wanted to laugh out loud. She had a million questions, but of course it was all a test, and if she failed she would never, ever see darling little Mab again, or Belle, or any of them, so she kept her mouth shut.
Miss Trang ushered Willa into the dining room. Everyone took their places around the table and Willa realized suddenly that she was quite hungry. She’d been so nervous about coming that she’d barely eaten a bite all day.
“Dinner smells delicious,” she ventured, which was true. Now the smells from the kitchen — pot roast with gravy, it smelled like — were making her mouth water. Baz hurried in and out, filling the table with covered dishes. When she was done, Miss Trang stood and, with a flourish, whipped the cover from a large silver soup tureen.
“Oooh!” and “Aah!” and “Lovely!” were heard around the table but all Willa could do was stare. The tureen was totally empty. She looked around to see if it was a joke, but everyone was dead serious. They held up their bowls and Miss Trang made a great show of ladling out nothing but air.
“Willa, would you like some soup?” All faces turned toward her. She froze. She had no idea what she was supposed to do. Was it special magic invisible food that everyone could see but her? Or was it a big joke? Were they laughing at her?
Willa smiled weakly and held up her bowl. “Yes, please. I’d love some soup.”
Everyone seemed to relax at that and began chatting over their imaginary meals. To Willa’s right Robert jostled her elbow as he leaned forward to slurp up his nonexistent soup. Horace too lowered his face right into his bowl, lapping noisily. The others wielded their silver spoons, clattering them in the bowls and delicately lifting them to their mouths.
Over the main course Robert began arguing loudly with Baz about the amount of garlic in the non-existent mashed potatoes. He occasionally pounded a hoof on the floor for emphasis, shaking the whole table. Horace listened to them, chewing thoughtfully. His massive paws rested on the table, the claws idly tapping holes in the tablecloth.
Willa sat primly, quietly, trying not to stare. Right beside her sparkling little Mab was skipping about her plate as if it was a fairy ring, the china sounding ting-ting-ting with every step. And Baz kept creeping up silently behind Willa, making her jump every time she placed a new empty plate in front of her.
The only thing that kept Willa from getting jittery was Fadi in her cage, just visible over Belle’s shoulder. The bird watched her steadily but kindly and even winked at her once. All she could do was pretend to eat. After all, that’s what everyone else was doing.
Willa dabbed her mouth with her napkin and placed it on her plate. The so-called meal was finally over. Now she had to pretend she was full, even though her stomach was groaning. Suddenly something brushed against her ankle. She stiffened. What new weird creature could this be? Was it dangerous? It was circling her feet, she could feel it moving. It must be the cat, the mysterious cat she had never seen. She picked up her handkerchief and let it slip from her hand onto the floor. Nobody even looked up as she leaned down to retrieve it and peered into the darkness under the table. Two green eyes peered back, and a scaly lizard face flicked out a scarlet tongue at her.
She managed not to scream but jerked up suddenly, banging her head on the table. Sitting up as nonchalantly as possible, she quietly drew up her legs until she was sitting cross-legged on her chair. She realized she was holding her breath and let it out slowly and silently. This was too much all at once; she felt an urge to shout, or run or scream or SOMETHING, but she kept rigidly still.
Everything had become strangely quiet. Everyone at the table was watching her, smiling.
“How did you like your dinner?” Miss Trang was regarding her with transparent eyes.
“It was delicious, thank you very much.” All she could think about was getting out of there and going home to make herself a peanut butter sandwich.
“This was all Horace’s idea.” said Miss Trang, gesturing toward the empty plates.
Horace nodded, grinning. “It’s known as a Barmecide Feast — a test of poise and humour. You did very well indeed, my dear.”
Willa blinked, unsure of what to say. Her stomach spoke for her, gurgling loudly, and she blushed with embarrassment. Miss Trang turned to Baz.
“Go and make Willa a sandwich. Peanut butter, yes?”
Willa started in surprise and nodded. Baz scurried into the kitchen and in a flash returned with the sandwich. As Willa munched happily, Miss Trang spoke once more.
“Since you have done so well tonight, we’d like to keep you on as our housekeeper. You’ll have additional duties, so we’ll need you here full time. And there are two rules. The first rule you know already: do not tell anyone about anything that goes on here. The second concerns the asking of questions. I’m sure you have a few queries about our humble household, yes?”
Willa could only nod, as her mouth was full.
“Well, it would take many days and nights to explain everything you are wondering about, believe me. For this reason you are only allowed one question per day.”
Willa swallowed. “May I ask one now?” Miss Trang nodded but Tengu was already pointing at Willa and cackling.
“That was a question! You used up your question!”
Miss Trang gave him a stern look and he sat back, one hand over his mouth as he continued to snicker. “Go ahead.” She nodded to Willa.
Willa’s mind raced. What did she most want to know about? The fairy? The bird Fadiyah? Horace the lion? Robert the centaur?
Hearing the sudden tick-tick-tick of nails on the wood floor, Willa peered back over her shoulder to see the long, skinny lizard dash across the room, jumping, writhing, and wriggling. She thought it was biting at its own tail, but soon saw that it had two heads, one at either end, which snapped at each other with jagged teeth! Finally one clamped onto the neck of the other. The lizard formed a hoop and rolled away out of sight. Willa turned back to Miss Trang.
“Don’t you own a cat?” she asked. The table erupted into guffaws and squeals of laughter. The bird squawked. Even Miss Trang smiled.
“The answer to that is no.”
Which was all very well, but when Willa arrived for work the next morning there was a dead little bird waiting for her on the doorstep, looking for all the world like a cat’s welcome gift.
Chapter Five
In the ordinary everyday, one question at a time
Willa returned to work, doing the same chores plus new ones, since she now had to clean and tidy the entire house. She didn’t mind in the least. The extra pay of a real full-time job made her parents very proud. The mood at home became much more relaxed, which was great. No more talk about “money worries.”
Willa’s days at the boarding house changed from quiet to boisterous. Everyone could now go about as they pleased while Willa was there. They bickered in the parlour, pestered Baz for tea and biscuits, and generally got underfoot as Willa was trying to clean. Robert awkwardly clip-clopped through the too-small rooms, knocking things over with his tail. Being so restricted in space
