The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There (32 page)

September gently pressed the black cloth to her father’s side as he put his good arm around her. His shadow flowed into place, relieved, exhausted. She did not need a Rivet Gun in this world to keep them together. The shadow longed to be whole again. It would never speak of what happened, except with the shadow of his wife while their bodies slept. But shadows keep secrets better than anyone.

The three of them held each other for a long time.

When the tears and hugging and what shall we have for breakfasts were done and the cheerful, impossible, wonderful day was getting on with its business, September’s mother finally saw a strange thing. She did not say anything—who would, when her family was together again and there was so much to think about? But she could be almost certain that her daughter’s shadow had gone a deep, profound shade of green—just the color of the smoking jacket of a man she’d known long ago, when she was just a small girl.

A
LSO BY
C
ATHERYNNE
M. V
ALENTE

A
New York Times
Children’s Bestseller

Winner of the Andre Norton Award

A
Publishers Weekly
Best Book of 2011

An Amazon Best Book of 2011

“A glorious balancing act between modernism and the Victorian fairy tale, done with heart and wisdom.”
—Neil Gaiman

“Told by an omniscient narrator who directly engages readers, the densely textured text deftly mixes and matches familiar fairy-tale elements, creating a world as bizarre and enchanting as any Wonderland or Oz and a heroine as curious, resourceful and brave as any Alice or Dorothy. Complex, rich and memorable.”

—
Kirkus Reviews,
starred review

A FEIWEL AND FRIENDS BOOK

An Imprint of Macmillan

THE GIRL WHO FELL BENEATH FAIRYLAND AND LED THE REVELS THERE.
Text copyright © 2012 by Catherynne M. Valente. Illustrations copyright © 2012 by Ana Juan. All rights reserved. For information, address Feiwel and Friends, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

ISBN: 978-0-312-64962-3

Feiwel and Friends logo designed by Filomena Tuosto

First Edition: 2012

mackids.com

e-ISBN: 9781466828001