Read Online Hapenny Magick by Jennifer Carson - Free Book Online Page B

will hurt its magick. The bumps will smooth in time from use.”
    Callum picked up the large tome at the end of her bed and settled the heavy book in Mae’s lap. “Knowing about the past helps us avoid mistakes in the future.”
    Placing her wand by her side, Mae flipped open the cover of A Historie of Magickal People. Some of the pages had corners worn from the many fingers turning them through the years. She ran her hand over the yellowed paper, soft with age, and then she began to read.

Chapter Ten
    The storm pounded the Wedge for two days and nights, plenty of time for Mae to worry about Aletta, who still hadn’t returned.
    She’d been reading, too, moving on from the Historie of Magickal People to Bits and Baubles for Beginners. The soft crackle in the hearth was a nice accompaniment to the rain drumming against the roof.
    Callum was tying fishing flies. Downy black feathers were stuck to his beard. Mae heard him muttering curses under his breath more than once at the tangled red thread. With a big sigh, Callum put the flies aside and put another log on the fire. He glanced at the door and sighed again. The wizard hadn’t said so, but Mae was sure he was worried, too.
    Mae wiggled in the small, overstuffed chair Callum had magicked for her and snapped her book closed. Trina startled and unwound from her nest in Mae’s curls where she had taken up residence. She climbed down to Mae’s shoulder, her whiskers tickling the girl’s neck. Mae gathered the squirrel in her hands and set Trina on the arm of the chair. “Callum, can you tell me what it feels like to change shape? Does it hurt?” She hadn’t only been worried about Aletta; she’d been worried about the toadstools turned into hobgoblins, too.

    The wizard sank into his chair before the fire. He rubbed his hands over his eyes. “It doesn’t hurt, exactly…and Aletta says you get used to it. She once explained the feeling as a bit like the popping sensation when your knuckles crack.”
    â€œIt would be awfully useful to be able to change into something different than a hapenny.” Mae peeked at Callum through her eyelashes.
    â€œAletta has called Verdan Gripora useful as well, but she’s not especially fond of her magickal strength.” He chuckled, lost in thought for a moment. “I suppose she would feel differently if she transformed into a nobler creature.”
    Mae shrugged her shoulders. “I like pigs. Do you think Aletta will teach me?”
    Callum rubbed his whiskery chin. “I don’t know, Maewyn; it’s tough magick. Perhaps we should stick to the more basic spells for now.” Callum tapped his finger on the end of his nose. Mae bit her lip with anticipation. She turned her ears forward and made her eyes as round as possible.
    The wizard sighed and smiled. “How can I say no with you looking at me like that?” A belly laugh rippled through the cottage. “I guess it won’t hurt to see if you have a tendency toward a Verdan Gripora or a Kiptar Liftan. It does seem to fit with the blossoms turning into moths and such.” Callum clapped his hand on the arm of the chair. “You’re feeling well enough for this?”
    Mae nodded. Her stomach flip-flopped with excitement… or maybe it was hunger. Breakfast had been quite a while ago.
    Callum pointed to the kindling pile. “Hand me that twig there.”
    Mae jumped from her seat—her ankle didn’t even twinge today—and pulled the stick out of the pile. She handed it to the wizard.
    He held it up in the firelight. “What does it look like to you?”
    Mae raised her eyebrows skeptically. “It’s a twig.”
    Shaking his head, Callum clicked his tongue. “No, I asked what it looks like, not what it is.”
    Mae scanned the dips and swells of the bark on the twig. At first the twig looked like an ordinary twig, but then she found a couple of bumps