Read Online Bookworm II: The Very Ugly Duckling by Christopher Nuttall - Free Book Online Page B

to bring power to the powerless, only to have his father point out that it was utterly useless. And he had been tested extensively, every year. They’d never found a trace of magic.
    “I was,” he said, suddenly despondent. It was better than hope. “They found nothing.”
    “We found something,” Elaine assured him. “But like I said, it’s odd.”
    She gave him a long considering look. “Do you know any spells?”
    “Charity tried to teach me a few,” Johan said, before he could stop himself. If she chose to take that to the Inquisition ... teaching magic to mundanes was strictly forbidden, even though there was nothing they could do with it. “But they never worked.”
    The memory was a bitter one. His sweet sister had sat down with him and talked him through a series of spells, spells so basic that even his younger siblings could cast them at a very early age. He’d mastered the words and hand gestures that should have cast the spells, but nothing had ever happened. Of course not, Jamal had sneered. The Powerless had no magic to make the spells work.
    And then he’d blackmailed Charity by threatening to tell their father.
    “I had to struggle to make my spells work too,” Elaine admitted. “I was fourteen when I cast my first successful spell.”
    Johan gave her an appraising look. He was old enough to remember both Chanel and Chime developing magic and casting spells with apparent confidence by the time they were seven years old. Even Jamal, according to their father, had developed later than that. It was that sort of access to magic that marked someone who could become a Privy Councillor, not a late developer. Everyone knew that the later magic appeared, the weaker the magician. Their magic clearly didn’t want to get free.
    But clearly what everyone knew wasn’t enough.
    Elaine motioned for him to sit upright. “Cast a spell,” she ordered. “Any spell.”
    Johan hesitated. Part of him wanted to test it at once, part of him was scared that it would fail and that he would go back to being powerless. Maybe it was just a freak response to the spells, he told himself, or maybe Jamal had created something to give the illusion of magical powers where none existed. Was his brother really that good at magic? Whatever else could be said about Jamal, he was a skilled magician.
    But, in the end, the desire to test it won out.
    Charity had explained, back during the first lesson, that creating light was one of the easiest spells in the spellbooks. Almost every magician worth his salt could cast it, which hadn’t made him feel better when it had failed time and time again. He’d never told anyone that he had spent time practicing after she’d stopped trying to teach him, but nothing had happened, not even a single spark.
    Carefully, he ran through the words and gestures ... and nothing happened.
    The sense of disappointment was crushing. He sagged, almost slipping and falling off the bed. Elaine reached out, put a hand on his shoulder, then started to cast new charms over him. Johan closed his eyes, angrily blinking away tears. He might as well reconcile himself to being a prisoner for the rest of his life, he told himself, and serving as the target for his nephews and nieces as they came into their magic.
    “The magic twitched,” Elaine informed him. “Try again.”
    Johan stared at her, wanting to push her away, but not quite daring. “There’s no point,” he said, bitterly. “What’s the use of trying ?”
    “I felt the same way too,” Elaine said. There was so much bitterness in her voice that he found himself believing her. “But try again.”
    Johan sat upright and cast the spell again. Nothing happened.
    “Again,” Elaine ordered, watching the results from her wand. “And again.”
    Johan gritted his teeth, hating her in that moment ... and cast the spell one final time. There was a sudden ... surge within his head and brilliant white light blossomed into existence, right in front of