A Wind in the Door
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About this ebook
In A Wrinkle in Time Quintet book two, Charles Wallace falls ill, and Meg, Calvin, and their teacher, Mr. Jenkins, must travel inside C.W. to make him well, and save the universe from the evil Echthros.
It is November. When Meg comes home from school, Charles Wallace tells her he saw dragons in the twin's vegetable garden. That night Meg, Calvin and C.W. go to the vegetable garden to meet the Teacher (Blajeny) who explains that what they are seeing isn't a dragon at all, but a cherubim named Proginoskes. It turns out that C.W. is ill and that Blajeny and Proginoskes are there to make him well – by making him well, they will keep the balance of the universe in check and save it from the evil Echthros.
Meg, Calvin and Mr. Jenkins (grade school principal) must travel inside C.W. to have this battle and save Charles' life as well as the balance of the universe.
Books by Madeleine L'Engle
A Wrinkle in Time Quintet
A Wrinkle in Time
A Wind in the Door
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
Many Waters
An Acceptable Time
A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel by Madeleine L'Engle; adapted & illustrated by Hope Larson
Intergalactic P.S. 3 by Madeleine L'Engle; illustrated by Hope Larson: A standalone story set in the world of A Wrinkle in Time.
The Austin Family Chronicles
Meet the Austins (Volume 1)
The Moon by Night (Volume 2)
The Young Unicorns (Volume 3)
A Ring of Endless Light (Volume 4) A Newbery Honor book!
Troubling a Star (Volume 5)
The Polly O'Keefe books
The Arm of the Starfish
Dragons in the Waters
A House Like a Lotus
And Both Were Young
Camilla
The Joys of Love
Madeleine L'Engle
Madeleine L’Engle (1918–2007) was an American author of more than sixty books, including novels for children and adults, poetry, and religious meditations. Her best-known work, A Wrinkle in Time, one of the most beloved young adult books of the twentieth century and a Newbery Medal winner, has sold more than fourteen million copies since its publication in 1962. Her other novels include A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and A Ring of Endless Light. Born in New York City, L’Engle graduated from Smith College and worked in theater, where she met her husband, actor Hugh Franklin. L’Engle documented her marriage and family life in the four-book autobiographical series, the Crosswicks Journals. She also served as librarian and writer-in-residence at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan for more than thirty years.
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Reviews for A Wind in the Door
83 ratings61 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title a wonderful book about the power of love. It is a perfect balance of writing to interest adults as well as entertaining children. The underlying message had me looking at myself and life in a new way. Although some readers may prefer A Wrinkle in Time, overall it is a good book with a beautiful concept of love and responsibility. Charles Wallace is a favorite character.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A re-read as an adult. This was a little better than OK, but not as good as the first in the series. The themes of love and dependence (on family, community, environment, etc.) are important ones, but seem to get drowned out in the fantasy elements. I think this story would be challenging for the age group it is intended.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Wind in the Door takes place a year after A Wrinkle in Time. Meg is worried about her youngest brother, Charles Wallace, who has just started school.I enjoyed the first half of A Wind in the Door as much as I enjoyed the first book, and was disappointed with the second half. The challenges Meg faced were just too similar to those in the first half, the ultimate outcome felt predictable, and the setting was a bit confusing.(It did not help that the narrator for the audiobook - Jennifer Ehle, unrecognisable, with an American accent, as Elizabeth Bennet - did not have such distinct voices for the characters as Hope Davis, who read the first book. If I was momentarily distracted and missed something, it was harder to work out who was speaking and what was going on.)If the next book followed directly on from this one, I would have shrugged aside my disappointment and carried on immediately with the series. But the next book is apparently about Charles Wallace ten years later, and so is unlikely to resolve what I’m feeling like is the unfulfilled potential of A Wind in the Door, the unfinished story of Meg Murry as a teenager.