7 Hag's Head House

7. HAG'S HEAD HOUSE Up, up the twisting staircase they went, until finally Matilda and the sea hags emerged from a tiny doorway cut into the side of the rock. "Here we are—have a seat!" said the third hag, dumping Matilda on the hard- wood floor. "Take your weight from off my feet!"

Matilda looked around nervously. She was in an enormous room. Three walls supported cupboards and shelves, buckling under the weight of books, boxes, bottles, and jars. A pale-looking monkey sat in a cage suspended from the ceiling. Other cages, jars, and glass tanks held an assortment of glum-looking animals.

The opposite side of the room was almost entirely a window, which looked like it had been cobbled together from hundreds of different glass panes, with a view across the bay and out to sea. One of the hags dragged over a small cage. The second hag dropped Bones into it, and the light that surrounded him fizzled out. She slammed the lid shut. Bones jumped up and started growling, which made the three hags cackle some more. "Growl, little dog, while you still have a tongue! Enjoy how it feels— it won't be for long!"

The sea hags turned to Matilda, crowding around her, bent double, hands curled like claws. "This is our house. Sea hags are we, Witches, you'd say, who live by the sea." "This is my sister!" "My sister is she!" "My sister is that one!" "Sisters are we!" "My name is Dabberlocks!" "My name is Maer!" "I've been called Pipweed since I was a girl!" Suddenly, Dabberlocks stood up straight with her finger raised.

"If there are pirates, there must be a ship!" she said, hobbling over to a long brass telescope on a wooden tripod by the window. "A ship! A ship! There we are! Find me a bung! Find me a jar!" Her sisters rummaged in a cupboard. Pipweed handed her a huge jar, Maerl a matching cork, and Dabberlocks trotted purposefully outside, through a double door in the wall of windows. "She'll be back—she won't go far! Gone to collect a ship in a jar!" said Pipweed.

"We don't always talk in rhyme, y'know.... Sometimes we just can't be bothered," said Maerl. "Cup of tea, sister dear?" "Oh, yes. That would be lovely," said Pipweed. They turned back to Matilda and hoisted her onto her feet. "Show her the kitchen, show her the pot!" "Show her all the tea that we've got!" Matilda was hustled out of the room and into a kitchen at the back of the house. Maerl put the kettle on the stove, and Pipweed opened a cupboard. They did indeed have a wide selection of tea.