《Wife School》 Garnet Valley A long train ride helps me daydream. The smooth glide of the wheels on the rails and the chuff chuff chuffing of the engine is a rhythm. I look out of the window and see fields with sheep. I love sheep. Do they do anything interesting when we can¡¯t see them? I close my eyes and imagine them dancing until the train comes rolling by. Then they¡¯d resume their post of contented grazing. Now the train comes to a stop. It¡¯s in a train station somewhere pretty remote. The doors open and passengers step out. I gaze at the platform, watching people meet up with their loved ones. Now a boy steps inside, his trunk almost getting stuck in the door. ¡°Do you need a hand?¡± I ask, getting to my feet. He brushes his unruly brown hair away from his dark blue eyes. His freckled nose and cheeks are flushed from running onto the train. I smile at him. ¡°No thanks,¡± he replies. He heaves the trunk into the overhead carrier and then looks at me. ¡°You¡¯re going to Garnet Valley?¡± My heart flutters. ¡°How d¡¯you know I¡¯m going there?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the right age. You¡¯re carrying a lot of luggage, so you must have packed for a long stay.¡± He pointed at my two suitcases occupying the overhead carriers. ¡°And there are only three more stops. Garnet Valley is the last one.¡± I giggle. ¡°You¡¯re so smart. Yes, I¡¯m going to Garnet Valley school. But where are you going?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to the town nearby. It¡¯s at the same stop. I can escort you there if you like.¡± What a lovely turn of events. I won¡¯t have to make my way to the school all alone in the dark. I grin and reach out my hand to him. ¡°Thank you, thank you! I¡¯m Poppy.¡± He shakes my hand with a grin, and brushes his hair away from his eyes with his other hand. ¡°I¡¯m Alfie.¡± ¡°So why are you going to Garnet Valley? The wife school?¡± ¡°To learn to be a wife. Um¡­ Mum and Dad are having some financial trouble, but the school agreed to take me for free to improve their publicity. They promise that they¡¯ll be able to train me in how to be a good wife and then when I¡¯m old enough, to find a wealthy bloke to wife me up.¡± This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Is that what you want?¡± asks Alfie, gazing at me with his dark blue eyes. ¡°To be a housewife?¡± ¡°I-¡° At this moment, the train stops. Alfie helps me get my luggage from the overhead carrier and we step onto the platform. It¡¯s cold and windy. We leave the station and take the road through the valley. The school is in a castle surrounded by forest. We take the path that leads through the forest. I keep throwing wary glances into the forest every time I hear an owl hoot or a branch creaking in the wind. There¡¯s nothing to be seen but shadows. At the end of the forest path, we arrive at the castle. Garnet Valley is a castle with turrets reaching high into the sky. We walk up the steps leading to the arched doorway and Alfie pulls on the handle, murmuring in surprise as it swings open easily. Inside, the hall is illuminated with the glittering lights of a chandelier above our heads and the stone walls are covered in portraits of graduates who have been successfully married off to nobles and kings. There are large doors leading to different wings of the castle, and stairs leading to the first floor. There¡¯s a figure descending the stairs, a tall girl in a flowing blue maternity dress. She has long red hair that shines like copper in the light of the chandelier and a bold freckled face that seems to glow. She¡¯s very pregnant. Her belly is sticking out, causing her to waddle. ¡°There you are!¡± she says as she stands before us. She gazes at us with bright green eyes. ¡°Ruby was worried you were lost. I¡¯m Lottie, head girl.¡± She points at me. ¡°You must be Poppy.¡± ¡°Y-Yes, I¡¯m Poppy,¡± I reply, looking up to be able to meet the gaze of the tall girl. ¡°And this is Alfie. He very kindly escorted me here.¡± ¡°You two could pass for sisters,¡± says Alfie. ¡°Hmm. We both have long auburn hair and freckled faces,¡± says Lottie. ¡°But Poppy has a button nose and doey brown eyes and a wistful mouth. Now come on, Poppy. It¡¯s bedtime and I have to get you settled in. Alfie, please wait here. The headmistress will be down to see you soon. She¡¯ll decide whether you need board for the night. It¡¯s a bit late for you to be going back through the forest.