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'But you were snoring!'

'I was not snoring! I was just resting gently while I tickled an owl closer! If you hadn't shaken me and scared it away, I'd have been up there with this entire moor under my eye'

'Youtake over its mind?' said Tiffany nervously 'No! I'm not one of your hivers! I justborrows a lift froain, it don't even know I'm there Now try to rest!'

'But what if the hiver-?'

'If it comes anywhere near it'll be me that tells youV Mistress Weatherwax hissed, and lay back Then her head jerked up one more time 'And I do not snore!' she added After half a ain Minutes after that the owl calided onto the same rock, settled there for a while and then sped away The witch stopped snoring In fact, she stopped breathing Tiffany leaned closer and finally lowered an ear to the skinny chest to see if there was a heartbeat Her own heart felt as if it was clenched like a fist - - because of the day she'd found Granny Aching in the hut She was lying peacefully on the narrow iron bed, but Tiffany had known so as soon as she had stepped inside- Boom Tiffany counted to three Boo, a stiff hand lacier into a pocket, and cae piece of card on which ritten: I Ain't Dead, Tiffany decided she wasn't going to argue But she pulled the blanket over the old woht, she tried again with her sha Maybe if- Bycracked The egg always cracked, and now there was only one left Tiffany didn't dare try it with a beetle, even if she could find one It would be too cruel She sat back and looked across the landscape of silver and black, and her Third Thoughts thought: It's not going to coht, I' away It knows Mistress Weatherwax is with ot a mind It doesn't knohat a Mistress Weatherwax is\ Still thinking, thought her Third Thoughts Tiffany sluainst the rock Sometimes her head was toocrowdedAnd then it wasoff the ground like s on the rock where the owl had been, eating so It sed, glared at Tiffany with itsthe ain, which Tiffany took to ave the old worgrgrg suddenly beca, and waved a hand irritably at Tiffany to pass her the tea bottle She didn't speak until she'd gulped half of it 'Ah, say what you like, but rabbit tastes a lot better cooked,' she gasped, shoving the cork back in 'And without the fur on!'

'You took- borrowed the eagle?' said Tiffany 'O'course I couldn't expect the poor ol' owl to fly around after daybreak, just to see who's about It was hunting voles all night and, believe me, raw rabbit's better'n voles Don't eat voles'

'I won't,' said Tiffany, and meant it 'Mistress Weatherwax, I think I knohat the hiver's doing It's thinking'

'I thought it had no brains!' Tiffany let her thoughts speak for themselves 'But there's an echo of me in it, isn't there? There must be It has an echo of everyone it'sbeen There must be a bit of me in it I know it's out there, and it knows I' away'

'Oh? Why's that, then?'

'Because it's frightened of you, I think'

'Huh! And why's that?'

'Yes,' said Tiffany simply 'It's because I am A bit'

'Oh dear Are you?'

'Yes,' said Tiffany again 'It's like a dog that's been beaten but won't run away It doesn't understand what it's done wrong Butthere's soht that I' Her face went blank 'Are you all right?' said Tiffany 'I was just leavin' you tiht,' said Mistress Weatherwax 'Sorry It's gone now Butwe're thinking about the hiver in the wrong way'

'Oh, yes? And why's that?'

'Because' Tiffany struggled with the idea 'I think it's because we don't want to think about it the right way It's so to do withthe third wish And I don't knohat that ht,' and then looked up and added, 'We've got company' It took Tiffany several seconds to spot what Mistress Weatherwax had seen - a shape at the edge of the woods, s closer, but rather uncertainly It resolved itself into the figure of Petulia, flying slowly and nervously a few feet above the heather Sohtly different direction She got off again when she reached Tiffany and Mistress Weatherwax, grabbed the brooently and hung there, trying to fly