Free The Door in the Moon by Catherine Fisher

before the heedless aristocrats holed up here felt that wrath?
    She had to find out more. About where Jake was, and about the mysterious
contessa.
    Not to mention, she thought as she set off for the kitchens, about finding a door in the moon.

7
    At last the Abbot himself said, “I will enter the dark Wood and face the demons in my own guise. And if our lost brother is there, I will find him, and with God’s grace and the protection of the holy saints, I will bring him home.”
    Wiser monks shook their heads and counseled him not to venture. Because they knew what fiends, what temptations, lurk’d in those desolate places.
    Chronicle of Wintercombe
    S HE CAME FORWARD , out of the shadows, small and smiling.
    â€œMoll!” he said. “How can it—”
    He turned, and stopped.
    She seemed to transform. From a small dirty child to a girl, as if time accelerated before him. As she unfastened her hood and swung off the dark cloak, he stared with astonishment.
    She said, “Time don’t stop, Jake. I’ve been waiting an age for you.”
    He saw a girl of about fifteen, dressed in a gown of maroon-and-black velvet.
    Lace gloves covered her fingers. Her hair, dark and lustrous, was pinned up in an elaborate style. Earrings, glinting with diamonds, hung at her ears.
    She was slim and beautiful and cleaner than he was.
    His face must have shown only shock, because she giggled. “You should see your face, cully. Have I changed all that much, then?”
    He swallowed. “No . . . but you’ve . . .”
    â€œGrown up?” She came forward, her dress swishing on the floor, and he saw then that it was too big for her. “How long for you, then, Jake, since you went back through the mirror at Symmes’s place? Five months? Six?”
    â€œSix.”
    â€œNot long.” She sat on a striped sofa and leaned back. “Not for you. Five whole years for me.” She winked, a coy, knowing look. “Catching up with you, Jake.”
    He was devastated. The cheeky, bold urchin he had known was transmuted into a girl who had probably seen more of life than he had, and he felt bewildered. As if he was the child and she the adult.
    He said, “They didn’t kidnap you too?”
    She giggled, gleeful. “Lord, there’s no they, Jake, luv. Just me and the boys. Surprised?”
    She sat on the sofa, demure, then tiring of that, swung her legs up and sat with them crossed.
    Jake stared. “You mean . . . My God, Moll! I was scared stiff! He had a gun and—”
    Moll laughed. “Empty, Jake. Wouldn’t have had you hurt. But what a lark! I knew you’d love it. All that malarky with the gag and stuff.”
    He had no idea what to say. He had forgotten her wildness, her fearlessness. He was angry, furious with her.
    She tapped the seat beside her. “Come on, Jake. No hard feelings?”
    And then he saw, under the lace of her glove, a slim edge. Grabbing her hand, he slid the glove down and stared at the bracelet.
    â€œMoll, where did you get this? Did Symmes . . . But no, we know that Symmes never had one, because in the end he entered the mirror without one, so—”
    â€œYou don’t know zilch, Jake luv.” She was looking at him as if she feasted on the sight of him.
    He dropped her hand, realizing. “And to get me you’d have had to travel into the
future!
How is that possible? We’ve never been able to do anything like that yet!”
    â€œI worked a few things out. You don’t know half of what that black glass can do. But I do, Jake.” She shrugged. “I’ve just about sold my soul to the thing to find out. Because I had to, cully, once I worked out that you was never coming back for me.”
    He sat, slowly, beside her. “Moll, like you said, it’s only been six months. I would have come, I meant to, but things have gone crazy. I tried to find my