Note: To read The Wishing Mapfrom the beginning, click here.

The Wishing Map

Chapter Twenty: Tea for One (Continued)

Previously: Not caring whether he lived or died, Zack entered a strange cottage and encountered the mysterious Rhema.

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“Will you have tea, dear?” Rhema asked as she poured boiling water into a pumpkin-shaped teapot. Her voice was so kind, and the smell of the tea so bracing, that Zack could not bear to accept.

“I don’t deserve it.”

“Of course you don’t. That’s why I’m offering it to you. It’s made from the berries of the kharis bush, which many believe does not exist, but look.” She pointed at the tiny blood red berries on her skirt.

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Gina stood in the doorway, watching. What was Zack doing anyway? He’d settled into a weird little booth and seemed to be talking to someone, but there was…