Diana Wynne Jones - Charmed Life

THERE ARE THOUSANDS of worlds, all different from ours.

CAT CHANT ADMIRED his elder sister Gwendolen. She was a witch.

CAT WAS ALARMED by Miss Larkins. She was the daughter of Mr. Larkins at the junk shop.

THE TRAIN JOURNEY lasted about an hour, before the train puffed into Bowbridge...

THE SAME SOFTNESS and silence were there when the red-haired Mary woke Cat...

GWENDOLEN REFUSED TO tell Cat what she was going to do.

GWENDOLEN GAVE VENT to her fury in her room after dinner.

IT RAINED ON Saturday afternoon. Gwendolen shut herself into her room...

GWENDOLEN WENT DOWN to the village to get her dragons blood on Wednesday afternoon.

BY THIS TIME, Cat was as bewildered as the strange girl seemed to be. Chant?

CAT WATCHED HIS moment and, when Mr. Saunders called them to lessons...

BY THE TIME Janet had laced both her boots, Cat was sure it was lunchtime.

CHRESTOMANCIS STUDY WAS a large, sun-filled room with books in shelves...

THEY WERE USHERED into a private parlor in the White Hart.

CAT SCREAMED. Flames burst out of him all over. He screamed again...

IT WAS A GLORIOUS start-of-autumn day, with everything green and gold, hot and still.

CAT, SAID CHRESTOMANCI, from almost behind Cats head. Cat!

HarperCollins e-book Exclusive Extras:

T HERE ARE THOUSANDS of worlds, all different from ours. Chrestomancis world is the one next door to us, and the difference here is that magic is as common as music is with us. It is full of people working magicwarlocks, witches, thaumaturges, sorcerers, fakirs, conjurors, hexers, magicians, mages, shamans, diviners and many morefrom the lowest Certified witch right up to the most powerful of enchanters. Enchanters are strange as well as powerful. Their magic is different and stronger and many of them have more than one life.

Now, if someone did not control all these busy magic-users, ordinary people would have a horrible time and probably end up as slaves. So the government appoints the very strongest enchanter there is to make sure no one misuses magic. This enchanter has nine lives and is known as the Chrestomanci. You pronounce it KREST-OH-MAN-SEE. He has to have a strong personality as well as strong magic.

DIANA WYNNE JONES

C AT C HANT ADMIRED his elder sister Gwendolen. She was a witch. He admired her and he clung to her. Great changes came about in their lives and left him no one else to cling to.

The first great change came about when their parents took them out for a day trip down the river in a paddle steamer. They set out in great style, Gwendolen and her mother in white dresses with ribbons, Cat and his father in prickly blue-serge Sunday suits. It was a hot day. The steamer was crammed with other people in holiday clothes, talking, laughing, eating whelks with thin slices of white bread and butter, while the paddleboat steam organ wheezed out popular tunes so that no one could hear themselves talk.

In fact the steamer was too crowded and too old. Something went wrong with the steering. The whole laughing, whelk-eating, Sunday-dressed crowd was swept away in the current from the dam. They hit one of the posts which were supposed to stop people being swept away, and the paddle steamer, being old, simply broke into pieces. Cat remembered the organ playing and the paddles beating the blue sky. Clouds of steam screamed from broken pipes and drowned the screams from the crowd, as every single person aboard was swept away through the dam. It was a terrible accident. The papers called it the Saucy Nancy Disaster. The ladies in their clinging skirts were quite unable to swim. The men in tight blue serge were very little better off. But Gwendolen was a witch, so she could not drown. And Cat, who flung his arms around Gwendolen when the boat hit the post, survived too. There were very few other survivors.

The whole country was shocked by it. The paddleboat company and the town of Wolvercote between them paid for the funerals. Gwendolen and Cat were given heavy black clothes at public expense, and rode behind the procession of hearses in a carriage pulled by black horses with black plumes on their heads. The other survivors rode with them. Cat looked at them and wondered if they were witches and warlocks, but he never found out. The Mayor of Wolvercote had set up a Fund for the survivors. Money poured in from all over the country. All the other survivors took their share and went away to start new lives elsewhere. Only Cat and Gwendolen were left and, since nobody could discover any of their relations, they stayed in Wolvercote.

They became celebrities for a time. Everyone was very kind. Everyone said what beautiful little orphans they were. It was true. They were both fair and pale, with blue eyes, and looked good in black. Gwendolen was very pretty, and tall for her age. Cat was small for his age. Gwendolen was very motherly to Cat, and people were touched. Cat did not mind. It made up a little for the empty, lost way he was feeling. Ladies gave him cake and toys. Town Councillors came and asked how he was getting on; and the Mayor called and patted him on the head. The Mayor explained that the money from the Fund was being put into a Trust for them until they were grown up. Meanwhile, the town would pay for their education and upbringing.

And where would you little people like to live? he asked kindly.

Gwendolen at once said that old Mrs. Sharp downstairs had offered to take them in. Shes been ever so kind to us, she explained. Wed love to live with her.

Mrs. Sharp had been very kind. She was a witch toothe printed sign in her parlor window said Certified Witchand interested in Gwendolen. The Mayor was a little dubious. Like all people who had no talent for witchcraft, he did not approve of those who had. He asked Cat how he felt about Gwendolens plan. Cat did not mind. He preferred living in the house he was used to, even if it was downstairs. Since the Mayor felt that the two orphans ought to be made as happy as possible, he agreed. Gwendolen and Cat moved in with Mrs. Sharp.

Looking back on it, Cat supposed that it was from this time on that he was certain Gwendolen was a witch. He had not been sure before. When he had asked his parents, they had shaken their heads, sighed, and looked unhappy. Cat had been puzzled, because he remembered the terrible trouble there had been when Gwendolen gave him cramps. He could not see how his parents could blame Gwendolen for it unless she truly was a witch. But all that was changed now. Mrs. Sharp made no secret of it.

Youve a real talent for magic, dearie, she said, beaming at Gwendolen, and I wouldnt be doing my duty by you if I let it go to waste. We must see about a teacher for you right away. You could do worse than go to Mr. Nostrum next door for a start. He may be the worst necromancer in town, but he knows how to teach. Hell give you a good grounding, my love.

Mr. Nostrums charges for teaching magic turned out to be 1 an hour for the Elementary Grades, and a guinea an hour for the Advanced Grades beyond. Rather expensive, as Mrs. Sharp said. She put on her best hat with black beads and ran around to the Town Hall to see if the Fund would pay for Gwendolens lessons.

To her annoyance, the Mayor refused. He told Mrs. Sharp that witchcraft was not part of an ordinary education. Mrs. Sharp came back rattling the beads on her hat with irritation, and carrying a flat cardboard box the Mayor had given her, full of the odds and ends the kind ladies had cleared out of Gwendolens parents bedroom.