Read Online Emily Feather and the Chest of Charms by Holly Webb - Free Book Online

Sasha’s hand. She couldn’t let this happen. But her father had told her so firmly – no one was ever to come through the doors without permission. Whatever the reason. And he was angry with Sasha now. And with her too. What if he sent Sasha back? Emily knew he could, easily.
    â€œShe helped us escape from Lady Anstis. I had to help her.” Emily caught her breath and stepped closer to her father, pushing Sasha back towards Robin. “I know I’m not meant to have any magic, but I have, because you brought me here. That’s how I went through to the fairy world in the first place, and how I brought Sasha back!” She glared at him. “And even if I didn’t have any magic, I’d still have wanted to help her. I don’t care about your rules! She was going to die!”
    Eva reached out suddenly and caught Emily’s hand, pulling her close. Emily squeaked in surprise, but her mother took her other hand too, clasping them tightly in her own. She closed her eyes, the great fans of dark lashes fluttering against her cheeks. Then she began to whisper, in a language Emily didn’t know. She didn’t know it, but she recognized it. Her mother had sung those words to her before, she remembered. When she was tiny and wouldn’t go to sleep. Emily could feel the love and magic in them, and in the trembling of her mother’s voice as she chanted the spell.
    The words wrapped themselves around her and Emily swallowed desperately. Why was her mother putting a spell on her? “Please don’t take my magic away!” she cried. “It’s only a little bit. I never meant to do anything wrong. Sasha needed help. And then I made a mouse, and that was all.”
    The spell flowered around her, and Emily gasped as something moved, deep inside. It felt like it was lodged inside her heart, and her eyes filled with tears. It was the magic! Her mother was taking it away.
    â€œNo…” she sobbed. “It’s mine. I loved it… Please let me keep it. It’s only little!”
    But the tiny spot inside her heart didn’t grow cold as she had thought it would. It stayed warm and flickering, like a candle flame. Emily could feel it burn up more strongly as her mother’s magic joined with it, glowing inside her. Emily blinked away her tears and looked at her mother, surprised.
    Eva was smiling at her. Her eyes were open now, but she was crying too, fat tears spilling over on to her cheeks.
    â€œHow did you do it?” she murmured, letting go of one of Emily’s hands and reaching up to stroke her face. “Your own magic – completely different to anything the others have. Small, yes, but real. And sweet, Emily! So sweet and strong…”
    â€œI thought you were going to take it away!” Emily threw her arms around her mother’s shoulders, hugging her gratefully.
    â€œHow could I?” Eva sounded almost cross. “It was a gift, Emily. From the house you’ve grown up in. It isn’t for us to tear it out of you.”
    â€œBut you must be careful how you use it,” Ash added, leaning close to them. “Your mother’s tested the magic and found it’s true – there’s nothing dangerous inside you. But that doesn’t make it safe. Any magic can be dangerous if used the wrong way.”
    Emily nodded, and glanced over her mother’s shoulder at Robin and Sasha. Was this the time to tell her parents about Lory and Dan and their terrible plan? But what if telling the secret brought all the dreadful force of Lory’s spell down on Lark?
    Robin’s face scrunched up worriedly, so that for a second he looked like a rabbit. Sasha seemed thinner and more insubstantial than ever, as though the thought of telling frightened her.
    Then Robin shook his head reluctantly. It wasn’t safe. They would have to stop Lory some other way. On their own.

“She’s been ages,” Lark muttered,