Chantress (31 page)

I stared at him, astonished.

“What you said about having a gift, a craft, and being allowed to explore it: That struck home,” he said. “That’s what I want for myself. Why shouldn’t I want it for you?”

I stood very still.

“I really mean it.” He reached inside his coat and pulled out a parchment packet. “Here’s proof.”

Mystified, I took the packet. Inside I found sheets of paper with familiar handwriting:

For my daughter, Lucy . . .

“My mother’s letter,” I whispered. “Where did you find it?”

“In the secret passage at Ravendon House. I didn’t say anything about it to the King’s advisers. I was afraid they’d lock it away if I did. And I thought you ought to have it.”

I sat down on the stone bench and studied the letter. Even in bright sunlight, the water-splotched pages were impossible to read. But when I held them close, I heard a fragile thread of melody spiral out from them, a tune sung in my mother’s own sweet voice, every note soft but clear. As I joined in, the handwriting began to darken, and I could read passages that had eluded me before:

My daughter, you are very dear to me—and would be even if you had no magic at all. But since I must leave you here, perhaps for a very long time, it is a comfort that you have the gift of Wild Magic. I can hear it in you already, even though you are so small, and I believe it to be even stronger than my own . . . .

Do not be afraid. There is much said about Wild Magic that is not true, and there are more ways of protecting yourself than anyone guesses . . . .

I could hear my mother’s voice clearly, almost feel her arms embracing me. The pages trembled in my hand.

There will be times when your ability to do Wild Magic is compromised; this happens sometimes after illness or turmoil. Indeed, after you have worked a very great feat of magic, your gift may even appear to vanish altogether. I know myself how distressing this can be, but do not fear: The magic is inside you still, dearest daughter, and with time and rest, it will return . . . .

There was more, but my eyes were too blurred with tears to continue. I folded the letter and held it close, yearning for the mother who had reached across time to comfort me.

“Thank you,” I said, looking up at Nat. “Thank you with all my heart. You don’t know what this means to me.”

“I can guess.”

I rose from the bench. The bond between us was so strong I could almost hear it humming in the air.

“Nat?”

He looked at me then, his gaze quiet and clear. He looked at me with liking and respect and kindness, and perhaps something more . . . .

Oh! What wouldn’t I give to be able to read his mind again, just long enough to know what he truly thought of me now?

But that was beyond me, at least for the time being. And perhaps that was just as well. Some secrets shouldn’t be forced. I needed to be patient, letting the future unfold in its own time and its own way.

I began to pull back, but Nat leaned forward. With the fiercest look I’d seen from him yet, he curved his hand against my cheek and gently kissed me.

The humming in my head burst into full song.

As I stepped back from him, Norrie called to us from the cottage door. “Nat? Lucy? Are you still out there? I’ve set us a table in here. You need a proper meal, Nat. And you could do with one too, Lucy.”

Nat offered me his hand. I took it.

“We’re coming,” I called. We walked up to the house together, and my heart sang all the way.

How much history is in this historical fantasy?

A fair amount, as it happens.

Chantress
, for example, is a real word, and you really can find it in the
Oxford English
Dictionary
. Penebrygg’s statements about its derivation are correct.

Although the story takes place in 1667–1668, London’s geography is more or less as it would have been before the Great Fire of 1666 (which hasn’t happened in
Chantress
’s world). Furnishings, clothing, and food are in keeping with what was available in the period, depending on the various characters’ positions and circumstances.

The Great Devastation owes something to Guy Fawkes’s failed Gunpowder Plot (1605).

In real life, King Charles I was much like the “tyrant” Nat describes. In our world, he lost both his crown and his head in the English Civil War and its aftermath. In
Chantress
, he manages to subdue his enemies before war breaks out, only to be killed along with his court in the Great Devastation. His successor is King Henry IX, Henry Seymour. In the real world, an older Henry Seymour was, in fact, a distant claimant to the throne, a descendant of the Tudor line.

Nat’s microscope would have been a new, unusual, and very high-tech device at the time. The remark about fleas looking as big as lambs comes from a comment by Galileo, who built some of the earliest microscopes.

There really was an Invisible College, a loose association of mathematicians, alchemists, and natural philosophers who were active in the 1640s and 1650s; historians debate the exact nature of the organization and its membership. In 1660, under Charles II, some Invisible College members were involved in founding the Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, now known simply as the Royal Society. My Invisible College engages in many of the same activities as its prototype, but with an extra helping of danger, intrigue, and magic. The astute observer may notice a certain uncanny resemblance of characters in my IC to those who belonged to the real-life IC and Royal Society.

