“There are tapes you tie on the sides.Mind the pocket slits.I doubt your grandparents would like to see your pasty upper thighs.”
“Do not mention my grandparents and my thighs in the same sentence!”
The upper window of the cottage swung open with an ear-splitting screech.“What in the blazing fires is all this commotion?”A sharp old woman stuck her head out along with a green witchlight lantern, her gaze zeroing in on Maddox.“Boy in the skirt!You’re trespassing!”
Maddox whirled to me, his face panicked, but I only shrugged.He turned back again to the old woman on the second-floor window.
“A-are you Maude Greenwood, madam?”he asked.
“Who’s asking?”the woman said.
“I’m Maddox.Your grandson.”
It was silent for a spell.
I took the opportunity to step forward.“We’re here to ask about the weather.”
She retreated from the window and after a moment, the front door opened.Maude Greenwood was a small, bony woman with sharp shoulders and pinched lips.If it weren’t for her stormy gray eyes, I wouldn’t have noted any resemblance to Maddox or the good-humored Captain Greenwood at all.She lifted her green lantern high in the air, throwing light on Maddox in my too-short andverytransparent petticoat.I shaded my eyes.
Maude squinted at me.“Aren’t you Nasha’s eldest?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied.
“Your Ma is a poisonous gossip who needs to learn to mind her own business,” she snapped.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said.
Maude turned her assessing glare to Maddox.“So.You’re my grandson?”
He stood straighter.“Yes.Father never told me about—”
“Maverick was an ungrateful brat,” Maude snapped.
Maddox gave an uncomfortable laugh, but there wasn’t any humor in Maude’s eyes.I bit my lip, suddenly regretting telling him about his relationship with this witch.Chrissy had said that the Greenwoods were reclusive, but I didn’t pay it any mind.Perhaps it would’ve been kinder to him if he hadn’t known they existed at all.
“We were wondering about the weather,” I cut in.“What happened?”
“My husband died,” Maude said shortly.
Maddox’s eyes widened.“I’m sor—”
“He has died,” Maude continued, “a very miserable death.For years he had toiled away at a thankless job that no other witch wants to do.”
There were eight weather witches total, two in each tower, each specializing in an aspect of weather such as light, temperature, air circulation, humidity, and atmosphere.If the late Mr.Greenwood was in charge of light, that would explain the blackout.A witch’s enchantments ceased to exist after death.
“Pardon, but aren’t you also a weather witch?”I asked carefully.“Don’t you have an apprentice?”If Maude or an apprentice could take on the job, there was no reason why we still had to suffer a blackout.
“My apprentice was my son until he took off,” she said sharply.“It is exceedingly selfish for him to abandon his duties after all we elders did to build this village from scratch.Why should I continue my duties if no one in your generation wants to?”Maude scowled at me.“You’re just like him, aren’t you?Why have you come back?Have you finally realized that our kind has no place up there?”
I bristled.A million retorts came at once, along with a nagging sense of guilt that I couldn’t seem to reason away.
“That’s not true,” Maddox said, finding his voice once more.“Giselle has—”
“It’s fine, Maddox.We should go,” I said.Clearly the woman was too bitter to care about anyone’s concerns.We were better off asking the other weather witches.
A loud creak sounded from my left.A neighbor’s window had cracked open.Another creaked from my right.I endeavored not to make eye contact with anyone.
Maddox didn’t budge.“Maude...grandmother.If you want, you can come aboveground with us.Father will be glad to see you.”