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I think what upsets me most is that all if the skill and craftsmanship of the first novel disappeared completely. Instead of interesting dialogue and concepts, this novel is filled with jumbled babble and for some reason the characters act as if the entire first book never happened. A serious disappointment of a book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Just re-read the book and I just remembered why I loved it way back then. Despite its abstract and science fiction plot it was very understandable for a child. There was no need for explanations what mitochondria, farandolae, kything is. All you need to understand is how love can save all of us, small or big. Size does not matter, where does not matter, only love does. I love how there are hidden religious elements in this book just like Narnia. This book is for all sizes, all ages everywhere. It transcends time and place. Kudos Ms. L'Engle.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Another imaginative adventure about love, space & time, and family connections from L'Engle. Although at times I find the story's content a bit far-reaching and elusive, not to mention weak at some plot points, I still am drawn to Meg's family and their adventures. L'Engle has a way with words but sometimes at a cost. This is series for upper grades and for those who enjoy a bit of science fiction weaved with lessons on love and family.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a wonderful book- I love being with Meg and I wanted to re-read it to come back to her. It went so much deeper when I reread it though. I've been working with the concepts of zen. There are things we can't understand, but we don't need to. Trying to understand that which is beyond human comprehension gives us distress- that's one of the many concepts this book touches on. Being, existing, knowing that you are, that's important. It's a release to accept. So this is life-relevant in that I'm working with these concepts right now.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I forced myself to stay up last night to finish this book - folding laundry, emptying the dishwasher, playing solitaire, all with my earbuds in. Was it because this book was so awesome, I couldn't wait to find out how it ended? Not quite. A Wind in the Door has an interesting plot - at least interesting enough that I wanted to find out how it ended. But the reason I stayed up that extra hour was because the narration was so incredibly awful that I did not want to start my day with this irritatingly squeaky voice in my ears during my morning run. This sequel to A Wrinkle in Time starts out with a pretty good plot - space travel, mitochondria - I almost stopped listening because I thought I should share this one with my son. The narration really went south, when a new character was introduced - tiny little microscopic entities that are part of our mitochondria. And tiny little creatures have to have very high squeaky voices. Turning the volume down and listening with just one ear bud improved things... but not by much. This is a book that should be read...in print.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Another wonderful book to remind us of how important we are to each other
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book kept me a little more captured because it ran off the last one. I thought that this would be a good book to do a novel study with a class because I think it would be easy, and good, to focus in on how the children felt different and left out by their peers. By doing that, I think it would take a more realistic turn on a typically more science like discussion.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5In A Wrinkle in Time we learned that the evils of communism could be defeated by the power of love. In A Wind in the Door we learn that sickness is caused by evil attacking creatures which live on mitochondria and that the evil can be stopped by the power of love. Honestly, I don't understand why people love this series.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A worthy follow-up to "A Wrinkle in Time," this book was probably the first thing that made me aware of how tremendously vast the universe is in scale, from the microscopic to the cosmic, and beyond. (It's also responsible for me knowing what a mitrochondria was several years before taking high school biology!)A must-read for young fantasy-lovers, especially those who enjoyed its predecessor.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yet another Time book that I thoroughly enjoyed. It is nice to read about families who, though odd in many ways, love each other and show it.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Meg is the main character in this second book in the series. She must again fight the forces of evil who wish to destroy the world (and the universe) to save Charles Wallace (again!).
She grows throughout the book as her world-view is challenged by the strange characters she meets and then Meg and the cherubim, Proginoskes, must face three tests or trials as well.