¡± I clasp Alfie¡¯s hands. ¡°See you soon!¡± I really hope I do. ¡°Hurry, Poppy!¡± calls Lottie. She¡¯s already climbing the stairs. I drag my suitcases up the stairs as I follow her. At the top of the stairs I follow her down a corridor and she pushes a key in my palm and points at the door at the end of the corridor. ¡°Meet your new room mate.¡± I knock on the door and when there is no answer, I insert the key in the lock and turn it. The door swings inwards. The room beyond is what I expected. The walls are bare stone, the floor a dark wood, scratched and dented. There are two beds and a cradle beside each of them. Cradles for the babies. There¡¯s a girl sitting up in one of the beds. Her hair is pale gold, illuminated in the candle light. She gazes at me with piercing blue eyes. ¡°Carmen, this is your new room mate,¡± says Lottie. ¡°Now go to sleep girls. Breakfast is at six thirty.¡± Lottie turns to leave. Carmen is gazing at my face with unnerving intensity. Hybrid Children I smile at Carmen. ¡°I¡¯m Poppy. Do you know where I can get a towel, I¡¯d like to dry my hair.¡± Carmen just gazes at me. ¡°Do you not want a room mate?¡± I ask nervously. ¡°I¡¯ll try not to disturb you.¡± Carmen arises from the bed, swathed in a pale pink night dress, and walks up to me, not stopping until our faces are almost touching. ¡°Try harder.¡± I wrinkle my nose involuntarily. ¡°Your breath smells of vomit! Are you OK?¡± She tsks at me. ¡°I¡¯m pregnant.¡± She points at my bed. ¡°Look, you have a blue maternity dress. It¡¯s right there, by your uniform and nightdress. And there¡¯s your cradle by your bed. You¡¯re going to be a mother.¡± ¡°Um¡­ why?¡± She curls her lip. ¡°Marriage is expensive and there is a stigma against being childless. We have to prove that we are fertile and can be mothers. To prove we are fertile and that we¡¯re good with little ones, we each have to give birth to a baby and show the guys looking for wives that we take good care of them. And it¡¯s an insta family. Our husbands are guaranteed to have at least one child when they marry us.¡± ¡°How do we conceive?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t wanna spoil the surprise,¡± she drawls and then she turns and plumps back down on her bed. I find a towel and rub my damp hair. ¡°Oh ye gods, I want picks and ice cream,¡± mutters Carmen, touching her belly. I touch her arm gently. ¡°Congratulations.¡± She ignores me. I make a further attempt at conversation. ¡°So, where are you from? I¡¯m all the way from the Capitol¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s enjoy peace and quiet while we can, before the babies come along,¡± she interrupts. ¡°They¡¯ll keep us up all night.¡± ¡°OK.¡± I carefully unpack my luggage, trying not to disturb her. Carmen¡¯s sitting on her bed, making a doll. Her fingers work really cleverly, putting a layer of rubber over its wooden head, and then sewing flaxen thread into its scalp so that it has yellow hair. Now she¡¯s poking the face with a pencil to draw on freckles and wiping them with a cloth so that they look smudged and real. ¡°You¡¯re very clever,¡± I tell her. ¡°Your kid will love it.¡± She turns and puts a finger to her lips. OK, hint taken. She¡¯s firm about me not disturbing her. I hope she learned to make dolls here. I want to learn how. I get myself washed. There¡¯s a bare stone side room with a carved face that spews soapy water on me if I stand near it. When I come back to the bedroom, Carmen¡¯s gone. I lie back on the bed and close my eyes. ¡°Boo!¡± Carmen¡¯s voice above me. I open my eyes and stare up at her. Her face is covered in thick, green slime. She giggles. ¡°Not afraid of weird green faces, I hope. It¡¯s all part of my beauty regimen. You¡¯ll be expected to start yours tomorrow.¡± 00O00 I awake the next morning to the morning sun streaming in through my window. Carmen is standing up, her green face mask is dry and cracked, and now she covers her mouth with one hand, retching. ¡°Are you OK?