeletons, saying a silent apology to her father.

And that’s when she saw the secret drawer at the back of the shelf: a square that sat apart from the rest, a little handle. She tugged at it, releasing a held breath when it opened easily.

Seekatrix whined again. Mayhap held the bat skeleton in her hand, and the droomhund hopped up onto the chair and took it into his mouth gently.



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