A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking

Around midnight, Spindle sneaks into Mona’s room to wake her up. Together, they go to the bakery, where Mona shows Spindle the place where she found Tibbie’s body. Spindle inspects the area and sees something under a table. Mona brings a gingerbread man to life and asks him to help retrieve the object. Spindle is impressed, though Mona insists her magic is not strong because she can only work with dough. Spindle says that Tibbie was also a magicker. Again, Mona remembers Molly’s warning, and she wonders if the Spring Green Man is killing people with minor magical talents.

She tells Spindle about her suspicion, but Spindle refuses to believe Tibbie is dead. Then, the gingerbread man crawls out from beneath the table with a small silver bracelet. Spindle says it was Tibbie’s, given to her by their mother. Realizing that Tibbie is, in fact, dead, Spindle runs from the bakery. Mona begins to cry, and the gingerbread man climbs onto her shoulder to pat her cheek.

For a few days, Mona returns to work at the bakery and does not see Spindle again. She also feels anxious walking home every night because of her suspicions about the Spring Green Man. Meanwhile, Lord Ethan and his army leave Riverbraid to deal with reports of Carex mercenaries attacking outer towns and farms. Carex mercenaries are “sort of like the boogeyman in [...] most city-states” (63). Long ago, they had a homeland of their own, until a city-state hired them to fight in a war. The Carex enjoyed this and stayed in the area, fighting for the highest bidder and raiding villages on their own time. The Carex do not merely conquer towns but destroy them by killing all the people, burning down every building, and eating everything (even the horses and dogs), before moving on to the next one. Additionally, the Carex hate anything magical and do especially awful things to anyone they suspect of being a wizard—even to their own children.

One day, a girl Mona knows by reputation as a magicker approaches her and warns her to leave Riverbraid. She says that magickers are disappearing all over the city and the few that are left are leaving. She offers to take Mona with her, but Mona refuses, not wanting to leave Aunt Tabitha or the bakery.

Mona spends the next couple of days worrying. To make matters worse, one customer, an old woman who does not like magic, warns Mona ominously that something is coming and “all you people’ll see soon enough” (69). Mona goes to the cellar to feed Bob, and he reaches a doughy tentacle out to pat her shoulder as if he can tell she is worried. Even the gingerbread man, the same one she had brought to life the night she met Spindle, tries to comfort her. Though it has been nearly a week since she brought the gingerbread man to life, he shows no signs of fading, lasting much longer than her creations usually do.

Finally, Mona meets Spindle again. Spindle laments that the authorities never do anything to help little people like them. He adds that another street thief with magic like Tibbie disappeared recently, and he tells Mona to be careful.

A few days later, Mona walks to the bakery in the morning as always. When she steps into the kitchen, a man with a knife, wearing a pale yellow-green robe, with light green eyes, attacks her. She manages to dodge, knowing immediately that this is the Spring Green Man. The Spring Green Man laughs maniacally as she runs to hide in the cellar. He follows her, explaining that he can smell her, even if he cannot see her. He adds that she, like every other wizard in the city, is on his list, but she moved up to the top when she escaped Oberon’s clutches. Mona realizes that Oberon and the Spring Green Man are working together.

In the cellar, the Spring Green Man attacks her again. Mona recalls the way Bob could eat rats and, in a desperate attempt to escape, throws Bob’s bucket at her attacker. The sourdough starter sticks to his face and the Spring Green Man screams. Mona runs out of the cellar to find Spindle, who helps her escape the bakery. They keep running until they reach the Rat’s Nest and find Knackering Molly. Molly says she can take them somewhere safe, and they follow her deeper into the alleys of the Rat’s Nest.

Once they are safely hidden, Mona tells Molly the entire story. Mona thinks they should find a constable, but Spindle warns her that they cannot be trusted. Mona finds this ridiculous. Molly tells Mona and Spindle to stay hidden while she leaves to find out what is happening. When she leaves, Mona is upset that an adult would abandon two children with no protection, and she begins to cry.

Unwilling to wait, Mona leaves Molly’s hideout to find a constable, despite Spindle’s objections. After a while, Mona finds a constable and tells him that someone just tried to kill her. The constable calls her by name and says they have been looking for her. At last, Mona realizes that Spindle was right. She tries to run but the constable grabs her. At the same moment, Spindle appears, kicking the man in the knees, while Mona’s gingerbread man leaps from her shoulder to attack the constable’s eyes.

In the confusion, they manage to escape. However, many other constables appear to chase and corner them. Stuck at the end of a street along a canal, Spindle asks Mona to use her magic. She shouts: “Bread! I work with bread! Only bread!” (92). Spindle pulls a stolen loaf of bread out of his pockets. Suddenly, Mona has an idea. She takes the loaf and cuts it into large pieces. Then, she pours her magic into it and orders the bread to float and not fall apart in the water. That done, she tosses the bread slices into the canal and steps on them, gesturing for Spindle to follow. Standing on the slices of bread, the children float down the canal. Eventually, they duck under a bridge into a dark tunnel and lose the constables.

Now hiding in the sewers, the children discuss what to do next. Spindle explains that the sewers are full of tunnels for smuggling, and if they follow them, they will eventually find a tavern. With no better ideas, Mona agrees. Eventually, they reach a tavern at the end of a smuggler’s tunnel. They sneak out and run, stealing some food on the way out, and look for a place to hide.

Five days later, Mona hides in a church belltower. She and Spindle had stolen clothes and then hidden them in alleys and under bridges for a night before they found Knackering Molly again. Molly had learned a few things and now suspects that the Spring Green Man is also a wizard, who uses air magic to smell for his prey. Air magic does not help him kill, but that is why he has a knife. Molly also suspects he is working for Oberon, though she does not know what Oberon’s plan might be. 

Until they find out what is happening, Mona needs to stay hidden. Molly takes her to a church where the friar in charge is deaf and will not notice her. Molly is friends with a monk who will let Mona hide in the belltower. This is where Mona hides for five days. During that time, Spindle visits often to bring her food and share news. Mona asks Spindle to tell Aunt Tabitha where she is, but Molly has already warned him not to for fear that the Spring Green Man or the constables will be able to follow him.

To pass the time, Mona practices her magic. She uses bits of bread to practice shaping little people and animals. Eventually, she realizes that her magic works better on dough before it has been baked into shape, so she asks Spindle if he can find some raw dough. The next morning, he arrives with an entire mixing bowl of dough he stole, and Mona is delighted.