¡± She lurches towards the bathroom and I follow her. She¡¯s leaning over a basin and now she vomits. I put my hand on her shoulder. She retches and then vomits again. Then she stands up. Her face is close to mine and her breath reeks. I involuntarily wrinkle my nose. ¡°My breath stinks, doesn¡¯t it? There¡¯s something you have to remind me to do.¡± ¡°Um¡­ what is that?¡± She picks up a jar with a fine white powder. ¡°This is a harmless breath freshener. When we¡¯re wives, we¡¯re not supposed to let our husbands smell our bad breath. You have to remind me to freshen up.¡± ¡°OK.¡± Cermen turns away from me. ¡°My baby had better be cute after putting me through nine months of this¡­¡± She dips her finger in the white powder and touches it to her tongue. ¡°All babies are cute,¡± I say. ¡°Good that you have such an open mind,¡± says Carmen. ¡°You¡¯ll love your baby. Now please let me have some privacy.¡± I get myself washed, fix my hair and now I have to tackle my uniform. It¡¯s nearly folded still. I¡¯m not pregnant, so I don¡¯t need a maternity dress. My uniform is a pristine blue shirt with heptagonal buttons and a midnight blue jumper and a tie with sky blue and midnight blue stripes. The tie is tricky. I hope I¡¯ve done the knot right. This is my first day. My mantra is ¡°A new school, a new beginning.¡± I study myself in the mirror. Carmen sidles up to me. ¡°Want to know how the rest of us see you? Auburn hair in a neat braid, a freckled face, eyes widened with apprehension, you look innocent?¡± She sniggers. We step out into the corridor. The building has an entirely different atmosphere now. Sunlight streams through stain glass windows and cast rainbow lights over Carmen¡¯s face. The hall is full of girls, many of them heavily pregnant and others are carrying babies in slings tied around their waists. The babies are all bright green! Lottie the heavily pregnant head girl comes waddling towards me, her huge belly sticking out in front of her. There¡¯s a bright green toddler toddling along beside her. ¡°Poppy!¡± the head girl lays a hand on my arm. ¡°I was just about to come to your room to see if you needed any help.¡± ¡°Thank you, that¡¯s really sweet.¡± Lottie lifts up the little green girl who smiles at me. She¡¯s wearing hand knitted blue clothes and has a blue ribbon tied in her red hair. ¡°This is my daughter, Violet,¡± Lottie tells me. ¡°Violet, say hello to Poppy.¡± ¡°Hi. Hi Poppy,¡± says the toddler in her tiny little voice. Aww. She has such a sweet little green face with chubby cheeks. ¡°Hello Violet. I¡¯m very pleased to meet you,¡± I say smiling at her. ¡°We wan¡¯ help,¡± says Violet. ¡°That¡¯s right, Violet. We were both coming to check and see if Poppy needed help,¡± says Lottie. ¡°You want to know if Poppy needs help? We¡¯re growing babies,¡± says Carmen, pointing at her own belly and then pointing at Lottie¡¯s hugely swollen belly. ¡°You¡¯re about to be a mother of two. Then you might need help.¡± This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Lottie tuts. ¡°Carmen, please¡­ And Poppy, what have you done with that tie?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never tied one,¡± I say sheepishly. Lottie sets Violet on the floor and steps close to me. Within seconds she has undone the knot and rearranged it nearly. ¡°There,¡± she says. ¡°Try and do that tomorrow.¡± ¡°Blue bow,¡± babbles Violet, touching the blue bow tied in her hair. ¡°You¡¯re honing your mummy instincts,¡± says Carmen. Lottie gazes at her with stern green eyes. ¡°Young lady, you have face mask attached to your eyebrows. Here¡­¡± Lottie steps forward and licks her finger and starts rubbing carmen¡¯s eyebrows. ¡°Hey!¡± says Carmen. ¡°Hold still, young lady. There.¡± Lottie takes a step back to admire her. ¡°Now you look like a bride to be.¡± She gathers Violet up in her arms and the three of us make our way down to the entrance hall where Lottie picked up Alfie and me yesterday. Now, with Carmen and I following and little green Violet toddling along behind her, she leads the way through another door. I can hear the clattering of plates and cutlery, the scaping of chairs on the stone floor, and a hubbub of voices intermingling... ¡°The Mother Hall,¡± says Lottie. ¡°We have our communal meals here.