Read Online Hungry Earth (Elemental Book 2) by Rain Oxford - Free Book Online

us.”
    “How? Heather was the personable one. I think
everyone is in agreement that you’re insane.”
    “I’ll figure something out.”
    Langril went to the dark corner of the room and
vanished. Mr. Martin sighed and pulled a book off of his desk to read.
    Ghost was gone, so I shut the flimsy metal shutter
and made my way out. When I got back to the door, I pressed against it and released,
since it opened inward. The door popped open, so I pulled it back and stepped
into the brightly lit hall. It closed behind me. I didn’t encounter any
problems on the way back to my room.
     
    *          *          *
     
    I knew I was dreaming, for nothing else could explain
why I was standing in the library with Heather. She wore the same jean shorts
and blue blouse as she had when she died, only the shirt was closed. It was
also covered in blood.
    “Why the library?” I asked.
    “Why not? I like the library. This is the library where
you found me. Do you know what book I was looking at?”
    “No.”
    “You should find out.”
     
    *          *          *
     
    I woke fast, but calmly. Since it was only a few
minutes before the Circle-Five students started knocking on doors, I got up and
headed for my shower. When I arrived at the Laws of Magic classroom,
Alpha Flagstone was nowhere to be seen. I asked a student who had Remy’s class
right before and was told that they were chatting.
    The shifter was a few minutes late and obviously
distracted when he did arrive. Personally, I thought the relationship was good
for him. The shifter, while fair, was very strict and unforgiving. It was
understandable when he was in charge of handling all of the pack shifters, but
probably not great for his health. Remy, on the other hand, seemed to like
arguing. How the two made it work, I didn’t know, but it was apparent that they
did.
    “Today, we’re going to talk about the Law of Names,”
he said.
    “Didn’t we cover that last year?” I asked.
    “Well, we will cover it again. A lot of you didn’t do
well on the questions pertaining to this law on your final exam. Knowing the
complete and true name of an object, being or process gives you complete
control over it.”
    “By object, you mean I can control my cell phone if I
know it’s an iPhone?” one of the students asked.
    “No. That would be silly. We are going to talk about
living and nonliving creatures first.”
    “Nonliving. Like necromancy?” I asked.
    “For example, yes. There are also golems, elementals,
and the like. The Law of Names works because a name is a definition as well as
a contagion link. There is a lot of history behind this law and some of you
already knew something about it before we discussed it the first time. In many
of the older cultures, a mother would whisper her child’s true name to the
infant on the day he or she is born, and then give the child a false name for
everyone else to use.”
    “How was the child supposed to know his true name?”
    “He wasn’t. Most humans who know anything about
wizards are hesitant to give out their real name or full name.”
    “Can wizards control shifters with the shifter’s real
name?”
    “If they are powerful enough.”
    “Has anyone tried to control you? Do you have a
secret name?”
    “I do have a secret name, which only two people know.
And yes; a wizard did once try to control me. Two have, actually, but neither
had my name.”
    “What happened?”
    “One of them was moderately successful, and the other
one has a scar after he had to reattach his hand.” I figured the wizard he was
referring to who had been successful was John.
    We spent the rest of the class discussing this law.
As usual, Alpha Flagstone was able to keep it interesting by quoting events and
cultures from memory. He wasn’t a wizard, but he knew his history very well.
    At one point during class, he paused mid-sentence and
looked at me. There was an acknowledgement in his eyes as if he was