Another good and challenging read with lots of 'science' terms to do with mitochondria and the fictional creatures, farandolae, that live inside them. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5While "A Wind in the Door" is nowhere nearly as well-known or iconic as its predecessor, "A Wrinkle in Time," this book holds just as dear a place in my heart. In it, Meg must learn to feel love where she does not wish to feel it, and to recognize the inherent interconnectedness of every living thing in the Universe. It is only in this way that she can save her young brother, Charles Wallace, who is dying because fantastical denizens of his mitochondria, the "farandolae," refuse to understand the importance of the universe beyond themselves, thus allowing their home to wither and be extinguished. This, of course, is L'Engles way of saying that self-centeredness and inability to see how our actions affect others is something that puts the world at terrible risk. It is a worthwhile and, indeed, a vital message for children, packaged in a well-written, captivating story. I also have a special place in my heart for this book as that which introduced me to mitochondria and Lynn Margulis's theory of endosymbiosis, which had only been published seven years previous to the writing of this book and was by no means immediately accepted by the scientific community. While much of the "science" surrounding Charles Wallace's health is pure fantasy, L'Engle was clearly on top of the breakthroughs being made. "A Wind in the Door" is a worthy continuation of the Murray family's adventures that easily stands on its own. Highly recommended.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The theme of this book is being loved and named. All creatures both great and small, usual and unusual want to be known and named. This theme is previlent throughout this novel. Madeleine L'Engle weaves an intricate story with descriptive words and fantastic imagery which tells the story of Meg and her discovery of the roots of life- love, and being known and named. This book is an example of science fiction because a main part of the novel is the importance of scientific laws, biology and time, space travel. Things occur in which you must suspend your disbelief. The characters interact with many scientific inquiries and travel inside a boy's body in order to save his life. Appropriate Age: Middle School
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Wind in the Door is the sequel to A Wrinkle in Time and takes place the next autumn. Charles Wallace has started school and is having a hard time adjusting and is getting beat up at least once a week. We also find Charles Wallace coming down with a mysterious illness and Mrs. Murry suspects something is wrong with his mitochondria. Overall another fast fun read and a great book for young adults. At this point in my life I find Meg irritating but I remember I didn't think so when I read it back in school. Like Wrinkle it doesn't go a lot into the explaining the whys and hows but just keeps the story moving right along. Meg is forced to look at people in a new light most especially her nemesis Mr. Jenkins. Good story worth an afternoon to read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5part two of the trilogy, beginning with a wrinkle in time. i don't remember it too well, but i remember loving it. she has a very beautifully spacey language.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed this book. I like the ideas that we need to grow up, hate destroys, love creates.It seemed odd that there was no reference to the prior book. The only hint of the 1st book was Meg saying she and Cal had been through a lot together.It was strange Meg doubting there could be dragons after what she saw in the 1st book. Also her not understanding why Charles Wallace was so important
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the second book in a classic trilogy of children's books. It's shelved in the section for the seven to thirteen set, but I'm reading it for the first time as an adult. There are some children's or young adult books I've first read as an adult I've loved without qualification. I wouldn't though put this up there with such books by Lewis Carroll, Philip Pullman, C.S. Lewis or J.K. Rowling. I don't think the writing, world-building or characters are as strong. However, I'd probably have loved these books had I first read them as a child. And for what it's worth, I liked this second book more than the first book, A Wrinkle in Time. Meg, Charles and Calvin, the children at the center of these books, did grow on me in this book. I knew going in from a friend who loves these that, like Narnia, (or even Potter for all that it's subtle) that these are Christian fiction. It's not as blatant as in Narnia, and in fact, more than two-thirds way through the trilogy, it might be more accurate to call these "theist" or Judeo-Christian than specifically Christian. There's no Aslan-like character here, though there is a cherubim in this one. (And a cool snake, Louise the Larger--L'Engle is certainly kinder to snakes than Rowling.) While I thought Lewis knocked you over the head with the religious aspects, with L'Engle--despite some Biblical quotes and angel characters--it's more a gentle tap. Although I wouldn't call Narnia sexist exactly--the girls are just as strong as the boys and Lewis is very gender-balanced--he does fall into what a friend called "gender fail" at times, while L'Engle's female characters are strong and thoroughly modern. Meg and Charles' parents are scientists--the mother holds double doctorates in biology and bacteriology. Which leads me to another aspect of the books I really appreciated--especially in contrast to C.S. Lewis. Lewis can come across as anti-science, anti-reason, anti-tech. While L'Engle doesn't play with science quite in the sophisticated ways Pullman did in His Dark Materials, she still uses it in positive ways. How can I not find it cool to read a book staring the mitochondria? And in the end, I did enjoy this enough I went on to read the next and last book in the trilogy, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and so far am enjoying it quite a lot. For an adult, the books in the trilogy are all very fast easy reads.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I just had a flashback to my sophomore year in high school, when my attempt to draw Proginoskes on the chalkboard was interpreted rather poorly by the Driver's Ed teacher as something gynecological in nature. Small wonder I'd forgotten that.
I don't think that one can judge this particular book on anything but sheer emotion. It doesn't stand up to any sort of plot analysis, but it's somehow love made visible.