¡± Mother Hall is a vast hall with long rows of tables and benches. Banners of sky blue and midnight blue, the colours of the school, adorn the stone walls and are wrapped around the tall pillars. We all follow Lottie to the buffet, where I¡¯m engulfed by the smell of pancakes. ¡°We have to take a balanced diet,¡± says Lottie when we reach the buffet. ¡°Carmen, we¡¯re both eating for two¡­¡± Lottie¡¯s telling Carmen what to eat. I load up my plate with rainbow coloured tart and a slice of meat that¡¯s purple with little green spots on it. We sit down at a table of Lottie¡¯s choosing. I¡¯m only too glad to follow her lead, because I don¡¯t belong to any clique as yet. Lottie chooses a table near the entrance where her own age is already seated, along with four green kids in handmade clothes, the oldest is a little girl in a pale blue dress who looks about five, and the youngest is a tiny baby in a sling around her waist. Lottie puts Violet in a highchair with a tray of food. ¡°Hey Maddie. Hey kids. Everyone, this is Poppy. She starts here today.¡± Maddie¡¯s kids all clamour to greet me except for the tiny baby. Maddie smiles. ¡°So glad to have you with us, Poppy.¡± Maddie¡¯s oldest kid looks up at me, her green face wreathed in smiles. She has dark blond hair like her mother. ¡°My name is Star,¡± she says. ¡°I¡¯m very pleased to meet you.¡± With a bubbly feeling of happiness, I see Alfie make his way towards us. The tray he¡¯s carrying has two plates of food clattering together. I move a little to one side to make room for him. He sits between me and Star. ¡°Everyone, this is Alfie,¡± says Lottie. ¡°So glad you¡¯re here,¡± I say. ¡°I¡¯m glad too,¡± says Star, bouncing up and down on her seat. ¡°I¡¯m Star. This is Poppy, Lottie, Mummy, and my bwothers Caleb and Romeo and my baby sister Princess. We¡¯re all happy you¡¯re here.¡± ¡°That¡¯s wonderful,¡± says Alfie. ¡°Everyone, Ruby decided there¡¯s a place for me after all,¡± says Alfie. ¡°That¡¯s right. We all have to practice socialising with guys if we¡¯re to be wives,¡± says Lottie. ¡°Be prepared for lots of female attention, Alfie.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll do fine,¡± says Maddie. ¡°And you?¡± Carmen asks Maddie. ¡°Will you pass the tests this time, Maddie?¡± ¡°Pass?¡± I say out loud. ¡°I did the three year course to become a wife and had Star and Caleb here,¡± says Maddie, indicating first Star and then her little brother who¡¯s sitting on the other side of Maddie. ¡°But I still wasn¡¯t feeling it. I wasn¡¯t ready to be a wife, so I had to repeat the course and have another two babies - Romeo and Princess here,¡± says Maddie, pointing at her third kid in a highchair and her green baby who is now suckling at her breast. ¡°Then motherhood just clicked for me. I feel confident. Now I just need to find the right guy and my family will be complete.¡± Star grins up at Alfie. ¡°Would you like to be my Daddy? You¡¯d have to marry my Mummy.¡± Alfie chuckles. ¡°You have to give these things time, Star.¡± His freckled cheeks have flushed faintly pink. ¡°We¡¯ll be interviewing potential daddies all in good time, darling,¡± says Maddie, stroking her green skinned daughter¡¯s dark blond hair. ¡°Mummy, I wish you were my age so you could be my daughter,¡± says Star. ¡°You¡¯d like to be the Mummy of four, would you sweetie?¡± says Maddie smiling. ¡°Are you going to abdicate responsibility to her?¡± says Carmen with a wry smile. ¡°I¡¯d take good care of you,¡± says Star, and she gets into a kneeling position on the bench so that she and her mother can rub their noses together. So cute. I really do wonder though, how do they make babies in this place? And why are the kids all green? At that moment a green women comes up to us. She has long, curly black hair that spills out from underneath a floppy purple hat. ¡°You two must be new here,¡± she says to me and Alfie. ¡°You¡¯re in my courting class?¡± ¡°We are,¡± says Alfie. ¡°Fantastic!¡± says the green woman, clapping her hands in excitement. ¡°Follow me, follow me. We¡¯re starting presently. Oh it¡¯s so good to see new faces and always a joy to have male company. We will have so much fun together, I¡¯ll make sure of that.¡± We follow her out of the hall. ¡°I¡¯m Amy the love witch,¡± says the green woman. ¡°As you can see, I am a hag. And there¡¯s nothing I love more than teaching people about romance. also the boarding parent for the girls who aren¡¯t mothers yet, so if you encounter any lady problems, I live in the tower of the west wing and I always have an open ear.