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    The Jewel Seed
    The Jewel Seed
    The Jewel Seed
    Ebook108 pages57 minutes

    The Jewel Seed

    By Joan Aiken and Peter Bailey

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    About this ebook

    An English orphan unwittingly holds the key to a powerful source of magic

    The graduation ceremony of the Grand and Ancient College of Siberian Witches takes place in the winter darkness of the Far North. But despite the celebration, the night is full of warnings and worry. The Wanderer is abroad in search of the coveted Jewel Seed that has been lost for centuries. Whoever finds it can unlock all knowledge and will have unlimited power. . . .
     
    Meanwhile, orphan Nonnie Smith is leaving the home she shares with her grandmother and grown siblings in Sesame Green to go live in London with her cousins and eldest sister, Una. Nonnie’s problems begin when her old neighbor Mrs. Wednesday returns from the Siberian witch conference and discovers that someone has taken a mysterious shirt off her clothesline. Nonnie is sure the linen blouse was Una’s, but why is Mrs. Wednesday so desperate to get her hands on it?
     
    Then Una is kidnapped—along with famous historical characters Julius Caesar, Mozart, and Jane Austen—and it’s up to Nonnie and her cousin John to outsmart both the Winter People and Mrs. Wednesday in order to save her..
     
    The Jewel Seed is Joan Aiken’s retelling of a story her father, the poet Conrad Aiken, used to tell her and her siblings when they were young.
     
    This ebook features illustrations by Peter Bailey and a personal history of Joan Aiken including rare images from the author’s estate.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateDec 1, 2015
    ISBN9781504020930
    The Jewel Seed
    Author

    Joan Aiken

    Joan Aiken, daughter of the American writer Conrad Aiken, was born in Rye, Sussex, England, and has written more than sixty books for children, including The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.

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      Book preview

      The Jewel Seed - Joan Aiken

      In memory of my father, the poet Conrad Aiken, who told a story, The Jewel Seed, when I was too young to remember.

      Contents

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      A Biography of Joan Aiken

      Chapter One

      THE GRADUATION CEREMONY OF THE Grand and Ancient College of Siberian Witches is an impressive affair. It takes place far to the north, on the Taymir Peninsula, in winter darkness, and inside the drafty structure of what used to be a huge aircraft hangar. Long since abandoned by the military, it now easily accommodates the nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine delegates and candidates who make their way to the conference from all parts of the world.

      The proceedings of the meeting are transacted in low whispers, which makes them all the more solemn and mysterious; the only loud sounds to be heard are the crackle of ice and the howling of the north wind overhead; the only light comes from the red-and-green streamers of the aurora borealis in the sky, observable now and then through gaps in the disintegrating roof.

      At the finish of last year’s ceremony the chairperson of the conference suddenly departed from the normal procedure by tapping three times with an icicle on the speaker’s platform, and then surprised the delegates by ordering them to wait a moment before taking their leave.

      Sisters—brethren—one final word!

      The masked, mortarboarded, black-garbed assembly waited, standing in motionless suspense. The northerly gale shrieked overhead.

      A warning! An injunction! A message! Word has just come to us that the Wanderer is abroad. I will not mention any of his forty-nine names. You all know to whom I refer.

      An assenting shiver ran through the multitude.

      He is abroad in quest of the lost Jewel Seed.

      Another quiver among the black-robed listeners.

      "The Jewel Seed, as you well know, is a compressed universe. It was lost, eons ago, in a handful of flax seed given to a shepherd by Holda, the goddess, one of our most powerful enemies. One that we would dearly like to see shackled in dark for evermore. The finder of that seed, by means of the necessary password, can unlock it and release from it all knowledge, all science, history, art, magic, craft—power. If we, the Winter People, can find this tiny treasure, total dominion over all space will be ours; another, and far more terrible Winter War can be set in motion. Chaos will come again."

      A ripple of high satisfaction at this prospect ran through the dark congregation.

      But, whispered nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine voices, "where is it? Where is the Jewel Seed to be found? Where is it hidden?"

      That, we are not certain. Long ago, Holda, the goddess, gave a handful of flax seeds to a shepherd. The Jewel Seed had fallen from her necklace into the handful of tiny grains. Since then it has never been seen … It was thought to have lodged inside a Black Hole. But, if the Wanderer is abroad, this must mean that he has news of it. Be alert, sisters and brothers! At the first hint of its whereabouts, call me! Call me! And I shall come speeding …

      With that, the multitude dispersed, some of them embarking on their ships made from fingernails, others riding on broomsticks, others transforming themselves into reindeer, elk, or migratory birds.

      And one, on a bicycle made of fingernails, took her way towards England, to the County of Hussex, to Sesame Green. She knew more about the Jewel Seed than the rest of her colleagues. But she intended to keep the knowledge to herself.

      Chapter Two

      WHEN NONNIE SMITH LEFT HER granny’s house at Sesame Green and went to live with her London cousins, the Sculpins, wearing a stolen shirt, various unexpected things began to happen.

      For a start, Nonnie didn’t know the shirt was stolen. (It had in fact been stolen not once, but twice.)

      Nonnie’s school-leaving report said that she was a kind, friendly girl, not the world’s wonder at passing exams, but clever with her hands, and a fine flute-player.

      She had recently had a letter from her elder sister, Una, promising to find her a job as a trainee-hairdresser at Kirlylox Ltd., Forge Hill, London, where Una had worked for the last five years.

      Yes, it’s certainly best you should go to London, dearie, Granny Smith told Nonnie. You can lodge with your Aunt Daisy at first, in Rumbury Town; and you’ll maybe get a chance to play with one of those music groups in your free time. For there beant no kind of living round Sesame Green from playing the flute—not for a gal your age. No, you’ll do better in the city. So you just pack up your things and catch the eight-thirty bus from Fourways Corner tomorrow morning.

      Nonnie sighed. She hated to leave her grandmother, but she could see plainly that the old lady was tired and wanted some peace and privacy.

      Granny Smith had brought up Nonnie, and her eight elder brothers and sisters, since the day that their parents, who were climbers, fell off the side of a mountain in Tibet. Una, the eldest, had become a hairdresser, Duessa, the next, went into dentistry, Teresa got a job in television, Quad, a tough boy, learned blacksmithing, Quintus, who never

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