One thing I adore about L'Engle is that her female characters are smart and capable and fearless- the adult ones, at least. And the girls all have potential to grow into fabulous confident women. There's an exultant intelligence about these books that I clung to as a kid. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Wind in the Door far surpassed my current feelings toward A Wrinkle... though I must admit it didn't meet the memory I have of the first book in the TIme Quartet.Wind seemed to be more about understanding growth and life and less about the need to let go of inhibitions, which is a more fitting message for me in my life right now. Yes, Meg gets a bit whiney, and there is a LOT of science fiction here, but L'Engle is able to put it into amazing perspective for the pages of a book. It was not my favorite read of all time (or even this year) but I am glad I picked it up, and I'll be continuing with the remaining Quartet novels as well.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When her little brother Charles Wallace gets sick, Meg and her friend Calvin join with a cherubim named Proginoskes and other odd creatures in an effort to safe not just a little boy, but the universe itself from the Echthroi, who wish to un-name (destroy) all things. It becomes an epic battle on the minute scale, as the heroes travel inside deep into the mitochondria of Charles Wallace in order to save him. A Wind in the Door is more of a companion novel rather than a direct sequel to A Wrinkle in Time — although the characters are the same (Meg, Calvin, Charles Wallace, etc.) and space travel and physics are at the forefront, the story makes no reference to the first book. For example, when the book mentions a darkness obliterating the stars, I immediately thought of the "dark planets" mentioned in in A Wrinkle in Time, but the characters themselves make no mention of their past adventures. It feels odd (and a little unnatural, because that's where my thoughts would go if I were Meg), especially after reading both books back to back. The only hint at past adventures is how unsurprised the characters are that strange or alien creatures and travel to the stars exists. This makes the book almost seem like a standalone story rather than a proper sequel, as reading the first book is in no way necessary to understand the references in this one. One of the small annoyances with A Wind in the Door (as with the first book) was how conversations would often loop over how things work in this universe, explaining the scientific or world-building concepts over and over again. A teach would explain what a creature is, Meg would not understand, so the teacher would explain again in slightly different way, then another character would still not understand, and then a new version of the explanation would be given. As an adult with a vague understanding of how physics works, this started to bother me after a while. However, since the book is intended for a middle grade audience and since some of these concepts are mind-bending and difficult to grasp, the use of repetition makes sense (even if it wasn't as enjoyable for me). L'Engle has presented another fantastic story with A Wind in the Door, one that stretches the imagination and expands the concept of what may be possible. Great characters, who work toward building love and life in the world, and a wonderful storyline.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I enjoyed the first half of this book more than the last half. I was quite charmed by the children and the arrival of the teacher and the cherubim. I think I lost some enthusiasm when everyone travelled into the mitochondria and did battle with the Kairos. I didn't realize until I was into the book that it was a continuation of A Wrinkle in Time which I have always meant to read but have not so far. I think I will read that book and see if it is an improvement.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Charles Wallace has fallen deathly ill, and so Meg and Calvin must journey inside his mitochondria to combat the evil that is making him ill. It's terribly strange, and honestly not all that interesting. I mean, the cherubim was kind of neat-sounding, but the farandolae was obnoxious and the Eckthroi were too nebulous to be truly menacing. Too much of the book was taken up with "what do I do" and "what's going on" and not enough actual plot. And, of course, the solution was visible from a mile off. But maybe I'd have appreciated this more as a child.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Not even a shadow of 'A Wrinkle in Time'. Meg's incessant whining irritated me to no end.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This is my least favorite book following A Wrinkle in Time. The characters seem further away, making it hard to connect on an emotional level, and I don't find the plot QUITE up to the plot of the other books. This isn't a bad book, and on it's own it would probably be rated much higher, but when it's being compared to A Wrinkle in Time or A Swiftly Tilting Planet, it can't help but to fall flat. I read it because it's part of a series I enjoy and love, not because I love this particular book itself.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really enjoyed this book! The fascinating scientific and mathematical details in it might have inspired me to study science had I read it as a child. I found it intriguing the way L'Engle weaves science and fantasy into a riveting children's story. I read this as bedtime reading, but I had a hard time putting it down and going to sleep!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Charles Wallace is dieing, and his survival is tied in some way to the survival of the universe and all things. As we are microscopic atoms of life in our vast universe, so too is mitochondria microscopic in the vast universe that is Charles Wallace. A many-eyed cheribim leads Meg on a series of challenges to save her little brother and all he is connected to - which is everything.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The follow up story after "A Wrinkle in Time." It's fun to follow the characters through their next adventure.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Book 2 of the Wrinkle in Time series. I never read this one when I was a kid. But I read it out loud to Jefferson.
