Page 24 - SAMPLE Fledgling

How sweet. Rather like someone out of a fairy tale!” She sips her schnapps without leaving a trace of
lipstick on the glass.
“You’re looking so pale, darling. Let me apply a little
rouge.”
I step backwards. “No thank you, Mother, I have
things to do. Can I go now?”
“Oh, well, of course, if you’d rather spend time with
the cobbler’s son, than with your own mother—” She takes another slug of the schnapps.
I head towards the door, hoping our meeting is over. I’m desperate to get back to the cherub. And to Raphael.
“Oh, and one other thing—”
My heart sinks.What now?
“I want you to get rid of the owls.”
My hand is on the doorknob. I grip it hard and take a
deep breath before turning to face her.
“I am not getting rid of the owls,” I say, my heart
suddenly thudding. What would she expect me to do with them? Sell them? Throw them down the rock? She knows how important they are to me.The owls are better listeners than Mother will ever be, and they don’t criticise the state of my stockings. And then there was Grandpa’s dying instruction that they should be preserved at all costs. He was quite insistent. “Whatever happens to the
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