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"Yes," said Annagra Tiffany "Of course"

"That's, um, sorted out, then," said Petulia, more loudly than necessary "Did you have a lot of snow last night? Old Mother Blackcap said it was unusual" Tiffany thought: Oh dear, here we go… "We often get it this early up here," said Lucy "I thought it was a bit fluffier than usual," said Petulia "Quite pretty, if you like that sort of thing"

"It was just snow," said Annagrairl who started with Miss Tu after an hour?" She s?" Petulia asked "No, not the frog She didn'tIt was Unlucky Charlie"

"He can be scary," Lucy agreed And that was it, Tiffany realized, as the gossip ran on Sood had made billions of snowflakes that looked like her--and they hadn't noticed!…which was a good thing, obviously… Of course it was The last thing she wanted was teasing and stupid questions, of course Well, of course… …but…well…it would have been nice if they'd known, if they'd said "Wow," if they'd been jealous or frightened or impressed And she couldn't tell theramma, who'd make a joke of it and al it up The Wintersmith had visited her and been…impressed It was a bit sad if the only people who knew about this were Miss Treason and hundreds of Feegles, especially since--she shuddered--by Fridayit would only be known by hundreds of little blue men To put it another way: If she didn't tell someone else as at least the same size as her and alive, she would burst So she told Petulia, on the way hoo the saht it was easier to walk, since you didn't hit so many trees Petulia was plu witch in the mountains, a fact thatAnd Miss Treason had said that soon the boys would be running after her, because a girl who knows her pigs would never want for a husband The only problereed with you and always said what she thought you wanted to hear But Tiffany was a bit cruel and just told her all the facts She got a fehich she was pleased with After a while Petulia said: "That " And that was Petulia for you "What shall I do?"

"U?" said Petulia "Well, sooner or later people are going to notice that all snowflakes are shaped like me!"

"Um, are you worried that they won't?" said Petulia, so innocently that Tiffany laughed "But I've got this feeling that it's not going to stop with snowflakes! Ito do intertime!"

"And he ran ahen you screaht"

"And then he did so sort of…silly"

"What?"

"The snowflakes," said Petulia helpfully "Well, I wouldn't say that, exactly," said Tiffany, a bit hurt "Not exactly silly"

"Then it's all obvious," said Petulia "He's a boy"

"What?"

"A boy You knohat they are?" said Petulia "Blush, grunt, mumble, wibble? They're pretty much all the same"

"But he's irl before!"

"Uirl before?"

"He irl Well, a wo to a book I've seen, anyway"

"I suppose all you can do is wait to see what he does next, then Sorry I've never had snowflakes made inwhere Miss Treason lived, and Petulia began to look a bit nervous "U at the cottage "Are you all right there?"

"Was one of them about what she can do with her thu "She h"

"Why would anyone make up a story like that about thes couldn't be fooled by Boffo, so Petulia hadn't run across it And she was a to learn was a bit of a drawback in a witch It wasn't that witches were actually dishonest, but they were careful about what kind of truth they told "I don't know," she lied "Anyway, you have to cut through quite a lot of a person before anything falls out And skin is quite tough I don't think it's possible" Petulia looked alarmed "You tried?"

"I practiced with , if that's what you ht I heard the story that Miss Treason has wolf's teeth, and people tell that to one another even though they've seen her "Um…I'll come and help to at Tiffany's hands in case there were going to be any -away parties can be quite jolly, really But, uo away That's what I did when Davey Lu, u out with Makky Weaver--don't tell the others!"