Magic or Madness (12 page)

The buildings opposite looked like something out of an Escher drawing. There was a rickety iron staircase attached to the
outside
of each one. I wondered if there were stairs inside too. Or maybe they were on the outside because someone forgot about them? But they weren’t even done right. The staircases started too high, even to jump up. Maybe this was a land of kangaroo people.

In front of the buildings were large white blobs. What on earth were they?

Soft wet drops hit my face and landed in my still-open mouth. Like rain, only softer. The air was full of white drops, like feathers or petals, floating through the air.

I walked down the steps, watching the gorgeous white dust dancing all around me. I caught some on my tongue and felt it dissolve. I shivered. It tasted like cold, wet air. I loved it.

“Snow,” I said out loud, proud of myself for figuring it out. “It’s snow.”

I’d never seen that much snow before. In fact, outside of picture books, I’d never seen
any
snow before. Growing up, I’d met littlies who’d never seen
rain.
I tried to imagine what they’d think of this. They’d wet themselves!

I laughed and spun round and round with my arms stretched, feeling the snow against my bare arms and legs. It tickled. The brown, green, red houses, the railings, the strange staircases, a moustached face in stone, all flashed by, obscured by the falling snowflakes. I came to a stop, panting.

The big white blobs were
cars,
I was sure. But they were covered in snow. I was looking at a street. A strange street, certainly, with such tall houses all crowded together, but definitely a street.

The snow, the cold, it was exhilarating. I couldn’t help it—I had to run. I sprinted along the footpath, feeling the snow, deliciously cool and soft, splatter against my face, the crunchy dampness of it underneath my bare feet. It felt absolutely fabulous. No wonder people in books liked winter. If this was winter, I liked it too.

I turned to run back.

That was when I realised I didn’t know where “back” was. Stretched out behind me was a row of houses, just like those on the other side of the street. They all looked the same with their iron railings and stone steps. I hadn’t thought to notice which house I’d come out of.

So stupid.

I could hear Sarafina’s voice in my head:
Always be alert, aware of your surroundings.
What had I seen? Red and brown houses. That was almost all of them. A moustached face in stone.

At that exact moment I realised I was shivering. I couldn’t feel my nose anymore. My T-shirt and shorts were soaked. I had no shoes. Snow was cold. I was cold. Very cold.

The snow started coming down even harder.

This was Jay-Tee’s third
night waiting. Each colder than the one before. She hadn’t even rescued Reason Cansino yet, and she already hated her.

“She’ll come through in the dark,” he’d said, which in winter wasn’t very helpful given that it was dark practically all the time. On top of that, his dreams weren’t always pinpoint accurate, but this time he wouldn’t even consider the possibility that the Reason kid might arrive when the sun was up, or during a different week, or, God forbid, not at all.

So Jay-Tee sat in the dark, swaddled in a down coat, cashmere scarf, fur-lined mittens, boots, and hat (the fur wasn’t visible, just in case animal liberationists decided to throw paint at her or something). And still her face was numb, and, weirdly, her knees—though not her calves or thighs—were icy. If she’d been able to move around, it wouldn’t have been too bad, but just sitting here was turning her into a Popsicle.

The coffee in her thermos had long ago gone cold and she’d already finished all the chocolate chip cookies. She looked at her watch—strapped on over her glove so that her wrist didn’t have to freeze every time she checked the time. Midnight. The sun wouldn’t come up for ages yet. A few snowflakes drifted to the ground.

Great,
thought Jay-Tee. Just what she needed, more snow. It’d fallen on and off all day, soft flakes, an inch or two sticking, making everything wet and slippery. Be just her luck if it turned into a blizzard. Nobody had predicted one, not that
that
meant anything. She got up and sat on the top step, out of the snow, pulling the heavy duffel bag stuffed with her useless coffee, as well as the coat and boots for Reason.

Jay-Tee looked across at the doorway, willing the stupid thing to open and the kid to step through. It had opened twice since she’d started her vigil, but both times it had been Esmeralda Cansino. Jay-Tee had been lucky—the witch hadn’t noticed her.

She didn’t want to think about what Esmeralda would do to her if she had. The witch wasn’t keen on people knowing about her door. According to him, the witch was all about blood and sacrifice, mostly animals, but there’d been rumors of human babies. “And if a stray girl like you stumbled through the door . . .” He’d shrugged. “She might take the opportunity to move up a notch.”

It was a pity the witch lived in the house on the other side of that door. Jay-Tee loved the idea of stepping out of this miserable winter and instantly into sunshine and warmth. Everything, he’d told her, was opposite on the other side of the door. When it was winter here, it was summer there. He’d promised that would happen soon if things went right. Jay-Tee snorted. She had not lived a life where many things went right.

The door opened.

A skinny Hispanic-looking girl with bare feet stepped through. Not at all what Jay-Tee had been expecting. The door slammed before Jay-Tee had a chance to see any of what was on the other side. She scooted farther back into the shadows and concentrated on not being seen.

Reason Cansino looked a few fries short of a Happy Meal, her mouth dropping all the way open, snowflakes landing in it. She looked delighted with herself, as if catching snowflakes was really hard.

She came down the steps slowly, staring at everything as if she’d never seen a street before. At the bottom she started twirling around and around.
Can’t she feel the cold?
Jay-Tee thought, pulling her down coat tighter; watching Reason dance practically naked in the snow was making
her
feel colder.

