Free The Pictish Child by Jane Yolen Page B

be right for the auld to hold on to power?”
    â€œMaybe it has to do with … wisdom?” asked Jennifer cautiously.
    Fiona laughed. “And how wise are these auld carlines, putting themselves in my hands? They already forget the words to spells. They give away objects of magic without thinking. With their crabbed auld hands, they cannna tie a solid elfknot. Those things have naught to do wi’ wisdom, my lass.”
    â€œBut …” Everything Fiona was saying was wrong. Jennifer felt that in her bones. So she tried to think of another argument. She could feel something else wrong, too, though she didn’t tell Fiona. In fact, she was lying on the something wrong and it was poking hard into her backside and hurt like crazy. She tried to wriggle away from it, but it seemed to scooch along with her whichever way she moved.
    â€œStop moving about, ye stupid Yank,” said Fiona. “Ye’ll not be pulling any American tricks on me.”
    â€œI’m just trying to get comfortable,” complained Jennifer, willing herself to whine, making herself sound weaker than she was. She wished Peter could help. Fiona needed a swift karate kick to the knees! “What’s wrong with that?”
    â€œ Wrong … wrong … ye keep harping on the word,” said Fiona. “From where I stand, what I am doing is right. And I have the right to hurt ye, if ye don’t stop that infernal wriggling.”
    Jennifer stopped wriggling and quickly changed the subject. “Look at them,” she said, nodding at the four women at the table. “Surely you’re not doing right by them, no matter where you stand.”
    â€œAre they hurt?” asked Fiona. “Do they want for anything? They are well fed and well clothed and kept dry and warm. Dinna ye watch the news, little Yank? Dinna ye ken how people are starving in Africa and in Pakistan and in parts of the States as well? These auld folk are happy here. They can play their little games at the table, and even think they are ordering me around. Still, it’s I who have the power noo, nae those auld carlines.”
    Power , thought Jennifer. It always comes down to that.
    Fiona smiled, and this time it seemed genuine. “I want you to notice, lass, that though I have taken their power from them, I willna have them hurt.”
    â€œBut it’s your will—not theirs,” Jennifer said. “They’ve had no say in the matter.”
    â€œAye—my will. And my time, too. For the power.” Fiona’s voice was triumphant.
    It’s not like the movies after all , Jennifer thought. The bad guy has talked and talked and in all that time no one has come to rescue us. She knew then that any rescue was going to be up to her. Yet time was running out and she didn’t have even the beginning of a plan.
    Still, whatever she was lying on hurt more than ever. The first thing she’d have to do was get rid of it. She began feeling around, but carefully this time, so as not to annoy Fiona. At last she managed to pull out what she had been lying on. It was the overturned lamp’s electric cord. Unaccountably, the three-pronged plug seemed to leap into her hand.
    â€œEnough gassing,” Fiona said. “Time for ye to shut yer cake hole, and listen carefully. I’ll not hurt ye, nor yer brother nor yer sister and her strange little friend, either. But ye will have to forget what has happened here. It would hae been better if ye had eaten the ice cream.” She fingered the little silver scissors that hung on the ribbon around her neck. “I can make ye forget. I have ways. And they willna hurt. No more than I’ve hurt these auld dears.”
    Going over to Molly, Fiona began to twist several locks of the little girl’s curls together. “Do ye see—the ice cream froze her natural resistance. So noo I can easily tie just three elfknots into little Molly Isabelle’s hair.