The alchemy and firebox experiments that Nat mentions to Lucy are very much in line with the kind of phenomena the Invisible College and Royal Society liked to investigate. Nat’s firebox would have been one of the earliest cast-iron stoves, which only became common in the eighteenth century.

The Tower of London is essentially like its real-life counterpart, although there have been certain alterations made to it under Scargrave, in part because of the Shadowgrims.

Legend has it that there have been ravens at the Tower for centuries, though hard evidence suggests they may date only to the nineteenth century. The legend, however, has stolen the show, maybe because of the birds’ sheer presence. Enormous, clever, and bold, they strut on Tower Green as if they owned it. I first encountered them years ago, and they’ve haunted me ever since.

I began this book in 2006 in a Massachusetts coffee shop. Almost six years later, I finished the last draft in my new home in England. During that time, I moved countries, had a child, nearly died, inched back to life—and somehow held on to this story, even if sometimes by a thread. In truth, it often seemed as if the story were holding on to me. Without the help of others, however, I’m not sure I could have seen it through.

I owe an especially great debt to Kit Sturtevant and Nancy Werlin, two remarkable writers who sustained me through the whole journey, encouraging me in the doldrums and offering helpful comments when I finally dared show them the manuscript. I am hugely grateful, too, to the other wonderful writers who critiqued the manuscript in full—Kristina Cliff-Evans, Amanda Jenkins, Teri Terry, and Jo Wyton—and to those who read draft chapters: Nick Cross, Paula Harrison, Tina Lemon, Penny Schenk, Nicki Thornton, Jan Carr, Philippa Francis, George Kirk, Lois Peterson, Joyce Taylor, Stephanie Burgis, and the SCBWI-BI 11+ Fantasy E-group.

My thanks to many others who cheered me along the way, among them Cathy Atkins, Jeannine Atkins, Kathi Fisler, Shirley Harazin, Lisa Harkrader, Cynthia Lord, Kirsty Luff, Amy McAuley, Mary Novack, Mary Pearson, Marlene Perez, Samantha Scolamiero, Jenny Turner, Laura Weiss,
Sue Williams, Melissa Wyatt, and the generous LiveJournal, YAWriter, and SCBWI communities. I am deeply grateful to Ada Jiménez and Kathy MacGregor, who took loving care of my daughter, allowing me some hours to write. I also extend profound thanks to the health professionals who helped me in dark times and to blood donors everywhere.

It’s my good fortune to have the smart and thoughtful Julie Just of Janklow & Nesbit as my agent; it’s a delight to work with her. My thanks as well to the rest of “Team Chantress,” marvelous women all: Tina Bennett, Svetlana Katz, and Stephanie Koven.

My editor, Karen Wojtyla, sees to the heart of things; it’s an honor, a challenge, and a pleasure to be edited by her. At Simon & Schuster, I’m also grateful for the help of Justin Chanda, Paul Crichton, Michael McCartney, Emily Fabre, Annie Nybo, Bridget Madsen, and everyone who has looked after
Chantress
so well. I appreciate Jen Strada’s careful copyediting too.

I send loving thanks to my family, who’ve helped in ways large and small: Barbara and Crispin Butler; Pat and Bert Greenfield; Steve and Sabine; Jon, Valerie, Sofia, Carlo, and Vivian; Stephen, Sarah, Ruth, and Grace.

Above all, I want to thank my husband, David—co-conspirator, reader extraordinaire, and steadfast friend—and my beautiful, brave daughter. You bring music and magic to all my days.

Thanks dpgroup forum.

MARGARET K. McELDERRY BOOKS † An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division † 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 †
www.SimonandSchuster.com
† This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. † Copyright © 2013 by Amy Butler Greenfield † All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. † M
ARGARET
K. M
C
E
LDERRY
B
OOKS
is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. † The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at
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. † The text for this book is set in Granjon
LT
.† Jacket photograph copyright © 2013 by Ali Smith † Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data † Greenfield, Amy Butler. † Chantress / Amy Butler Greenfield.—1st ed. † p. cm. † Summary: “Fifteen-year-old Lucy discovers that she is a chantress who can perform magic by singing, and the only one who can save England from the control of the dangerous Lord Protector”—Provided by publisher. † ISBN 978-1-4424-5703-4 (hardcover) † ISBN 978-1-4424-5705-8 (eBook) † [1. Supernatural—Fiction. 2. Magic—Fiction. 3. Singing—Fiction. 4. Great Britain—History—17th century—Fiction.] I. Title. † PZ7.G8445Ch 2013 † [Fic]—dc23 † 2012012410