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you,¡± says Alfie, looking vaguely amused. ¡°But I¡¯ll apologise in advance. I¡¯m not really prepared.¡± ¡°That¡¯s alright dear¡­¡± Amy looks at him quizzically. ¡°I¡¯m Alfie,¡± he tells her. ¡°Well Alfie, the girls all have to make the moves on you. It¡¯s practice for when they court their future husbands.¡± She ushers us into a room full of desks with a larger desk at the front on which there is a crystal orb. The golden morning light streams through the high windows, catching in the specks of dust that were lazily floating about. The room is almost full and Alfie and I quickly sit ourselves down at an empty desk in the back. We see Carmen saunter in with a silver haired guy. Amy beams at him. ¡°Jasper! So good to have you with us.¡± She turns to face the entire class and claps her hand. ¡°Good morning! This year I am happy to welcome five fine young men to this glass. I¡¯ve already greeted our two new arrivals. To the rest of you, hello, I am Amy the love witch. I am boarding parent for all you mothers to be and I will teach you about courting the opposite gender. I notice Carmen rolling her eyes. Amy asks each girl to gaze into her eyes. She has deep piercing eyes and I find it hard to look away. It¡¯s like her gaze is hypnotic. Then we have to practice the gaze on one of the guys and ask him to dance. I have to ask Jasper and I¡¯m nervous to, but Alfie whispers encouragement so I go up to him and gaze into his eyes. Jasper¡¯s eyes are grey like the clouds on a stormy day. I start with the formal opening gambit. ¡°I wish that someone would lead me in a dance,¡± I tell him. ¡°Your wish is my command, my lady,¡± says Jasper with a curtsey. He takes my hands and leads me in a waltz. He¡¯s directing me. It¡¯s lovely. I can feel my cheeks reddening. He releases my hands and I feel like I want more. After that Amy instructs us about simple ways to get a guys attention, like dropping a glove so that we have an excuse to talk to him. Then Alfie and I go our separate ways. My next class is cookery ¨C essential for home making. Then there¡¯s a kind of general info class about why we¡¯re here, but it¡¯s delivered in the style of a history lesson. It¡¯s hosted by a hag with a wrinkled green face, like a green prune. ¡°Mothers are valued as prospective partners,¡± she tells us. ¡°On a family farm, strong and healthy children can be workers from a young age. Women with existing children come with free workers ready to help support future children she and her husband will conceive together. Marriage is expensive and sterility and infant mortality are both commonplace, so here you will bear children with magical assistance to demonstrate that you are not barren and that you come with a ready made family. An insta-family. In a society that has a no-divorce law, marrying a barren woman is something that a man must avoid. The wrinkled hag picks up a plate mail armour vest and places it on the desk. There¡¯s a dent in the armour. ¡°Most plate armour has a major dent in it. Even if it¡¯s never seen combat. It¡¯s important for a blacksmith to prove their armour by shooting it with an actual gun. The tell tale bullet dent is evidence that the armour stops bullets which is what matters. For any man, marrying a barren woman would be like getting shot through armour he has paid for. The more common defective products are, the more you care about proving they are not defective before buying them.¡± I really don¡¯t like this comparing women to armour! We¡¯re not products. The hag continues: ¡°How do we guarantee that you bear strong, healthy children with no risk of infant mortality or pregnancy complications? We keep an ogre in the dungeons and you all breed with him. Ogres have magic which guarantees that whoever they mate with bears healthy children. If the mother is barren, the magic makes her fertile. If the mother has a weak constitution, then the magic strengthens her. And there¡¯s a lasting benefit to the mother as well in that the magic makes her fertile and healthy for life. Human and ogre genes mix very well. The hybrid children of humans and ogres can be observed to be very healthy and good tempered. They make good workers and good adopted children.