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'He doesn't know binkers froh,' said Tiffany 'Well, memory fades,' said Mistress Weatherwax She stopped and leaned against a rock She sounded out of breath 'Are you all right, mistress?' said Tiffany 'Sound as a bell,' said Mistress Weatherheezing slightly 'Just getting my second wind Anyway, it's only another sixa bit,' said Tiffany 'Do you, indeed? Then stop noticing!' The shout echoed off the cliffs, full of cohed, when the echo had died away Tiffany had gone pale 'It seeht just've been a shade on the sharp side there It was prob'ly the voles' She coughed again 'Them as knows me, or has earned it one way or the other, calls me Granny Weatherwax I shall not take it amiss if you did the same'

'Granny Weatherwax?' said Tiffany, shocked out of her shock by this new shock 'Not technic'ly,' said Mistress Weatherwax quickly 'It's what they call a honorific, like Old Mother So-and-so, or Goodie Thingy, or Nanny Whatshername To show that a

witch hasis fullyhas been-' Tiffany didn't knohether to laugh or burst into tears 'I know,' she said 'You do?'

'Like Granny Aching,' said Tiffany 'She was '

'Mrs Aching' wouldn't have worked, she knew You needed a big, war was therefor everybody 'It's like being everyone's grandmother,' she added And didn't add: who tells them stories! 'Well, then Perhaps so Granny Weatherwax it is,' said Granny Weatherwax, and added quickly, 'but not technic'ly Noe're best be ain Granny Weatherwax Tiffany tried it out in her head She'd never known her other grand soht And you could have two The hiver followed the its distance Well, there's a trick to take to the Trials, she thought Granny - her brain tingled as she thought the word - Granny has got a plan She ht There was another thought she wasn't quite having; it ducked out of sight every tiht She ot nearer to the Trials, there were clues Tiffany saw at least three broo the saroups of people were travelling in the sast theh some woods, came up in a patchwork of little fields and headed for a tall hedge, fro a h by the sound of it no twoor which Show Tiffany jumped when she saw a balloon sail up above the trees, catch the wind and swoop away, but it turned out to be just a balloon and not a lump of excess Brian She could tell this because it was followed by a long screaannaaaagongongonaargggaaaa BLOON!' which is the traditional sound of a very s that with balloons, as with life itself, it is i The whole point of balloons is to teach small children this However, on this occasion a brooer rose above the trees, caught up with the balloon and towed it back down to the Trials ground 'Didn't used to be like this,' Granny Weatherwax gruirl, we just used to meet up in some meadow somewhere, all by ourselves But now, oh no, it has to be a Grand Day Out For All The Fa into the field, but there was soic, and the women

pulled their children a little closer to theate There was a boy there, selling tickets and wishing, now, that he'd never been born Granny Weatherwax stared at hi man,' said Granny Little bits of ice tinkled off her words 'That'll, er, be, erone child and one senior citizen?' the young man quavered Granny leaned forward and said: 'What is a senior citizen, young man?'

'It's likeyou knowold folks,' the boyGranny leaned further forward The boy really, really wanted to step back but his feet were rooted to the ground All he could do was bend backwards 'Young man,' said Granny, 'I am not now, nor shall I ever be, an "old folk" We'll take two tickets, which I see on that board there is a penny apiece' Her hand shot out, fast as an adder The boy neeee as he leaped back 'Here's tuppence,' said Granny Weatherwax Tiffany looked at Granny's hand The first finger and thuether, but there did not appear to be any coins between the horribly, took the total absence of coins very carefully between his thuer Granny twitched two tickets out of his other hand 'Thank you, young man,' she said, and walked into the field Tiffany ran after her 'What did-?' she began, but Granny Weatherwax raised a finger to her lips, grasped Tiffany's shoulder and swivelled her round The ticket-seller was still staring at his fingers He even rubbed theed, held theo Clink, clinkThe crowd around the gate gave a gasp, and one or two of them started to applaud The boy looked around with a sick kind of grin, as if of course he'd expected that to happen 'Ah, right,' said Granny Weatherwax happily 'And now I could just do with a cup of tea and maybe a sweet biscuit'

