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But when Quentin actually showed Josh where it was on a land, Josh redoubled his swearing--that shit’s practically next door! it’s in Europe--and went into a very technically sophisticated disquisition on lines ofIt really was ti him
Poppy said she wanted to come too
"I’ve never been to Cornwall," she said "I’ve alanted to lish?" Josh said "Because you know, I can probably introduce you"
"Of Cornish, jackass It’s a Brythonic language Meaning it’s indigenous to Britain, like Welsh and Breton And Pictish Before everything was polluted by the Anglo-Saxons and the Nores Cornish died out a couple hundred years ago, but there’s a big revival happening now Where are we going exactly?"
They were still sitting around the breakfast table, which over the course of thehad become the lunch table Espresso cups and wobbly towers of plates and silverware had been transferred to the floor to make roo with the Fillory books and a biography of Christopher Plover
"It’s called Fowey," Quentin said "It’s on the south coast"
"Hertip on the h Penzance It’s a couple of hours’ drive from there, tops"
"Penzance?" Josh said "Like as in the pirates of? Since when is that a real place?"
"See, okay, I want to say so about this," Poppy said She pushed the atlas away and sat back in her chair "If I could have the floor for just a moment Yes, Penzance is a real place It’s a town It’s in Cornwall And it’s real, as in it exists on Earth You’re all so obsessed with other worlds, you’re so convinced that this one is crap and everywhere else is great, but you’ve never bothered to figure out what’s going on here! I el is real!"
"Is that--didn’t King Arthur live there?" Quentin said weakly
"King Arthur lived in Cael, supposedly It’s a castle in Cornwall"
"Fuck it," Josh said "Poppy’s right, let’s go there"
It was aician like Poppy How could someone so utterly literal- beyond ic?
"Yes, but you see," he said, "the fact is, King Arthur probably wasn’t conceived at Tintagel Because he probably didn’t exist Or if he did exist he was probably so people and breaking the their s He probably died of the plague at thirty-two See, that’s my problem with this world, if you really want to know I’ Arthur was ‘real,’ you don’tArthur like in the books You don’t actuallyArthur
"Whereas, in Fillory--and feel free to find this hilarious, Poppy, but it’s true--there are actual real kings who aren’t bullshit And I’asi and elves and dwarves and all that"
He could have added that sos were real in Fillory that weren’t real here But that wouldn’t have strengthened his argument
"There are not elves," Julia said
"Whatever! That’s not the point! The point is, I could pretend I don’t have a choice, and just live here el But I do have a choice, and I only have one life, and if it’s all right with you I’ with dwarves and sleeping on pegasus feathers"
"Because it’s easier," Poppy said "And why not do the easiest possible thing? Because isn’t that always the best thing?"
"Yes, why not? Why not?"
Quentin had absolutely no idea why Poppy aggravated hireat precision And he didn’t knohy he sounded so ht already," Josh said "Stop You live here You live in Fillory Everybody’s happy"
"Sure," Poppy chirped
God, Quentin thought It’s like Janet all over again
They assembled two hours later in the narrow street behind the palazzo The building was too heavily warded to cast a portal inside it
"I thought maybe we could do it down there" Josh peered doubtfully down the street "There’s one of those tiny Venetian micro-alleys down there Nobody ever uses it"
Nobody else had a better suggestion Quentin felt shifty--it was like they were looking for a place to shoot up, or have sex outside Josh led them twenty yards down the street, which itself wasn’t ap between buildings There was barely room for two people to walk next to each other At the end of the alley was a bright ribbon of water and sunlight: the Grand Canal It was deserted, but Josh hadn’t been co the alley, because soo