Wrinkle in Time

12

The Foolish and the Weak

Meg could see nothing, but she felt her heart pounding with hope.With one accord all the beasts rose to their feet, turned towards one of the arched openings, and bowed their heads and tentacles in greeting. Mrs Whatsit appeared, standing between two columns. Beside her came Mrs Who, behind them a quivering of light. The three of them were somehow not quite the same as they had been when Meg had first seen them. Their outlines seemed blurred; colours ran together as in a wet watercolour painting. But they were there; they were recognizable; they were themselves.

Meg pulled herself away from Aunt Beast, jumped to the floor, and rushed at Mrs Whatsit. But Mrs Whatsit held up a warning hand and Meg realized that she was not completely materialized, that she was light and not substance, and embracing her now would have been like trying to hug a sunbeam.

‘We had to hurry so there wasn’t quite time… You wanted us?’ Mrs Whatsit asked.

The tallest of the beasts bowed again and took a step away from the table and towards Mrs Whatsit. ‘It is a question of the little boy.’

‘Father left him!’ Meg cried. ‘He left him on Cama-zotz!’

Appallingly, Mrs Whatsit s voice was cold. ‘And what do you expect us to do?’

Meg pressed her knuckles against her teeth so that her brace cut her skin. Then she flung out her arms pleadingly. ‘But it’s Charles Wallace! IT has him, Mrs Whatsit! Save him, please save him!’

‘You know that we can do nothing on Camazotz,’ Mrs Whatsit said, her voice still cold.

‘You mean you’ll let Charles be caught by IT for ever?’ Meg’s voice rose shrilly.

‘Did I say that?’

‘But we can’t do anything! You know we can’t! We tried! Mrs Whatsit, you have to save him!’

‘Meg, this is not our way,’ Mrs Whatsit said sadly. ‘I thought you would know that this is not our way.’

Mr Murry took a step forward and bowed, and to Meg’s amazement the three ladies bowed back to him. ‘I don’t believe we’ve been introduced,’ Mrs Whatsit said.

‘It’s father, you know it’s father,’ Meg’s angry impatience grew. ‘Father, Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who and Mrs Which.’

‘I’m very glad to —’ Mr Murry mumbled, then went on, ‘I’m sorry, my glasses are broken, and I can’t see you very well.’

‘It’s not necessary to see us,’ Mrs Whatsit said.

‘If you could teach me enough about the tesseract so that I could get back to Camazotz —’

‘Wwhatt tthenn?’ came Mrs Which’s surprising voice.

‘I will try to take my child away from IT.’

‘Annd yyou kknoww tthatt yyou wwill nnott ssucceeedd?’

‘There’s nothing left except to try.’

Mrs Whatsit spoke gently. ‘I’m sorry. We cannot allow you to go.’

‘Then let me,’ Calvin suggested. ‘I almost got him away before.’

Mrs Whatsit shook her head. ‘No, Calvin. Charles has gone even deeper into IT. You will not be permitted to throw yourself in with him, for that, you must realize, is what would happen.’

There was a long silence. All the soft rays filtering into the great hall seemed to concentrate on Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and the faint light that must be Mrs Which. No one spoke. One of the beasts moved a tendril slowly back and forth across the stone tabletop. At last Meg could stand it no longer and she cried out despairingly, ‘Then what are you going to do? Are you just going to throw Charles away?’

Mrs Which’s voice rolled formidably across the hall. ‘Ssilencce, cchilldd!’

But Meg could not be silent. She pressed closely against Aunt Beast, but Aunt Beast did not put the protecting tentacles around her. ‘I can’t go!’ Meg cried. ‘I can’t! You know I can’t!’

‘Ddidd annybbodyy asskk yyou ttoo?’ The grim voice made Meg’s skin prickle into gooseflesh.

She burst into tears. She started beating at Aunt Beast like a small child having a tantrum. Her tears rained down her face and spattered Aunt Beast’s fur. Aunt Beast stood quietly against the assault.

‘All right, I’ll go!’ Meg sobbed. ‘I know you want me to go!’

‘We want nothing from you that you do without grace,’ Mrs Whatsit said, ‘or that you do without understanding.’

Meg’s tears stopped as abruptly as they had started. ‘But I do understand.’ She felt tired and unexpectedly peaceful. Now the coldness that, under Aunt Beast’s ministrations, had left her body had also left her mind. She looked towards her father and her confused anger was gone and she only felt love and pride. She smiled at him, asking forgiveness, and then pressed up against Aunt Beast. This time Aunt Beast’s arm went round her.

Mrs Which’s voice was grave. ‘Wwhatt ddoo yyou unndderrsstanndd?’

‘That it has to be me. It can’t be anyone else. I don’t understand Charles, but he understands me. I’m the one who’s closest to him. Father’s been away for so long, since Charles Wallace was a baby. They don’t know each other. And Calvin’s only known Charles for such a little time. If it had been longer then he would have been the one, but — oh, I see, I see, I understand, it has to be me. There isn’t anyone else.’

Mr Murry, who had been sitting, his elbows on his knees, his chin on his fists, rose. ‘I will not allow it!’

‘Wwhyy?’ Mrs Which demanded.

‘Look, I don’t know what or who you are, and at this point I don’t care. I will not allow my daughter to go alone into this danger.’

‘Wwhyy?’

‘You know what the outcome will probably be! And she’s weak, now, weaker than she was before. She was almost killed by the Black Thing. I fail to understand how you can even consider such a thing.’

Calvin jumped down. ‘Maybe IT is right about you! Or maybe you’re in league with IT. I’m the one to go if anybody goes! Why did you bring me along at all? To take care of Meg! You said so yourself!’

‘But you have done that,’ Mrs Whatsit assured him.

‘I haven’t done anything!’ Calvin shouted. ‘You can’t send Meg! I won’t allow it! I’ll put my foot down! I won’t permit it!’

‘Don’t you see that you’re making something that is already hard for Meg even harder?’ Mrs Whatsit asked him.

Aunt Beast turned tentacles towards Mrs Whatsit. ‘Is she strong enough to tesser again? You know what she has been through.’

‘If Which takes her she can manage,’ Mrs Whatsit said.

‘If it will help I could go too, and help her.’ Aunt Beast’s arm around Meg tightened.

‘Oh, Aunt Beast —’ Meg started.

But Mrs Whatsit cut her off. ‘No.’

‘I was afraid not,’ Aunt Beast said humbly. ‘I just wanted you to know that I would.’

‘Mrs — uh — Whatsit.’ Mr Murry frowned and pushed his hair back from his face. Then he shoved with his middle finger at his nose as though he were trying to get spectacles closer to his eyes. ‘Are you remembering that she is only a child?’

‘And she’s backward,’ Calvin bellowed.

‘I resent that,’ Meg said hotly, hoping that indignation would control her trembling. ‘I’m better than you at math and you know it.’

‘Do you have the courage to go alone?’ Mrs Whatsit asked her.

Meg’s voice was flat. ‘No. But it doesn’t matter.’ She turned to her father and Calvin. ‘You know it’s the only thing to do. You know they’d never send me alone if —’

‘How do we know they’re not in league with IT?’ Mr Murry demanded.

‘Father!’

‘No, Meg,’ Mrs Whatsit said. ‘I do not blame your father for being angry and suspicious and frightened. And I