These books are strange in that the plot is very slow in the way of action, because it is really all about internal growth in the characters. Which all takes place in the form of or the result of conversation, often with strange, extra-terrestrial beings.
Sometimes it all seemed just grindingly slow and hard to get through, but somehow in the end I found myself actually crying as I was reading it to Jefferson. So I guess I got invested after all. The concept of the cherubim was very interesting as well.
Mostly I'm still looking forward to getting to Many Waters, which is the one I remember enjoying in my childhood.
Book preview
A Wind in the Door - Madeleine L'Engle
For Pat
Table of Contents
Title Page
Epigraph
ONE - Charles Wallace’s Dragons
TWO - A Rip in the Galaxy
THREE - The Man in the Night
FOUR - Proginoskes
FIVE - The First Test
SIX - The Real Mr. Jenkins
SEVEN - Metron Ariston
EIGHT - Journey into the Interior
NINE - Farandolae and Mitochondria
TEN - Yadah
ELEVEN - Sporos
TWELVE - A Wind in the Door
OTHER NOVELS IN THE TIME QUINTET
GOFISH - QUESTIONS FOR THE AUTHOR
THE L’ENGLE CAST OF CHARACTERS
Copyright Page
What, nephew,
said the king,
is the wind in that door?
SIR THOMAS MALORY
Le Morte d’Arthur
ONE
Charles Wallace’s Dragons
"There are dragons in the twins’ vegetable garden."
Meg Murry took her head out of the refrigerator where she had been foraging for an after-school snack, and looked at her six-year-old brother. What?
There are dragons in the twins’ vegetable garden. Or there were. They’ve moved to the north pasture now.
Meg, not replying—it did not do to answer Charles Wallace too quickly when he said something odd—returned to the refrigerator. I suppose I’ll have lettuce and tomato as usual. I was looking for something new and different and exciting.
Meg, did you hear me?
Yes, I heard you. I think I’ll have liverwurst and cream cheese.
She took her sandwich materials and a bottle of milk and set them out on the kitchen table. Charles Wallace waited patiently. She looked at him, scowling with an anxiety she did not like to admit to herself, at the fresh rips in the knees of his blue jeans, the streaks of dirt grained deep in his shirt, a darkening bruise on the cheekbone under his left eye. Okay, did the big boys jump you in the schoolyard this time, or when you got off the bus?
Meg, you aren’t listening to me.
I happen to care that you’ve been in school for two months now and not a single week has gone by that you haven’t been roughed up. If you’ve been talking about dragons in the garden or wherever they are, I suppose that explains it.
I haven’t. Don’t underestimate me. I didn’t see them till I got home.
Whenever Meg was deeply worried she got angry. Now she scowled at her sandwich. I wish Mother’d get the spreadable kind of cream cheese. This stuff keeps going right through the bread. Where is she?
In the lab, doing an experiment. She said to tell you she wouldn’t be long.
Where’s Father?
He got a call from L.A., and he’s gone to Washington for a couple of days.
Like the dragons in the garden, their father’s visits to the White House were something best not talked about at school. Unlike the dragons, these visits were real.
Charles Wallace picked up Meg’s doubting. But I saw them, Meg, the dragons. Eat your sandwich and come see.
Where’re Sandy and Dennys?
Soccer practice. I haven’t told anybody but you.
Suddenly sounding forlorn, younger than his six years, he said, I wish the high-school bus got home earlier. I’ve been waiting and waiting for you.
Meg returned to the refrigerator to get lettuce. This was a cover for some rapid thinking, although she couldn’t count on Charles Wallace not picking up her thoughts, as he had picked up her doubts about the dragons. What he had actually seen she could not begin to guess. That he had seen something, something unusual, she was positive.
Charles Wallace silently watched her finish making the sandwich, carefully aligning the slices of bread and cutting it in precise sections. I wonder if Mr. Jenkins has ever seen a dragon?
Mr. Jenkins was the principal of the village school, and Meg had had her own troubles with him. She had small hope that Mr. Jenkins would care what happened to Charles Wallace, or that he would be willing to interfere in what he called the normal procedures of democracy.
Mr. Jenkins believes in the law of the jungle.
She spoke through a mouthful. Aren’t there dragons in the jungle?