Then the idiot went running down the block. Jay-Tee stood up, wondering whether she should run after her or not. Not that she
could
run, what with being wrapped up like a mummy with a huge duffel to haul along.

Up ahead through the snow Jay-Tee could just make out Reason stopping, doing some kind of dance, and then turning back. She’d crossed her arms across her chest now, finally feeling the cold. The snow was falling harder now and at a slight angle; the wind was starting up. Jay-Tee could feel the temperature dropping. Might be time for a rescue.

Jay-Tee walked down the steps and called out, “Hey, you! Hey, kid!”

Reason didn’t seem to hear her. Jay-Tee moved closer. “Hey,” she called. “Are you okay?”

Reason took a few steps. She was shivering. Up close Jay-Tee could see that she was one continuous goose bump. Her face was red, her nose blue.

“I have a coat,” Jay-Tee said, pulling it out. Reason just looked confused. Jay-Tee wrapped the coat around her, reaching up to get it around Reason’s shoulders—the girl had maybe two inches on Jay-Tee—and pulled her unresisting arms through the sleeves. “Put your hands in the pockets. They’re warm.”

This Reason managed, though her shivering had transformed into whole-body shudders. Jay-Tee could hear the chatter of the girl’s teeth. She had to get her off the street.

Jay-Tee pulled the hood up over Reason’s head. The snow was coming at more of an angle now. Jay-Tee didn’t want to know what the windchill factor was—minus a zillion, it felt like. She hated it when the weather turned so fast.

“I got boots too,” she told the girl. Reason nodded, but Jay-Tee wasn’t sure she understood. They spoke English in Australia, she knew that, but maybe the girl was slow or something.

Jay-Tee pushed Reason back against the wall—the kid didn’t try to resist—and lifted up one blue foot, drying it as best as she could with her mittens before pushing it into the fur-lined boot. She repeated the process with the other foot.

“It’ll be better now. I’ll get you home,” Jay-Tee said, yelling into Reason’s hood. “It’s warm there. I think this is going to turn into a blizzard.”

Again the girl nodded, but she said nothing. Maybe she couldn’t speak with her teeth chattering so hard.

“This way,” Jay-Tee yelled, slipping her arm through Reason’s, making sure the girl kept her hands in her pockets. Half dragging, half pulling, she managed to get Reason moving in the right direction.
Should’ve brought a sled,
she thought.

“It’s not far,” she said out loud. “Honest.”

The fire was going, hardly necessary considering the heat pouring from the steam pipes.
Must be at least ninety degrees in here.
He’d probably lit it. Jay-Tee could feel he wasn’t around anymore. She was glad. She did not want to deal with him now. She was bone-tired. Dragging Reason six-and-a-half blocks had just about killed her.

Reason went straight to the fire, sinking down on the rug, hauling her hands out of her pockets and holding them to the flames.

“Not too close,” Jay-Tee warned. “Don’t want to freak them out. You know? First too much cold, then too much heat. Maybe you should just rub them.”

Reason looked at her, blinked, and then starting rubbing her hands. So she did understand her.

“You should get out of those wet clothes. How ’bout I bring you a towel and some PJs and fix us some food? You want a hot drink? You hungry?”

Reason nodded.

“Okay. Keep wiggling your fingers and toes. Don’t want any of them to drop off.”

When she came back, Reason was still wriggling away like a kid in preschool. Jay-Tee bit back a laugh. She put the towels and pajamas down next to her. “Here you go. I’ll be in the kitchen fixing some food. Holler if you need anything.”

“Okay,” Reason said.

At least that’s a two-syllable word,
thought Jay-Tee.

Jay-Tee handed Reason a mug of hot chocolate and two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. (Other than cereal, sandwiches were all Jay-Tee ever made.) She hunkered down beside Reason in front of the fire. They ate and drank in silence for several minutes.

Jay-Tee glanced at Reason. Although she was wearing the coat over the pajamas, she’d stopped shaking. Her nose was no longer blue, but it was still swollen. She looked to have the beginnings of a black eye, too.
Aha,
thought Jay-Tee,
the wicked witch must be handy with her fists.
Why would she bother, though? She could do
much
worse things than hit a person.

Jay-Tee wondered for a moment if she had. There was so little energy or spark about Reason. Had Esmeralda already drunk her near dry? He wouldn’t be happy about that.

Reason put down her mug, looked straight at Jay-Tee. “Where am I?”

“Eleventh Street.”

“Eleventh Street? Is that in Newtown?”

“Newtown? Whatcha mean?” Though Jay-Tee figured that had to be someplace on the other side of the door.

“What suburb is this?”

“Suburb? This isn’t the suburbs.”

Reason looked even more confused. “I don’t understand. Where are we? Eleventh Street where?”

“In the East Village,” Jay-Tee said, trying hard for patience. He’d told her to be nice, make friends with Reason. He’d also warned her to tell Reason as little as possible. Jay-Tee was too smart not to do exactly what he said when he used
that
tone of voice. She wasn’t going to tell Reason a thing. “You’re in the East Village. You were in the East Village when I found you. Did you bump your head or something?”

Reason blinked. Her eyelashes were wet. “The East Village,” she said slowly. “Um. Whereabouts is that?”