¡± ¡°Breeding with an ogre? I don¡¯t think so. I¡¯m not doing it,¡± I say. ¡°You don¡¯t really have a choice, freckleface,¡± says the hag. ¡°Prepare to have a green kid put in your belly.¡± She pulls a lever by her desk and the floor opens up beneath me and I¡¯m sliding down a slippery chute, down and down until I land upon a mound of earth and hay. There¡¯s a shuffling and a grunting sound nearby. I¡¯m in an underground cavern with rough stone walls. Some freak property of the rocks causes them to glow with a greenish light, so I can see a tunnel beyond the cavern. Out of the cavern there comes a hideous, bloated green monster with a swollen belly, shuffling along on all fours. It sees me and its eyes seem to light up¡­ The Breeding Ground Alfie¡¯s POV I must admit I¡¯m uneasy about being at Garnet Valley. For a start, I¡¯m here because my family is so poor. They sat me down at the rickety old table in our tiny kitchen with strained smiles and apologised that they could no longer afford to take care of me, but that I would be provided for if I worked at a school run by witches. There¡¯s always work to do at Garnet Valley, babysitting the little green kids, making myself an object for the aspiring wives when they practice flirting with guys¡­ Great. Second, the castle is remote and secluded, surrounded by forest. And I have to remember all the rules that Ruby the head witch, and Lottie the head girl, told me about. Ruby¡¯s a bit scary, I wouldn¡¯t want to cross her. Do I fit in here? I feel out of place amongst a sea of girls and new mums. I¡¯m grateful that I know Poppy. If I didn¡¯t I¡¯d be very lonely and unhappy. Third cause of my uneasiness ¨C Gary. Sharing a room with a total stranger is uncomfortable; sharing a room with a stranger who drives me crazy is unbearable. He¡¯s a total slob, and so inconsiderate. Right now, Gary is lying on his bed dressed in nothing but pants, eating a chicken leg. He chucks the bone into a corner and starts humming in a really annoying way. ¡°Can you keep it down?¡± Gary hummed louder. At that moment, the door swings inwards and Lottie the pregnant head girl comes waddling in, Violet her green skinned toddler toddling along beside her. I feel embarrassed on Gary¡¯s behalf, since he¡¯s obviously too thick to care that he¡¯s almost naked in front of the head girl. ¡°Gary, put some clothes on,¡± I say. ¡°Do you want to offend Lottie?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen an ogre naked,¡± says Lottie briskly. ¡°Gary doesn¡¯t shock me.¡± ¡°Gary¡¯s such a slob!¡± I complain. ¡°Look, he¡¯s chucking chicken bones and other rubbish about. It stinks in here! I can¡¯t stand it.¡± Little Violet is holding a teddybear. She waves it around and gives an excited little squeal. Lottie wrinkles her freckled nose at me in semi-disgust. ¡°I¡¯ve slept with an ogre before. What do you think his den smelled like? There were bones and filth everywhere.¡± Then her tone softens and she gently touches my arm. ¡°My dear, treat it as a way to improve your social skills. Now, the reason I¡¯m here. Alfie ¨C you have one job. You have to fish a girl out of the sewer. The ogre sometimes dumps us there after he¡¯s finished impregnating us. Go and rescue her now, please. Take these just in case.¡± Lottie gives me a woollen blanket and a clay beaker and waddles out, her long red hair rippling and bouncing as she goes, Violet toddling along at her heels. It occurs to me I don¡¯t know where the sewer is, so I ask for help. Maddie the mother I saw at breakfast has been here a long time. She must know where everything is. I go to her room and find her very busy ¨C she is occupied with her four kids. But she tells Star, her oldest kid, a little green-skinned girl of about five years old, to show me the way. Star looks up at me, her green face wreathed in smiles. ¡°I¡¯m happy to see you again. My heart is happy. Hey Alfie, can you sing?¡± ¡°Yes. There¡¯s a time for singing, but this is not it. Do you know where things are in this place, Star? Have you been to the sewers before? Have you explored Garnet Valley?