Free Beauty and the Beast by Wendy Mass

mention it again.”
    I lie down. “Yes, you will.”
    â€œProbably,” she admits.
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    Papa has hidden the clothes I was wearing the day of the fire. I cannot find them anywhere. I am afraid he has buried them near the outhouse in the backyard, where he knows I will not dig for them. I think Clarissa put him up to it. She says I am a woman now and must dress like it.
    I do not see how I am a woman today when I was a girl yesterday, but I allow her to pick out another of her frilly dresses for me because I am fairly certain I would be fired if I turned up at the apothecary shop in only my undergarments. Clarissa offered to tuck the dress with pins, but I do not trust her with anything sharp too close to my body. Her mind tends to wander.
    â€œThis will be fun!” Clarissa says, bouncing along beside me as we make our way into town. “I was so bored all alone at the house.” She refuses to call it home . It certainly does not feel like one.
    I grip my lunch sack tighter. “Do not make me sorry I agreed to let you come to work with me.”
    â€œYou did not agree. Papa gave you no choice.”
    â€œI hope the apothecary will not mind your presence.”
    â€œMe? Who would not want to have me around? I shall brighten up the place!”
    I glance sideways. It is true, she will. She has chosen her fanciest dress, which would be much better suited for a castle ball than for sitting on a stool in the corner of the apothecary shop all day. I think all the talk of Handsome’s engagement yesterday got Papa thinking that our only real chance of rising from the ashes is to marry one of us off. He was very quick to agree when Clarissa said she wanted to come with me today. The boys who had flocked around her this past year have quietly moved on. Whether they have found other girls, or whether they are no longer interested due to our fall from society, I know not.
    â€œYou promise you will not get in the way?”
    â€œI promise. I shall be as quiet as a church mouse.”
    â€œI doubt that.”
    â€œUnless a handsome boy comes in. I do not mean your friend Handsome, of course.”
    â€œI figured.”
    We pass by the riverbank and I remember the talk Handsome and I had about our births. Now that I know he is engaged to be married, perhaps it is not right to spend time with him. I debate asking Clarissa her opinion, but I do not want to get her talking of boys again. She’s likely not to stop.
    Master Werlin does not even turn around when we enter the shop. He is busy hanging batches of herbs upside down from a string. The string reaches the length of the shop and hangs high above the long, marble counter where I have seen him grind his herbs and roll pastes or ointments. Cabinets as high as my shoulders line the wall behind the counter. Each one is made up of tiny wooden drawers with a knob on the end. Most of these are sticking halfway out, their colorful contents visible. A long shelf runs above the cabinets, full of all manner of tools, pots, different size scales, mortars and pestles, oils, and one particularly nasty jar full of black leeches twisting and turning lazily in murky water.
    I shudder and clear my throat. Master Werlin turns around quickly, and I worry he will fall right off his stool. But he recovers himself and says, “Not a moment too soon. My last assistant put all the drawers back in the wrong place, and I cannot find a thing. I need you to sort it out. A starts in this corner, Z over by the sink. Can you do that?”
    I nod.
    â€œGood.” He reaches up for another clump of herbs.
    Clarissa nudges me. I reluctantly step forward. “If it pleases you, sir, may my sister, Clarissa, join me?” I feel foolish even asking, as though I am too young to do the job myself.
    He sighs, gives Clarissa a cursory glance, and says, “Fine. But do not expect double the wages.”
    â€œNo, sir,” Clarissa says. “You shan’t even