Matilda's Arc

Chapter 10 of 10

At dawn Angela was already on the step. Matilda opened the door and found the small orange ant waiting with her pack strapped tight. The glass box of spider silk sat on the table behind Matilda, beside the stoppered jar. Three drops. That was all it took to finish. And an ant with a mouth that reported to Summer Sun would see every move. Matilda thought fast. If she turned Angela away, Summer Sun would hear it by noon. She would know Matilda had something to hide, and the thin trust between them would snap. If she let the ant watch, Summer Sun would hear the recipe read aloud. "Come in," Matilda said. "I have something for you first." She went to the shelf and lifted down a heavy book she had kept since her mother's time. The cover was purple and gold, set with a keyhole and painted stars. She had never opened it in front of anyone. She set it on the rug by the window where the light was best. "An old book of tales," Matilda said. "The pictures move if you sit still. Ants your size take a long while to read a page." Angela climbed onto the cover. The keyhole flickered. A tiny castle rose from the paper and turned in the air. "I will watch you brew," Angela said. She did not look up. "I need to fetch the last herb from the garden," Matilda said. "Stay warm. I will be back." Angela's antennae twitched. "How long." "Long enough for one story." Matilda tucked the jar and the glass box into her basket. She stepped out the back door and did not stop at the garden. She walked past the beans, past the peach sapling, into the brambles behind the cottage. Under a mound of earth and stone sat a low wooden door she had dug herself years ago. She lifted the latch and went down. The cellar smelled of cold clay. She set the jar on the shelf. She opened the glass box. With a pin she lifted one bead of dew from the web and tipped it into the jar. Two. Three. The potion turned from green to black and held. She stoppered it and pressed the cork with wax from a candle she kept below. When she came back up, Angela was still on the book. A paper dragon circled her head. "Herb picked," Matilda said. She showed an empty sprig she had grabbed at the door. Angela looked at her a long moment. "You were gone eleven minutes." "The garden is not close." "Your boots are clean." Matilda said nothing. Angela climbed down from the book. She walked to the door and stopped on the sill. "I will tell her you brewed something," Angela said. "I did not see what." Then she was gone across the yard, back to Summer Sun.