Stray (33 page)

Adviser Hull lunged, and Aislynn let herself fall, unafraid, into her magic's embrace. It seemed to wrap its arms around her and, with a gentle tug, the room and Hull's face—now twisted with fury and confusion—disappeared. She fell from a high distance, but when she hit the ground, it was like landing on a featherbed.

“Aislynn?” Thackery's face was contorted with worry as he knelt next to her.

She was lying in the middle of the road. Scrambling to her feet, she shook the soot from her gown and looked back at the castle, its silhouette bathed in moonlight.

Thackery was staring at the mirror. “Is that . . . ?” he asked, and Aislynn nodded, handing it to him. Carefully he turned it over in his hand. The stone had already returned to a polished white. “It looks so ordinary,” he said.

There was so much to tell him, but it would have to wait.

“We need to go.” Aislynn knew that it wouldn't be long before Adviser Hull came after her.

With a sharp nod, Thackery retrieved the horses from their hiding place behind the trees.

Looking back at the academy again, Aislynn felt a sharp twinge of regret—almost panic—knowing that she was leaving Linnea behind. But that didn't mean that Aislynn would forget about her. That she wouldn't try again to protect her. To rescue her.

On the side of the road was a wild rose bush. Aislynn thought of all the times she had been warned that magic would cause briars to grow in her heart. She had always been afraid of briars, afraid of what they meant. It was a fear that had been planted and carefully nurtured by Adviser Hull and by others. She knelt and pressed her hand into the dusty road. She felt the ground quake.

He would try to follow her, but she would do her best to slow him down. The road split, and the rose bush's thick vine emerged from the dirt, sliding like a snake toward the castle. It climbed over the gate, tendrils twisting back the iron, and moved quickly in the direction of the ballroom. Aislynn imagined brambles growing, thick and sharp, across every window and door. It was time for Adviser Hull to be afraid of thorns.

“Do you think he'll come after you?”

She turned to find Thackery holding the reins for her horse, eyes wide. She nodded as she stood. “I have something that he wants.”

If the ring gave him magic, then perhaps the mirror could as well. And Aislynn imagined there was nothing Adviser Hull wouldn't do to obtain it.

She swung herself onto her horse's back. Clicking her tongue, she took the lead, turning in the direction of the mountains. She knew exactly where they were going.

As they headed down the road, Aislynn took one last look at the world she was leaving behind. She was no longer safe. The thought should have frightened her, but it didn't. She hadn't been safe for a long time.

Instead of fear, something else was simmering inside of her, as warm and powerful as magic, steady and absolute, almost like courage, but more reckless and wild.

She smiled and whispered to herself, “I will accept the path I am taking. . . .”

Tahlia's Cinnamon Bookbinder Bread

(makes one loaf)

A
islynn's favorite bread. Best made with one's fairy godmother, or someone with baking experience.

INGREDIENTS

For the dough:

2¾ cups all-purpose flour
plus
2 tablespoons for handling the dough and preparing the pan

¼ cup granulated sugar

2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast

½ teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, at room temperature

⅓ cup whole milk

¼ cup unsalted butter
plus
extra for greasing the pan

¼ cup water

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the filling:

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

¼ cup unsalted butter

DIRECTIONS

Make the dough:

1.
In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups of flour, the sugar, yeast, and salt. Set aside.

2.
In a small bowl, whisk eggs together. Set aside.

3.
In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter together until butter has melted, stirring constantly—do not let the mixture boil. Remove from heat, then mix in water and vanilla extract. Let cool until mixture is warm but not hot.

4
. Slowly fold the milk mixture into the dry ingredients.

5
. Add eggs and mix until smooth, then work in the remaining ¾ cup of flour with your fingers. (The dough will be sticky.) Place the dough in a large greased bowl and cover with a kitchen towel. Put the covered bowl in a warm place and let it sit until the dough has doubled in size, about one hour.

Make the filling:

Do this when the dough has doubled and you are ready to start constructing the bread.

1.
Mix the sugar and cinnamon together. Set aside.

2.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter until it is just starting to turn brown. Set aside.

Construct the loaf:

1.
Butter a 9 x 5–inch loaf pan and dust it with flour. Set aside.

2.
Knead the dough. As you work, add the last 2 tablespoons of flour as needed to make the dough easier to handle. Shape the dough into a smooth ball, then cover it with a kitchen towel and let it rest for five minutes.

3.
Working on a floured surface, roll out the dough. Try to make a square that is about 18 inches on each side and about ¼ of an inch thick.

4.
Add filling: brush the melted butter across the dough. Then sprinkle on the sugar and cinnamon mixture.

5.
Slice the dough into six long strips, each about 3 x 18 inches. Then stack the strips on top of each other. This will give you a tall, thin pile of layers.

6.
Slice down into the pile to make four sections. Each section will be about 3 x 4½ inches.

7.
Working with one section at a time, place each section in the pan on its side (the long side). Keep them together as much as possible. There will be extra room in the pan, but the dough will expand to fill the space.

8.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

9.
Cover loaf pan with a kitchen towel and let dough rise for about 45 minutes. There should still be some room in the pan; the dough will rise more in the oven.

10.
Bake loaf for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown.

11.
Let cool for a few minutes. The bread is best when it is still warm and can be pulled apart and eaten in chunks.

Those Who Must Be Thanked

My family. My parents, who filled our house with books and never let us go to bed without a story. My mom, who gave me my love of baking, and my dad, who gave me the tenacity I needed to write a whole damn book. Adam and Abra, for indulging the creative whims of their bossy older sister, even when it led to the creation of many embarrassing home movies. And Bubbe, who took me to see
Into the Woods
when I was young and impressionable.

My agent Samantha, who pulled
Stray
from the slush, cleaned it off and found it a home.

My editor Virginia, who had all the right questions and made sure that Aislynn never got too weepy.

Tu Anh, Preeti, Gina, Martha, and everyone at Greenwillow Books and HarperCollins for giving
Stray
a place among your collection of wonderful stories.

My friends. My actual, real-life Fairy Godfather Shephard, who bolstered me with tea and Chinese food. My nerd-in-arms Tal, for her wise words and limitless love of YA. And everyone who read a version of
Stray
and helped shape it into the book it has become: Greg, David, Rachel, Sally, Sean, and Kate.

John, for reading the first draft in one sitting. I love you, fella. Like, a lot.

Basil, my constant companion. You're a dog and you're awesome.

About the Author

ELISSA SUSSMAN
received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College and in a previous life managed animators and organized spreadsheets at some of the best animation studios in the world, including Nickelodeon, Disney, DreamWorks, and Sony Imageworks. You can find her name in the credits of
The Croods, Hotel Transylvania, The Princess and the Frog
, and
Tangled
. She lives in Los Angeles with her boyfriend and their rescue dog, Basil. Stray is her first novel.

www.elissasussman.com

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Credits

Cover art © 2014 by Melissa Nucera

Cover design by Sylvie Le Floc'h

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. References to real people, events, establishments, organizations, or locales are intended only to provide a sense of authenticity, and are used to advance the fictional narrative. All other characters, and all incidents and dialogue, are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real.

STRAY

Copyright © 2014 by Elissa Sussman

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

www.epicreads.com

Maps illustrated by Betsy Peterschmidt

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-0-06-227455-7 (trade ed.)

EPub Edition July 2014 ISBN 9780062274588

14 15 16 17 18   
CG
/
RRDH
   10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

FIRST EDITION

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