Charles Wallace finished his glass of milk. No wonder you always flunk social studies. Eat your sandwich and stop stalling. Let’s go and see if they’re still there.
They crossed the lawn, followed by Fortinbras, the large, black, almost-Labrador dog, happily sniffing and snuffling at the rusty autumnal remains of the rhubarb patch. Meg tripped over a wire hoop from the croquet set, and made an annoyed grunt, mostly at herself, because she had put the wickets and mallets away after the last game, and forgotten this one. A low wall of barberry separated the croquet lawn from Sandy’s and Dennys’s vegetable garden. Fortinbras leaped over the barberry, and Meg called automatically, Not in the garden, Fort,
and the big dog backed out, between rows of cabbage and broccoli. The twins were justly proud of their organic produce, which they sold around the village for pocket money.
A dragon could make a real mess of this garden,
Charles Wallace said, and led Meg through rows of vegetables. I think he realized that, because suddenly he sort of wasn’t there.
What do you mean, he sort of wasn’t there? Either he was there, or he wasn’t.
He was there, and then when I went to look closer, he wasn’t there, and I followed him—not really him, because he was much faster than I, and I only followed where he’d been. And he went to the big glacial rocks in the north pasture.
Meg looked scowlingly at the garden. Never before had Charles Wallace sounded as implausible as this.
He said, Come on,
and moved past the tall sheaves of corn, which had only a few scraggly ears left. Beyond the corn the sunflowers caught the slanting rays of the afternoon sun, their golden faces reflecting brilliance.
Charles, are you all right?
Meg asked. It was not like Charles to lose touch with reality. Then she noticed that he was breathing heavily, as if he had been running, though they had not been walking rapidly. His face was pale, his forehead beaded with perspiration, as though from overexertion.
She did not like the way he looked, and she turned her mind back to the unlikely tale of dragons, picking her way around the luxuriant pumpkin vines. Charles, when did you see these—dragons?
A dollop of dragons, a drove of dragons, a drive of dragons,
Charles Wallace panted. After I got home from school. Mother was all upset because I looked such a mess. My nose was still very bloody.
I get upset, too.
Meg, Mother thinks it’s more than the bigger kids punching me.
What’s more?
Charles Wallace scrambled with unusual clumsiness and difficulty over the low stone wall which edged the orchard. I get out of breath.
Meg said sharply, Why? What did Mother say?
Charles walked slowly through the high grass in the orchard. She hasn’t said. But it’s sort of like radar blipping at me.
Meg walked beside him. She was tall for her age, and Charles Wallace small for his. There are times when I wish you didn’t pick up radar signals quite so well.
I can’t help it, Meg. I don’t try to. It just happens. Mother thinks something is wrong with me.
But what?
she almost shouted.
Charles Wallace spoke very quietly. I don’t know. Something bad enough so her worry blips loud and clear. And I know there’s something wrong. Just to walk across the orchard like this is an effort, and it shouldn’t be. It never has been before.
When did this start?
she asked sharply. You were all right last weekend when we went walking in the woods.
I know. I’ve been sort of tired all autumn, but it’s been worse this week, and much worse today than it was yesterday. Hey, Meg! Stop blaming yourself because you didn’t notice.
She had been doing precisely that. Her hands felt cold with panic. She tried to push her fear away, because Charles Wallace could read his sister even more easily than he could their mother. He picked up a windfall apple, looked it over for worms, and bit into it. His end-of-summer tan could not disguise his extreme pallor, nor his shadowed eyes; why hadn’t she noticed this? Because she hadn’t wanted to. It was easier to blame Charles Wallace’s paleness and lethargy on his problems at school.
Why doesn’t Mother have a doctor look at you, then? I mean a real doctor?
She has.
When?
Today.
Why didn’t you tell me before?
I was more interested in dragons.
Charles!
It was before you got home from school. Dr. Louise came to have lunch with Mother—she does, quite often, anyhow—
I know. Go on.
So when I got home from school she went over me, from top to toe.
What did she say?
Nothing much. I can’t read her the way I can read Mother. She’s like a little bird, twittering away, and all the time you know that sharp mind of hers is thinking along on another level. She’s very good at blocking me. All I could gather was that she thought Mother might be right about—about whatever it is. And she’d keep in touch.