¡± ¡°Well I don¡¯t always have time to ¡®splore, cos I have to help Mummy with the cleaning an¡¯ help with my brothers and baby sis, but I do know where the sewers are. You can follow me, if you like.¡± She runs off, her long dark blond hair streaming out behind her. I quicken my pace so she doesn¡¯t run off out of my sight. ¡°Not so fast, Star.¡± She turns and gazes at me with big brown eyes. ¡°Am I too fast? Sorry.¡± She walks alongside me and points at the staircase that leads to the entrance hall. ¡°We have to go outside.¡± We leave the castle through the double doors and step onto the path. I really hope Star doesn¡¯t run off. She skips around clapping her little green hands, clearly excited to be outside. ¡°This way.¡± She points to the left at a weatherbeaten track that leads off the main road. We start to walk down it, around the perimeter of the castle. ¡°Look, look, that¡¯s the Twilit Forest,¡± Star says, pointing at the forest. ¡°There¡¯s lots of animals there.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your favourite animal, Star?¡± ¡°I like giraffes cos they¡¯re ador¡¯ble. An¡¯ I like the unicorns. But bugbears are a bit scary.¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°I expect they are.¡± Star gazes up at me with wide brown eyes. ¡°Alfie, will someone marry my Mummy? That¡¯s how me an¡¯ my brothers and lil sis get a father.¡± ¡°Being a father does bring status. More kids mean higher status. There will be men who want to marry a mother of four.¡± I¡¯m not going to go into the topic of sterility, or the darker topic of childless people who steal children. ¡°If my new father has a farm, I c¡¯n work on it,¡± says Star. ¡°I c¡¯n pick berries. Can you pick berries, Alfie?¡± ¡°Oh yes. My family does have a tiny farm. I had to help with the animals too.¡± ¡°I c¡¯n feed a piglet,¡± says Star giggling. ¡°I held a liddle piglet to feed it with a bottle of milk, an¡¯ it wriggled! So cute.¡± ¡°Cute,¡± I echo. ¡°I can pick thunder fruit as well,¡± says Star, ¡°Alfie, wanna see me pick thunder fruit?¡± ¡°We¡¯d better find this girl first,¡± I reply. ¡°Are you sure you know where she is, Star?¡± Star tilts back her head and sniffs the air, her shiny green nose crinkling. ¡°Yeah, I c¡¯n smell her.¡± So, little Star can sniff people out. Must be her ogre blood. The little ogre-girl leads me down a slope, through a small copse and then to a valley by the castle. There¡¯s a mucky ditch at the bottom of the valley. My heart skips a beat when I see Poppy lying stark naked and unconscious in the green muck in the ditch. ¡°Oh ye gods.¡± I pull her out and wrap her in the blanket, but she¡¯s unresponsive and flopping about like a ragdoll. There¡¯s green muck all over her. There¡¯s a foul smelling greenish yellow muck smeared all over her pretty, freckled face. I lay her on the grass wrapped in the blanket and place the clay beaker beside her. Star gazes at Poppy, her brown eyes wide in her little green face. ¡°Is she OK?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t know. I have to check if she¡¯s breathing.¡± ¡°She is breathing,¡± says Star. ¡°I c¡¯n hear her breathing.¡± I take a blade of grass and hold it near Poppy¡¯s nose. It flutters, so Star is right. Poppy is breathing. But she¡¯s unconscious. How do I wake her? ¡°Do we have any water?¡± I wonder aloud. ¡°I¡¯ll get it!¡± says Star. She grabs the beaker and dashes off. I hope she doesn¡¯t get lost, although the little ogre girl does know her way around and I don¡¯t want to leave Poppy.¡± Star soon arrives back with the beaker and hands it to me. It¡¯s full of pink water. ¡°From the rainbow ponds,¡± says Star smiling. Not knowing what else to do, I slosh the pink water over Poppy¡¯s grime encrusted face. She stirs and splutters and her eyelids flutter. She awakes, and gazes up at me with her soft, brown eyes. ¡°Alfie¡­¡± she murmurs. ¡°Here, let¡¯s get you back to the castle.¡± I support Poppy as she stands. She doesn¡¯t have any shoes on, but she treads on the grass. Star leads us through the copse. ¡°I wish I was big enough to hold you,¡± says Star, looking up at Poppy anxiously. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll show you what I can do. I¡¯ll get you some nice fruit to cheer you up.