AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is that all you can say?” said Granny.
“It's pointed, too.” Somehow being a wizard didn't feel any different from not being a wizard.
Simon leaned over.
“Remember,” he said, “you've got to have been a wizard. Then you can start looking on the other side. Like you said.”
Their eyes met, and they grinned.
Granny stared at Cutangle. He shrugged.
“Search me,” he said. “What's happened to your stutter, boy?”
“Seems to have gone, sir,” said Simon brightly. “Must have left it behind, somewhere.”
The river was still brown and swollen but at least it resembled a river again.
It was unnaturally hot for late autumn, and across the whole of the lower part of Ankh-Morpork the steam rose from thousands of carpets and blankets put out to dry. The streets were filled with silt, which on the whole was an improvement - AnkhMorpork's impressive civic collection of dead dogs had been washed out to sea.
ands tingled.
In the shadow-world, ideas are real. The thought seemed to travel up her arms.
It was a buoyant sort of thought, a thought full of fizz. She laughed, and moved her hands apart, and the staff sparkled in her hands like solid electricity.
The Things started to chitter nervously and one or two at the back started to lurch away. Simon fell forward as his captors hastily let go, and he landed on his hands and knees in the sand.
“Use it!” he shouted. “That's it! They're frightened!”
Esk gave him a smile, and continued to examine the staff. For the first time she could see what the carvings actually were.
Simon snatched up the pyramid of the world and ran towards her.
“Come on!” he said. “They hate it!”
“Pardon?” said Esk.
“Use the staff,” said Simon urgently, and reached out for it. “Hey! It bit me!”
“Sorry,” said Esk. “What were we talking about?” She looked up and regarded the keening Things as it were for the first time.
“Oh, those. They only exist inside our heads. If we didn't believe in them, they wouldn't exist at all.”
Simon looked around at them.
“I can't honestly say I believe you,” he said.
“I think we should go home now,” said Esk. “People will be worrying. ”
She moved her hands together and the staff vanished, although for a moment her hands glowed as though they were cupped around a candle.
The Things howled. A few of them fell over.
“The important thing about magic is how you don't use it,” said Esk, taking Simon's arm.
He stared at the crumbling figures around him, and grinned foolishly.
“You don't use it?” he queried.
