The Witch of Woodland by Laurel Snyder

Author:Laurel Snyder
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-02-21T00:00:00+00:00

16

Never Not Hungry

That whole day at school I was a mess. I was exhausted and excited and I couldn’t seem to pay attention to anything at all. After second period, when I got a blue slip for falling asleep on my desk, I went to the bathroom and tried casting a spell for calm and concentration. I made sure nobody else was in the bathroom, and then I sat on the toilet lid and breathed in for six seconds and out for six seconds. In for six and out for six, over and over, ten times. I know this just sounds like a regular breathing exercise, but it’s not. Because each time I finished breathing out, I spoke these words: Calm the thoughts that roil like seas, bring forth focus, inner peace.

It’s a good spell, and it works a lot of the time, but that day I think I was too distracted to breathe properly or something, because it didn’t do much. I still zoned out and drew a total blank on the pop quiz in science. Then, I was distracted in Language and Literature, just doodling on my paper instead of doing my persuasive writing assignment, and Ms. Marty, in front of the whole class, said, “What’s going on with you today, Zippy McConnell? Wake up! You don’t seem like yourself at all.”

When that happened, Bea looked at me and mouthed, “Hey, are you all right?”

Unlike the day before, she actually seemed like she was asking for real. But I just mouthed back, “I’m fine.” I didn’t need her concern that day. For once, I wasn’t thinking about Bea. My mind was elsewhere. On more important things.

Then Ms. Marty called my name again and told me to stop whispering and keep my eyes on my paper, so I looked down right away. That’s when I saw what I’d been doodling. In the margin of my paper was the same set of letters scribbled in pencil, over and over. But they were letters I hadn’t known I was even capable of writing. Letters I definitely hadn’t been able to recognize the last time I met with my bat mitzvah class. The words read:

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