Search Worlds Without End

This short story originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, September 2004, and was reprinted in Lightspeed, October 2014. It is included in the collection Prophecies, Libels, and Dreams: Stories (2014).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Flora knows better than to take shortcuts in her family home, Crackpot Hall--the house has eleven thousand rooms, and ever since her mother banished the magickal butler, those rooms move around at random. But Flora is late for school, so she takes the unpredictable elevator anyway. Huge mistake. Lost in her own house, she stumbles upon the long-banished butler--and into a mind-blowing muddle of intrigue and betrayal that changes her world forever.

Full of wildly clever plot twists, this extraordinary first novel establishes Ysabeau Wilce as a compelling new voice in teen fantasy.

Flora Fyrdraaca wants nothing more than to be a ranger, and for that she must master the magickal - and dangerous - language of Gramatica. But before she can find the ideal teacher, her aspirations are put to the test. Would a true ranger be intimidated by a tentacle that reaches for her from the depths of a toilet? Be daunted by her best friend's transformation into a notorious outlaw, thanks to a pair of sparkly stolen boots? Be cowed by the revelation that only she can rescue the city of Califa from the violent earthquakes that threaten its survival?

Never. Saving her city and her best friend are the least a Girl of Spirit can do - yet what Flora doesn't expect are the life-altering revelations she learns about her family and herself.

Despite her troublesome attraction to magick, Flora has more or less spent her life doing what's been expected of her. Now, at sixteen, she knows that this path has been strewn with secrets. Sure that her true mother, Tiny Doom - long believed to be dead - is alive, Flora becomes determined to find her and leave behind the lies she's been told about who she is. Flora's quest takes her on a journey from lawless islands to the deadly desert, and into an unexpected romance with a brooding stranger who reveals himself to be a kindred spirit. And it all becomes far more dangerous when Flora realizes how desperately their enemies want Tiny Doom - and Flora herself - dead.