'Granny, there are children here! Not just witches!' People were looking at them Granny Weatherwax jerked Tiffany's chin up so that she could look into her eyes 'Look around, eh? You can't move down here for amulets and wands and whatnot! It'll be bound to keep away, eh?' Tiffany turned to look There were sideshows all around the field A lot of thericultural shows around the Chalk: Roll-a- Penny, Lucky Dip, Bobbing for Piranhas, that sort of thing The Ducking Stool was very popular a children on such a hot day There wasn't a fortune-telling tent, because no fortune-teller would turn up at an event where so ue and answer back, but there were a nue tent, with a display du a Sky Scraper hat and a Zephyr Billow cloak, which had drawn a

crowd of admirers The other stalls were slittered and tinkled and they were doing a brisk trade aer witches There hole stalls full of drea ones It was odd to think of witches buying the umbrellas Surely a hiver wouldn't come here, with all these witches? She turned to Granny Weatherwax Granny Weatherasn't there It is hard to find a witch at the Witch Trials That is, it is too easy to find a witch at the Witch Trials, but very hard to find the one you're looking for, especially if you suddenly feel lost and all alone and you can feel panic starting to open inside you like a fern Most of the older witches were sitting at trestle tables in a huge roped-off area They were drinking tea Pointy hats bobbed as tongues wagged Every wo to all the others on the table at the sah this talent isn't confined to witches It was no place to search for an old woh in the sky now The field was filling up Witches were circling to land at the far end, and ateway The noise was intense Everywhere Tiffany turned, black hats were scurrying Pushing her way through the throng, she looked desperately for a friendly face, like Miss Tick or Miss Level or Petulia If it ca And she tried not to think She tried not to think that she was terrified and alone in this huge crowd, and that up on the hill, invisible, the hiver no this because just a tiny part of it was her She felt the hiver stir She felt it begin to roup of witches, their voices sounding shrill and unpleasant She felt ill, as though she'd been in the sun too long The world was spinning A rean, so patternother creatures- 'I do not want a lecture, Mr Bustle,' Tiffany mumbled 'I do not want you in my head!' But the memory of Simplicity Bustle had never taken oing to begin now It went on in its self-satisfied squeak: - in that, once it has selected its prey, it will coht across the Trials field, and soh the crowd like the wind through a field of grass You could plot its progress by the people Some fainted, soossip, chairs were overturned and the shouting started But it wasn't attacking anything It was only interested in Tiffany Like a shark, thought Tiffany The killer of the sea, where worse things happened

Tiffany backed away, the panic filling her up She bu towards the commotion and shouted at them: 'You can't stop it! You don't knohat it is! You'll flail at it and wave glittery sticks and it will keep co!' She put her hands into her pockets and touched the lucky stone And the string And the piece of chalk If this was a story, she thought bitterly, I'd trust in my heart and follow my star and all that other stuff and it would all turn out all right, right now, by tinkly Magikkkk But you're never in a story when you need to be Story, story, storyThe third wish The Third Wish The third wish is the iic catoffers you three wishes Three wishesShe grabbed a hurrying witch and looked into the face of Annagramma, who stared at her in terror and tried to coay 'Please don't do anything to me! Please!' she cried I'm your friend, aren't I?'

'If you like, but that wasn'tIt had been her, and that was iraet three wishes, what's the third wish!' Annagramma's face screwed up into the affronted frown she hen so had the nerve not to be understandable 'But why do-?'

'Don't think about it, please! Just answer!'

'Well, erit could be anythingbeing invisible oror blonde, or anything-' Annagra apart at the seao She ran to an old witch as staring at the commotion 'Please, mistress, this is important! In stories, what's the third wish! Don't ask me why, please! Just remember!'

'Erhappiness It's happiness, isn't it?' said the old lady 'Yes, definitely Health, wealth and happiness Now if I was you I'd-'

'Happiness? Happinessthank you,' said Tiffany, and looked around desperately for someone else It wasn't happiness, she knew that in her boots You couldn't get happiness by ht there There was Miss Tick, hurrying between the tents There was no time for half- measures Tiffany pulled her round and shouted: 'HelloMissTickYesI'mFinel HopeYouAreWellTooWhatlsTheThirdWishQuickly ThisIsIueOrAskQuestions Therelsn'tTime!' Miss Tick, to her credit, hesitated only for a moment or two 'To have a hundred more wishes, isn't it?' she said Tiffany stared at her and then said, Thank you It isn't, but that's a clue, too' Tiffany, there's a-' Miss Tick began But Tiffany had seen Granny Weatherwax She was standing in thesquare that had been roped off for