BEE LEE FELL asleep leaning against my side while Wink read The Thing in the Deep in the hayloft after supper. Felix was with his new girlfriend in the garden, but Peach and the twins were listening quietly. It always surprised me how the three of them could be so wild and then settle down so quickly when Wink started a story.
I meant to tell Wink about Thomas, and the letter. But when I found her up in the hayloft with the Orphans, they were all looking so cuddly and happy, I couldn’t do it.
Later.
Thief was at the Never-Ending Bridge over the River Slay. The old woman who guarded the bridge wouldn’t let him pass until he played Five Lies, One Truth with her. In the end, all six were lies. Thief guessed right, and won, and the old woman screamed in rage and tore out her long, white hair.
“The Never-Ending Bridge led to The Hill Creeps, where Thief would face his greatest trial. If he could pass through the hills and not go mad, then he would finally reach The Thing in the Deep. He would fight her, and kill her with the sword his father left him, and avenge his true love, Trill . . .”
Wink’s soft voice drifted up to the tall rafters of the hayloft and echoed back down again. It made me feel calm and peaceful and like everything was okay. Bee Lee had hay in her brown hair and I pulled it out, gently, so I wouldn’t wake her. Her hand was in mine, but it went slack after she fell asleep.
Wink was using her Putting the Orphans to Sleep voice. I leaned against her side, as Bee leaned against mine. I reached up and moved a batch of red curls behind Wink’s ear, and then started counting the freckles on her right arm, the one holding the book. I did it quietly, so I could still hear her voice. I pressed each freckle with the tip of my finger, and got to twenty-three before my eyes drifted shut.
Wink turned the page and my eyes drifted open again.
Shut.
Open.
And then I saw her.
There, at the top of the ladder.
Poppy.
She was silhouetted against the stars, pale blond hair, light flowing right through her like she was lit from within.
I closed my eyes.
Opened them.
And she was gone.
I’d imagined it.
Hadn’t I?
Like the smell of jasmine in my bedroom, I’d imagined it.
Wink closed the book, put it in her pocket, and looked at me. “Midnight, you’re shaking. Are you cold?”
I just nodded.
“We should all have some golden milk,” she said, louder. “Who wants some golden milk before bed?”
They all wanted it. Even Bee Lee woke up and whispered, “I want golden milk.”
We all went into the Bell kitchen and drank warm milk with brown sugar and cardamom and turmeric. Mim was out “gathering herbs in the forest by moonlight,” Wink told me, casually, like this was normal.
Felix came in, alone, after a while. He poured himself a mug of the steaming yellow milk, leaned against the counter in a contented way, and smiled at his sister. “I’m thinking of taking Charlotte to the Gold Apple Mine tomorrow, to see the horses. She told me she likes horses.”
Wink shook her head. “It’s a bad time to go to the mine.”
Felix raised his eyebrows. “Why?”
Wink took a sip from her cup, and the steam made her face looked flushed. “This week is the anniversary of the accident that killed twenty-seven Gold Apple prospectors and shut down the mine. Their spirits will be active, Felix. You shouldn’t go there. Charlotte won’t like it. She won’t understand it.”
Felix nodded at Wink, like this made perfect sense. “Maybe we’ll go in September. The leaves will be really pretty, when they turn.”
“I saw something in the woods last night,” Peach said, out of nowhere, like kids do. She had a saffron stain around her lips, and her expression was sparkly and impish.
“Was it the white deer? Is he back again?” Wink glanced at me. “There’s an albino stag that lives in the forest. We see him sometimes. He’s very shy, and very grand.”
Bee Lee took my hand and raised her brown eyes to mine. “Greta tells her brothers in Lost Inside the Emerald Forest that seeing a white deer is lucky, and that you can wish on one, like a falling star.”
Wink smiled at her little sister. “Bee’s hoping to wish on our white deer—she wants a ship.”
“A big one,” Bee said, voice cute and breathless. “With a big wooden wheel and topsails and a captain’s log and a telescope.”
Wink laughed. “There’s no ocean for miles and miles, but Bee’s not letting that stop her.”
“Good for you, Bee,” I said. “Wishes and reality don’t mix anyway—”
“No. No, no, no.” Peach was shaking her head, her red hair bouncing. Her curls were even messier than Wink’s, and longer. The red ringlets dripped down past her elbows. She wore a blue dress and her feet were bare, and very dirty. “It wasn’t the white deer I saw. It was a girl.”
“We saw her too,” Hops said.