They had finished crossing the orchard and Charles Wallace climbed up onto the wall again and stood there, looking across an unused pasture where there were two large outcroppings of glacial rock. They’re gone,
he said. My dragons are gone.
Meg stood on the wall beside him. There was nothing to see except the wind blowing through the sunbleached grasses, and the two tall rocks, turning purple in the autumn evening light. Are you sure it wasn’t just the rocks or shadows or something?
Do rocks or shadows look like dragons?
No, but—
Meg, they were right by the rocks, all sort of clustered together, wings, it looked like hundreds of wings, and eyes opening and shutting between the wings, and some smoke and little spurts of fire, and I warned them not to set the pasture on fire.
How did you warn them?
I spoke to them. In a loud voice. And the flames stopped.
Did you go close?
It didn’t seem wise. I stayed here on the wall and watched for a long time. They kept folding and unfolding wings and sort of winking all those eyes at me, and then they all seemed to huddle together and go to sleep, so I went home to wait for you. Meg! You don’t believe me.
She asked, flatly, Well, where have they gone?
You’ve never not believed me before.
She said, carefully, It’s not that I don’t believe you.
In a strange way she did believe him. Not, perhaps, that he had seen actual dragons—but Charles Wallace had never before tended to mix fact and fancy. Never before had he separated reality and illusion in such a marked way. She looked at him, saw that he had a sweatshirt on over his grubby shirt. She held her arms about herself, shivered, and said—although she was quite warm enough—I think I’ll go back to the house and get a cardigan. Wait here. I won’t be long. If the dragons come back—
I think they will come back.
Then keep them here for me. I’ll be as fast as I can.
Charles Wallace looked at her levelly. I don’t think Mother wants to be interrupted right now.
I’m not going to interrupt her. I’m just going to get my cardigan.
Okay, Meg,
he sighed.
She left him sitting on the wall, looking at the two great glacial deposits, waiting for dragons, or whatever it was he thought he’d seen. All right, he knew that she was going back to the house to talk to their mother, but as long as she didn’t admit it out loud she felt that she managed to keep at least a little of her worry from him.
She burst into the laboratory.
Her mother was sitting on a tall lab stool, not looking into the microscope in front of her, not writing on the clipboard, which rested on her knee, just sitting thoughtfully. What is it, Meg?
She started to blurt out Charles Wallace’s talk of dragons, and that he had never had delusions before, but since Charles Wallace himself had not mentioned them to their mother, it seemed like a betrayal for her to do so, though his silence about the dragons may have been because of the presence of Dr. Louise.
Her mother repeated, a little impatiently, What is it, Meg?
What’s wrong with Charles Wallace?
Mrs. Murry put the clipboard down on the lab counter beside the microscope. He had some trouble with the bigger boys again in school today.
That’s not what I mean.
What do you mean, Meg?
He said you had Dr. Colubra here for him.
Louise was here for lunch, so I thought she might as well have a look at him.
And?
And what, Meg?
What’s the matter with him?
We don’t know, Meg. Not yet, at any rate.
Charles says you’re worried about him.
I am. Aren’t you?
Yes. But I thought it was all school. And now I don’t think it is. He got out of breath just walking across the orchard. And he’s too pale. And he imagines things. And he looks—I don’t like the way he looks.
Neither do I.
What is it? What’s wrong? Is it a virus or something?
Mrs. Murry hesitated. I’m not sure.
Mother, please, if there’s anything really wrong with Charles I’m old enough to know.
I don’t know whether there is or not. Neither does Louise. When we find out anything definite, I’ll tell you. I promise you that.
You’re not hiding anything?
Meg, there’s no use talking about something I’m not sure of. I should know in a few days.
Meg twisted her hands together nervously. You really are worried.
Mrs. Murry smiled. Mothers tend to be. Where is he now?
Oh—I left him on the stone wall—I said I was coming in for a cardigan. I’ve got to run back or he’ll think—
Without finishing she rushed out of the lab, grabbed a cardigan from one of the hooks in the pantry, and ran across the lawn.
When she reached Charles Wallace he was sitting on the wall, just as she had left him. There was no sign of dragons.
She had not really expected that there would be. Nevertheless, she was disappointed, her anxiety about Charles subtly deepened.
What did Mother say?
he asked.
Nothing.
His large, deep-seeing blue eyes focused on her. "She didn’t mention mitochondria? Or