Ella Enchanted - By Gail Carson Levine Page 0,55

of lilacs filled the room. I stifled a gasp. I could see Lucinda's outline through the rough weave of the draperies.

"I never thought the day would come when the kitchen fairy would call me. I'm delighted. How can I help you, dear?"

"Don't 'dear' me." Mandy sighed. "But you're right I need your help."

"And I love to help."

Safely hidden, I grimaced at her.

"I've been gathering my courage to ask you ever since the fairy ball."

"One has only to ask."

Mandy sounded regretful. "At the ball I got into an argument with Kirby."

"You shouldn't have. I never argue."

"But I do. It was about you. Kirby said we should suggest you try being a squirrel and try being obedient. If you gave it a fair trial -- three months as a squirrel, three as an obedient human -- you'd find out that your gifts aren't so wondrous after all."

"I don't have to try out my gifts to know they're magnificent."

"That's what I said you'd say. There, I can tell Kirby I won the argument. I said you'd be too afraid you were wrong to put it to the test."

Lucinda vanished. She must have been too angry at Mandy to continue the discussion. But then Mandy laughed. "Don't forget to be obedient, little one.

Here's a nice walnut. I'm sending you to a comfortable park." She paused. "You can come out, Lady."

"Did she really turn herself into a squirrel?" I emerged cautiously.

"She did." Mandy was still laughing.

"Do you think she'll learn?"

"If she doesn't, she's even more of a blockhead than I think."

"What if an animal eats her?"

"If that happened, I'd fear for the animal." She chuckled. "What a stomachache it would have."

"If she learns her lesson, will she undo all her gifts?"

"I don't know. I just had to stop her mischief. You may yet break the curse yourself."

"But if she discovers how wrong she was, she'll want to lift the spell."

"Maybe. But it would be more big magic." Mandy drew me into a hug. "Oh, love, I know what that spell does to you."

I pushed out of her arms. "You don't know! And how can you warn against big magic when you just summoned Lucinda?"

"Nothing one fairy does to another is big magic, Lady."

"Stop calling me 'Lady.' You used to call Mother that."

"Now you're a lady too. If you'd put yourself first and married the prince, someone would have come along to harm him and Kyrria, sure as cabbages.

You're a heroine, sweet."

"I'd rather be his wife." The tears welled up again, and I threw myself across Mandy's bed.

She sat next to me, stroking my back and murmuring. "Oh, sweet, my Lady.

Perhaps it will come right" She shifted her weight. Something crackled, and she exclaimed, "What's this? Oh, I forgot! When I posted your letter, there was one for you." She pulled a letter out of her apron pocket.

I flew up.

"It's not in the prince's hand, love."

It was from Father, saying he wouldn't come home. My servitude pained him, but not enough to return him to the arms of his odious, though beloved, wife.

He wrote, "When I find a husband for you who is rich enough to satisfy me, you will be released from my Olga. Until then, I urge you to be, as always, my stalwart daughter."

I fell back on the bed, laughing wildly. Father would make my letter to Char come true. He would marry me off to an ancient man who would soon die and leave me enormously wealthy. The irony! I couldn't catch my breath. Tears ran down my face, and I didn't know whether I was laughing or crying.

Mandy held me until I quieted. While she rocked me, I thought that Lucinda still might save me. Mandy might be wrong. Once Lucinda knew how it was to be obedient, she wouldn't be able to leave me cursed. She'd have to help me.

* * *

A WEEK later I saw in my magic book that Char had received my message. I opened to an illustration in which he was burning my letters. I was glad to see his image, no matter what the image was doing.

After I gazed awhile and ran my fingers over his shape, I turned the page and found an entry in his journal.

I've lost nothing. She never was what I thought her, so I've lost nothing. I'm only fortunate, and Kyrria is blessed, that she eloped before my letter reached her.

When I received the message from her sister, I thought it had to be a ploy to make me hate