Over The Sea Read Free Page A

and she told me more about the Mearsieans — and a little more about Glotulae, her brat of a son, and Kwenz. Though not much. Talking about them made her angry. And once her voice went so soft I couldn’t hear what she was saying, and I got impatient until I looked over and saw the sheen of tears on her eyelids, glistening in the light of the street lamp.
    Each time she stopped herself and said something like I should talk about the good things. And I was too scared I’d lose her if I said that the villains were interesting — and that I’d been drawing pictures of them at school, imagining ways of defeating them. I remembered my promise to myself to be calm, not wild, polite.
    Other times we talked about, oh, all kinds of things, like horses, what foods we loved or hated, and why flowers smelled good, and even about government, although I have to admit my mind wandered the one time she brought that up.
    Sometimes — if I forgot my vow — I made her laugh.
    We only talked about our families once. “Who else is in the house?” she asked, pointing.
    â€œFamily,” I said, wrinkling my nose.
    â€œThey are evil, then?”
    â€œEvil? Nah,” I said, though I was thinking of those terrible beatings with the belt. But other kids got that too. The next door neighbor girl had gotten it once just for talking to another kid who was of a religion her parents didn’t like. Their windows were next to our driveway, where I was playing hopscotch that time. I could hear the snap of the belt, which sounded even scarier when someone else was getting it than when I was, her sobs in between But I didn’t know anything was wrong .
    â€œIndifferent, then?” Clair asked.
    At the time I didn’t know what that word meant. I shrugged. “I feel like a cat among dogs, or maybe like a dog among cats. How about you?”
    â€œI am now alone, except for a cousin I rarely get to see.”
    And that was that, leaving me almost overwhelmed with envy. Alone! So that was why she got to come here, and not worry about getting into trouble, and why she could learn magic! Freedom! Never any terror when you go home that someone’s in a bad mood, and a thing you do or say wrong that one day just gets a dirty look will today get you welts that last for three weeks.
o0o
    Oh, then came the great surprise.
    On her next appearance she said right away, “At last I’ve learned enough magic to take you with me to my world, and get you back here at the same time you left, so there won’t be trouble. Would you like that?”
    I had to whisper, of course, lest I wake someone up, but my YES! nearly blasted the stucco from the walls.
    She took my hand, muttered some crazy words . My teeth hummed, my scalp felt like it was crinkling —
    â€” And my vision smeared, leaving me feeling dizzy and upset at the stomach. Not so that I had to barf, but more like you feel after spinning round and round just after you ate a big meal.
    But the feeling passed, and Clair said, “Sorry about the transfer ickies. It happens when you go long distances.”
    I blinked.
    â€œLike between worlds,” she added.
    I realized I was standing on a balcony, and it was daylight. At first I thought the railing was made out of ice, except the air was warm. Was it plastic, then? Because it reminded me of the fake North Pole at Santa’s Village, which featured fake icicles and snow, but when I touched it, it did not feel like plastic. It felt like stone. I looked at it more closely. It was glistening, just like ice, and even faintly translucent near the surface, but under the surface the color was white.
    â€œWhat is this stuff?” I asked Clair, who looked much the same in daylight as at night: a girl of maybe twelve, square face, ordinary kid build, pale skin, light hazel eyes, and pure white hair — not blond, but white, so white it had a faint bluish cast. Her brows were thin but black,