¡± She shinnies up one of the trees like a monkey. The tree has silvery leaves and round, brazen fruits. Star comes clambering back down the trunk with one of the fruits and breaks it open against the trunk. ¡°Here, you¡¯ll feel better.¡± She hands the fruit to Poppy. The fruit fives off a sweet smell. It has gooey gold flesh. ¡°That¡¯s sweetie,¡± says Poppy, tasting the fruit. Back at the castle, Star runs back to her mother¡¯s quarters. She¡¯s definitely competent enough to find her way back there, I know that now. A girl our own age with shoulder length blond hair and a pert nose comes up to us in the hallway. ¡°Hey Poppy, who¡¯s your friend?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Alfie,¡± I say. ¡°Hi Carly,¡± says Poppy. ¡°I need to scrub all this muck off me.¡± ¡°The communal showers are this way,¡± says Kayla. She leads us through a door off the main entrance all and to a stone door that leads to a marble shower room lit by glimmering crystals in the ceiling. ¡°I¡¯m off to get a drastic facial treatment at the spa,¡± says Carly. ¡°See you.¡± I turn to leave with Carly to give Poppy some privacy, but Poppy touches my arm. ¡°Please don¡¯t leave me, Alfie.¡± I cover my eyes with my hands as Poppy casts off the blanket and steps behind the wall of the shower so that only her head is still visible to me. The shower water is pink and sparkly and Poppy sighs and I here the splashing sounds of her soaping herself. ¡°How did you end up in the sewer drain, Poppy?¡± I ask. ¡°I got sent to the breeding ground in the dungeons,¡± says Poppy. ¡°A massive green beast shuffled towards me on all fours, but he was seized by a great green ogre and they started to fight. I tried to slip away down a tunnel, but it was a dead end. Then I felt the clammy green hands of an ogre on me. The ogre¡¯s hands were the size of dustbin lids, with fingers the size of cucumbers. He picked me up and stared at me. He had a huge nose and a bloated forehead. His arms and legs were thick as tree trunks, but his stomach was bloated. He must have weighed a ton. He was stark naked and¡­¡± Poppy blushes and then continues her account: ¡°The ogre spoke in a rumbling voice. ¡°Freckled face, doey eyes, cute nose, de¡¯ent boobies ¨C but is she sexy? Le¡¯s fin¡¯ out. ¡°The ogre¡¯s bed was a bunch of filthy animal skins. He had the carcass of the green beast he killed and was gorging on a leg and I felt sick. ¡°Wan¡¯ some, ah¡¯ve got moar,¡± said the ogre. ¡°No thanks,¡± I replied. ¡°Listen, please let me go?¡± ¡°Ah¡¯m gonna give you a babeh! Give it up!¡± roared the ogre, putting his terrific weight on top of me and ¨C and he started doing it. I was pinned down and couldn¡¯t move at all. The ogre did it again and again and I orgasmed so hard I blacked out. He roused me by smearing his poop on my face and then did it again. When I blacked out again, he must have flushed me down the sewer system.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry you had to go through this,¡± I say, feeling pretty sick and what Poppy¡¯s been through. Poppy comes out of the shower, wrapped in a pink towel. The much and grime have been wiped off her and her face looks fresh and clean. Her auburn tresses glint in the light of the crystals in the ceiling. She puts her arms around me and I feel excited by her closeness, the feel of her firm breasts pressed against me¡­ ¡°Hey!¡± Carly¡¯s back and we turn at the sound of her voice. Her face is now bright yellowish green, smooth and shiny, like she¡¯s wearing a tight fitting green mask. ¡°You look, uh, green,¡± I say. ¡°My face is clay now so I can reshape it as I like,¡± says Carly. ¡°I always wanted my nose to grow longer¡­¡± she pulls her nose and it grows to be a foot long. Carly laughs and beings squashing and moulding her green features with her hands until she has an entirely different face, sculpted with high cheekbones and a patrician nose. ¡°I like it¡­¡± she peers at herself in the mirror. ¡°But if I feel like a change¡­¡± she moulds her face some more and now her face is the same shape as Poppy¡¯s. She looks like Poppy with green face paint and blond hair. ¡°Very pretty,¡± I tell her. If Carly is happy to have a face made of green clay, I''m glad she''s happy, What strange and disturbing things happen here at Garnet Valley!