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"Yes!" The war Tiffany's face, turned the teacup upside down The tea dropped out in one luh not to say, "How did you do that?" Granny Weatherwax didn't answer silly questions or, for that matter, many questions at all "You moved the heat," Tiffany said "You took the heat out of the tea and h you to me, yes?"

"Yes, but it never touched me," said Granny triumphantly "It's all about balance, do you see? Balance is the trick Keep the balance and--" She stopped "You've ridden on a seesaw? One end goes up, one end goes down But the bit in the ht in the ht through it Don't o, it keeps the balance" She sniffed "Magic is mostly movin' stuff around"

"Can I learn that?"

"I daresay It's not hard, if you get your ht"

"Can you teach me?"

"I just have I showed you"

"No, Granny, you just showed me how to do it, not…how to do it!"

"Can't tell you that I kno I do it How you do it'll be different You've just got to get your ht"

"How do I do that?"

"How should I know? It's your ain, will you? My tea's gone cold" There was so almost spiteful about all this, but that was Granny She took the view that if you were capable of learning, you'd work it out There was no point init easy for people Life wasn't easy, she said "An' I see you're still wearing that trinket," said Granny She didn't like trinkets, a word she used tometal a witch wore that wasn't there to hold up, shut, or fasten That was "shoppin'" Tiffany touched the little silver horse she wore around her neck It was small and simple, and it meant a lot to her "Yes," she said calot in that basket?" Granny said nohich was unusually rude Tiffany's basket was on the table It had a present in it, of course Everyone knew you took a s, but the person you were visiting was supposed to be surprised when you gave it to her, and say things like "Oooh, you shouldn't have"

"I brought you so black kettle onto the fire "You've got no call to be bringing me presents, I'm sure," said Granny sternly "Yes, well," said Tiffany, and left it at that She heard Granny lift the lid of the basket There was a kitten in it "Her mother is Pinky, the Widow Cable's cat," said Tiffany, to fill the silence "You shouldn't have," growled the voice of Granny Weatherwax "It was no trouble" Tiffany smiled at the fire "I can't be havin' with cats"

"She'll keep thearound "Don't have ht Tiffany Aloud, she said, "Mrs Earwig's got six big black cats" In the basket, the white kitten would be staring up at Granny Weatherith the sad, shocked expression of all kittens You test ht "I don't knohat I shall do with it, I'oat shed," said Granny Weatherwax Most witches had goats The kitten rubbed against Granny's hand and went ood-bye at the door and very carefully shut the kitten outside Tiffany went across the clearing to where she'd tied up Miss Treason's brooainst a holly bush, and went quiet until she wasn't there any about her said: I'm not here Everyone could see pictures in the fire and in clouds You just turned that the other way around You turned off that bit of yourself that said you were there You dissolved Anyone looking at you would find you very hard to see Your face became a bit of leaf and shadow, your body a piece of tree and bush The other person'slike just another piece of holly bush, she watched the door The wind had got up, war the yellow and red leaves off the syca The kitten tried to bat a few of the noises Any one and would open the door and-- "Forgot so?" said Granny by her ear She was the bush "Er…it's very sweet I just thought you row to like it," said Tiffany, but she was thinking: Well, she could have got here if she ran, but why didn't I see her? Can you run and hide at the sairl," said the witch "You run along back to Miss Treason and give her ht now But"--and her voice softened a little--"that was good hiding you did just then There's many as would not have seen you Why, I hardly heard your hair growin'!" When Tiffany's stick had left the clearing, and Granny Weatherwax had satisfied herself in other little ways that she had really gone, she went back inside, carefully ignoring the kitten again After a few minutes, the door creaked open a little It may have been just a draft The kitten trotted inside… All witches were a bit odd Tiffany had got used to odd, so that odd seemed quite normal There was Miss Level, for exainary Mistress Pullunder, who bred pedigreed earthworave them all names…well, she was hardly odd at all, just a bit peculiar, and anyway earthwor kind of way And there had been Old Mother Dismass, who suffered froe when it happens to a witch; her mouth never moved in time with her words, and sometimes her footsteps came down the stairs ten minutes before she did But when it came to odd, Miss Treason didn't just take the cake, but a packet of biscuits too, with sprinkles on the top, and also a candle Where to start, when things all-to-wall odd… Miss Euone blind when she was sixty years old To most people that would have been a , a particular witch talent She could use the eyes of anione deaf when she was seventy-five, but she'd got the hang of it by now and used any ears she could find running around When Tiffany had first gone to stay with her, Miss Treason had used a , because her old jackdaw had died It was a bit worrying to see an old woe with aif you said so around to face you It was aly nose could be The new ravens were a lot better Soes had made the old woman a perch that fitted across her shoulders, one bird on either side, and with her long white hair the effect was very, well, witchy, although a bit messy down the back of her cloak by the end of the day Then there was her clock It was heavy and made of rusty iron by someone as more blacksmith than watchmaker, which hy it went clonk-clank instead of tick-tock She wore it on her belt and could tell the ti the stubby little hands There was a story in the villages that the clock was Miss Treason's heart, which she'd used ever since her first heart died But there were lots of stories about Miss Treason You had to have a high threshold for odd to put up with her It was traditional that young witches traveled around and stayed with older witches to learn froe for what Miss Tick the witch finder called "so all the chores" Mostly, they left Miss Treason's after one night Tiffany had stuck it out for threefor a pair of eyes to look through, Miss Treason would creep into yours It was a strange prickly sensation, like having so over your shoulder Yes…perhaps Miss Treason didn't just take the cake, a packet of biscuits with sprinkles on the top, and a candle, but also the trifle, the sandwiches, and aballoon ani at her loom when Tiffany came in Two beaks turned to face her "Ah, child," said Miss Treason in a thin, cracked voice "You have had a good day"

