The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen

Table of Contents

 

 

Through a Brazen Mirror
The Porcelain Dove
The Fall of the Kings
(with Ellen Kushner)
Changeling

VIKING
Published by Penguin Group
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First published in 2009 by Viking, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 

Text copyright © Delia Sherman, 2009
Map copyright © Sam Kim, 2009

 

Lines from “The Adventures of Isabel” copyright © 1936 by Ogden Nash.

 

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“S
et the table, Neef,” my fairy godmother said. “White cloth, the china with the blue flowers. And get out the extra-large teapot. The Pooka’s coming to tea.”

I dropped the white cloth on the kitchen floor. “The Pooka? You’re putting out the good china for the Pooka?”

“He’s your fairy godfather, pet. Why shouldn’t I?” Astris leapt onto a high stool and opened the oven door carefully. A delicious scent of falling leaves and frost curled around my nose.

“And autumn cookies!” I exclaimed. “Okay, Astris. What’s up?”

Astris pulled a tray of leaf-shaped cookies from the oven. “What kind of a question is that?” she asked sternly.

“Well, it’s not officially autumn yet. And the Pooka broke a plate last time, remember? You said you’d never use the china for him again. Something’s got to be up.”

Astris sat up on her haunches. It’s hard for a large white rat with pink paws and powder-puff fur to look stern, but she did her best. “I need fewer questions and more work here, young lady. Your godfather will be along any moment.”

The Pooka arrived just as I was getting out the teapot. He had the bright look of a trickster who is just about to drop you into a heap of trouble, and a bunch of roses from the Shakespeare Garden, slightly brown around the edges. My suspicions, already roused, jumped up and danced.

He handed me the roses with a flourish. “Sweets for the sweet.” He sniffed the air. “Autumn cookies? Astris, it’s the wonder of the world you are.”

I put the roses in a plastic jar and set them on the table while Astris poured tea. We sat down. Cups were handed around. The Pooka dipped a leaf-shaped cookie into his tea and stuffed it, dripping, into his mouth. Astris glared at him. I ate one cookie and reached for a second.

“You’ll be starting school tomorrow, Neef,” Astris said brightly.

My hand fell to the table.

“Miss Van Loon’s School for Mortal Changelings,” the Pooka added helpfully.

I looked from one to the other. “School for
Mortal Changelings
?” I repeated stupidly.

Astris nodded. “Mortal as butterflies, pet.”

A school for mortal changelings. A school for me. When I was little, Astris brought me to live with her in New York Between, leaving a fairy twin to take my place Outside. I’m the only mortal changeling in Central Park. I used to think I was the only changeling in New York Between, but last summer I’d met my friend Fleet, and she told me there were plenty of other changelings. I’d been wanting to meet some of them ever since. And now I was going to.

I whooped happily. The Pooka laughed. Astris covered her pink-leaf ears with her paws. A white rat can’t smile or frown, but if you pay attention, a wrinkled nose or a whisker twitch can give you a lot of information. What Astris’s whiskers were saying right now was, “Mortals are so emotional.”

“Well, I
feel
emotional! I’m going to
school
tomorrow!” I hesitated. “Astris . . . what’s school?”

It wasn’t that I hadn’t seen the word before. Mortals are always leaving magazines and books in Central Park, so I know about lots of things I’ve never actually seen. But a school in New York Between probably wouldn’t be the same as a school in New York Outside.