Old Master Tate gave Tansy Thorne a piece of paper with the simple English words he had taught that day, telling her to read them aloud at home.

Jacqueline Spann came down the mountain with a basket of firewood on her back. Beside her was a boy of thirteen or fourteen—Phoenix Golding’s nephew, Wade Golding. He and Jacqueline got along quite well, but he was a bit slow and easily provoked. His temperament was similar to Jim Thorne’s, but he couldn’t fight nearly as well and was much more of a coward.

"Here, take all this firewood. That way, my aunt won’t yell at you."

Wade Golding was carrying a large bundle of firewood on his shoulder. The Spann family had run out of firewood the day before, so Jacqueline Spann had gone to his house to get some. His mother then ran over to Phoenix Golding’s place to complain, and when Phoenix returned home, she’d berated Jacqueline. Naturally, she took it out on Vernon Spann as well. The father and daughter had always been Phoenix Golding’s punching bags.

"Thank you, Wade."

Jacqueline Spann gave a bitter smile. Her shoulder throbbed with a dull ache from where Phoenix Golding had hit her. Phoenix had lost face in front of Wade Golding’s mother the previous night and had taken all her anger out on Jacqueline, whipping her with a feather duster. It still hurt.

’It wasn’t even her fault they had no firewood. She did all the chores at home and still had to squeeze in time to study. Her little brother was so dumb he couldn’t even count to ten, yet Phoenix Golding treated him like the apple of her eye. She wouldn’t let him lift a finger and only ever ordered her around.’

Jacqueline Spann was filled with anger and bitterness. What made her feel even worse was that Grandpa Tate refused to teach her anymore. The village teachers were terrible; she couldn’t learn a thing from them, especially English. The town’s middle school didn’t even have an English teacher. She’d probably have to go to a city middle school to find one.

Jacqueline Spann had been confident that by studying with Grandpa Tate, she could one day get into a foreign language university and finally escape Millstone Peak.

But now, her only hope was gone.

Every day was an endless cycle of chores. Phoenix Golding had already declared that Jacqueline would have to drop out after fifth grade to work at home; she wouldn’t pay for her schooling any longer. Jacqueline was sick with anxiety. She had planned to go to the city to look for ways to earn money, but her last trip had yielded nothing.

Jacqueline Spann always felt as if she had missed something important, leaving her with a sense of unease she couldn’t quite place.

’If all else fails, my only option is to go to the mountains and dig for medicinal herbs to sell. Like Clayton Xavier’s mom, Verna Golding—she makes a lot of money every year selling herbs. The problem is, I can’t identify them. I’ll have to ask Clayton to teach me next time, and also show me how to prepare them. Well-prepared herbs sell for much more. Verna Golding’s herbs are always the best quality and fetch the highest price, precisely because her preparation method is so good.’

"What are they doing over there?" Wade Golding asked, pointing ahead. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Jacqueline Spann looked over. Old Master Tate was just handing a piece of paper to Tansy Thorne, his expression full of kindness. Even Adrian Hawthorne, who was standing nearby, had softened—a look he had never once directed at her.

’Those have to be English materials,’ Jacqueline Spann fumed. ’When I studied with him, I had to copy all my own notes. But Tansy Thorne doesn’t even have to lift a finger—Grandpa Tate writes them all out for her. On what grounds?’

"I heard my grandma say Tansy Thorne is a fairy who came down from heaven," Wade Golding said, half-joking. He didn’t really believe it, though. Tansy Thorne had such a bad temper and was so chubby. ’If fairies looked like her,’ he thought, ’the Cowherd would never have bothered stealing the Weaver Girl’s clothes.’

"That’s just feudal superstition. Tell your grandma to stop spouting nonsense."

Jacqueline Spann gritted her teeth. ’A fairy from heaven? My ass! The Thorne family is just putting on an act, trying to glorify that chubby little Tansy. Hmph. Even if they coated her in twenty layers of gold, she’d still be nothing but a stupid, fat brat.’