"Yes, Miss Treason," said Tiffany obediently "You have seen the girl Weatherwax and she is well" Click-clack went the loom Clonk-clank went the clock "Quite well," said Tiffany Miss Treason didn't ask questions She just told you the answers "The girl Weatherwax," Tiffany thought, as she started to get their supper But Miss Treason was very old And very scary It was a fact You couldn't deny it She didn't have a hooked nose and she did have all her teeth, even if they were yellow, but after that she was a picture-book wicked witch And her knees clicked when she walked And she walked very fast, with the help of two sticks, scuttling around like a big spider That was another strange thing: The cottage was full of cobwebs, which Miss Treason ordered Tiffany never to touch, but you never saw a spider There was the thing about black, too Most witches liked black, but Miss Treason even had black goats and black chickens The walls were black The floor was black If you dropped a stick of licorice, you'd never find it again And, to Tiffany's dis the cheeses with shiny black wax Tiffany was an excellent cheesemaker and it did keep them moist, but Tiffany distrusted black cheeses They always looked as though they were plotting so And Miss Treason didn't seeht and day now When the ravens went to bed, she'd suht An oas particularly good, she said, because it'd keep turning its head to watch the shuttle of the loom Click-clack went the looht back at it Miss Treason, with her billowing black cloak and bandaged eyes and hite hair… Miss Treason with her two sticks, wandering the cottage and garden in the dark and frosty night, s the memory of flowers… All witches had some particular skill, and Miss Treason delivered Justice People would co her their problems: I know it's my cow but he says it's his! She says it's her land but my father left it toloom with her back to the room full of anxious people The looh they were afraid of it, and the ravens watched the, while the looht Oh, yes…the candlelight… The candleholders were two skulls One had the word ENOCHI carved on it; the other had the word ATHOOTITA (The words meant "GUILT" and "INNOCENCE" Tiffany wished she didn't know that There was no way that a girl brought up on the Chalk should know that, because the words were in a foreign language, and an ancient one, too She knew them because of Dr Sensibility Bustle, D M Phil, B El L, Patricius Professor of Magic at Unseen University, as in her head (Well, a tiny part of hio she had been taken over by a hiver, a…thing that had been collecting et it out of her head, but a few fragled up in her brain One of these was a tiny luo and a mix of memories that hat remained of the late Dr Bustle He wasn't uage, she could read it--or, rather, hear Dr Bustle's reedy voice translating it for her That seemed to be about all that was left of hi undressed in front of a mirror) The candles had dripped wax all over the skulls, and people would keep glancing at them the whole time they were in the room And then, when all the words had been said, the loom would stop with a shock of sudden silence, and Miss Treason would turn around in her big heavy chair, which had wheels on it, and reray eyes and say: "I have heard Now I shall see I shall see what is true" Some people would actually run away at this point, when she stared at theht from the skulls Those eyes that could not see your face could soht through you, you could only be truthful or very, very stupid So no one ever argued with Miss Treason Witches were not allowed to be paid for using their talents, but everyone who caht her a present, usually food but so, if it was black, or a pair of old boots if they were her size If Miss Treason gave judgood idea (everyone said) to ask for your present back, as being turned into so small and sticky often offends They said if you lied to Miss Treason, you would die horribly within a week They said that kings and princes careat affairs of state They said that in her cellar was a heap of gold, guarded by a demon with skin like fire and three heads that would attack anyone it saw and eat their noses Tiffany suspected that at least two of these beliefs rong She knew the third one wasn't true, because one day she'd gone down into the cellar (with a bucket of water and a poker, just in case), and there was nothing there but piles of potatoes and carrots And aher carefully Tiffany wasn't scared,itself as a potato, it probably didn't exist And another thing was that although Miss Treason looked bad and sounded bad and smelled like old locked wardrobes, she didn't feel bad First Sight and Second Thoughts, that's what a witch had to rely on: First Sight to see what's really there, and Second Thoughts to watch the First Thoughts to check that they were thinking right Then there were the Third Thoughts, which Tiffany had never heard discussed and therefore kept quiet about; they were odd, seemed to think for the her that there was more to Miss Treason than , Tiffany knocked over the skull called Enochi …and suddenly Tiffany knew a lot more about Miss Treason than Miss Treason probably wanted anyone to know Tonight, as they were eating their steith black beans), Miss Treason said, "The wind is rising We o soon I would not trust the stick above the trees on a night like this There e creatures about"