Read Online Ordinary Magic by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Caitlen Rubino-Bradway
Ads: Link
and Alexa cracked their heads against the force field, but we ords flew up, straight through the barrier. There was a moment of blind terror, and then the rope around my waist jerked me back down to safety.
Barbarian Mike and Trixie were coming up beneath us. They weren’t smiling anymore. They circled and dropped underus again, and Alexa made a grab for Frances and me. Her arms wrapped around us just as the adventurers smashed into us again, good and hard. Alexa managed to hold us in place, but I was starting to feel sick to my stomach.
Dad took our carpet up, then twisted us around and rocketed us back down, and started zipping in a confusing zigzag. “Dad, I need you to drop the force field,” Alexa said. “I’m putting a stop to this now.”
“There are a lot of people around here,” Dad said as we whizzed by a crowded carpet.
“Trust me.” Alexa grinned, and Dad dropped the force field. The magic barrier couldn’t stop ords, but it kept Alexa and Dad in and the wind out. Without it, the wind was unbelievable. It barreled into us, the carpet fibers burning along my legs as the wind pushed us back. The safety belt cut into me so tightly I thought it was going to snap me in half.
Alexa shouted something to Dad that I couldn’t hear, and he slowed down. He tried to separate us from the crowd, but there were so many people screeching and shouting as we wove past. As the adventurers got closer, Alexa stood. She looked wild and vengeful in all that wind.
“
I order you to stop, in the name of King Stephen!
” Alexa boomed, her voice doing that weird double-resonance thing it does when she’s really calling in the power.
“Ord lover!” Trixie shouted, so loud we could hear her over the rushing wind. “No king of mine!”
And then Alexa got the Look. It’s a lot like the look Momgives us when she has had
enough
, but without the compassion or restraint. When Alexa gives you the Look, you either sit down and shut up or you get the heck out of there.
Barbarian Mike and Trixie ducked around and under us—and in one quick flash Alexa leaped over us and off the carpet. For one endless second she hung in the air like a pendant, the magic around her so strong the entire world seemed drawn toward her.
And even though the adventurers’ carpet was some distance away, Alexa landed neatly on it, right in between Barbarian Mike and Trixie. I saw flames building around Trixie again, but Alexa had control of the carpet now and it plummeted, spiraling toward the ground until it disappeared below us.
Dad snapped the force field back up. “What exactly … does your sister do?” Fred managed, staring over the edge of the carpet.
“She’s in education,” I said.
CHAPTER
9
Barbarian Mike and Trixie had booked it into the forest, leaving Alexa gulping ice water after swallowing one too many fireballs. The cops said they couldn’t really do anything except take a report of the incident and “keep an eye out for them.”
Mom was furious with us when we met up with her and explained what happened, even though it’s not like we
asked
Barbarian Mike and Trixie to chase us. Still, Mom told Alexa that she’d scared us half to death and to never do it again. Alexa lied and said she wouldn’t. And Dad worried that Alexa might get in trouble; authorities frown on time spinning—it’s that whole “no reordering the world to suit you” thing. But Alexa basically told us that while King Steve wouldn’t let her get away with murder, he pretty much gave her free rein. “If spinning a few seconds to save a kid is going to upset the court I’ll take the heat. Besides, I should get some fun out of suffering through that awful Summer Palace.”
Fred just kept laughing about how that was the coolest thing he’d ever seen.
“I’m sorry,” I told him, then rushed on, explaining, “about your parents selling you. It stinks.”
“Deeta’s … not my mom,” Fred said. “She’s my stepmom.”
“It still
Barbarian Mike and Trixie were coming up beneath us. They weren’t smiling anymore. They circled and dropped underus again, and Alexa made a grab for Frances and me. Her arms wrapped around us just as the adventurers smashed into us again, good and hard. Alexa managed to hold us in place, but I was starting to feel sick to my stomach.
Dad took our carpet up, then twisted us around and rocketed us back down, and started zipping in a confusing zigzag. “Dad, I need you to drop the force field,” Alexa said. “I’m putting a stop to this now.”
“There are a lot of people around here,” Dad said as we whizzed by a crowded carpet.
“Trust me.” Alexa grinned, and Dad dropped the force field. The magic barrier couldn’t stop ords, but it kept Alexa and Dad in and the wind out. Without it, the wind was unbelievable. It barreled into us, the carpet fibers burning along my legs as the wind pushed us back. The safety belt cut into me so tightly I thought it was going to snap me in half.
Alexa shouted something to Dad that I couldn’t hear, and he slowed down. He tried to separate us from the crowd, but there were so many people screeching and shouting as we wove past. As the adventurers got closer, Alexa stood. She looked wild and vengeful in all that wind.
“
I order you to stop, in the name of King Stephen!
” Alexa boomed, her voice doing that weird double-resonance thing it does when she’s really calling in the power.
“Ord lover!” Trixie shouted, so loud we could hear her over the rushing wind. “No king of mine!”
And then Alexa got the Look. It’s a lot like the look Momgives us when she has had
enough
, but without the compassion or restraint. When Alexa gives you the Look, you either sit down and shut up or you get the heck out of there.
Barbarian Mike and Trixie ducked around and under us—and in one quick flash Alexa leaped over us and off the carpet. For one endless second she hung in the air like a pendant, the magic around her so strong the entire world seemed drawn toward her.
And even though the adventurers’ carpet was some distance away, Alexa landed neatly on it, right in between Barbarian Mike and Trixie. I saw flames building around Trixie again, but Alexa had control of the carpet now and it plummeted, spiraling toward the ground until it disappeared below us.
Dad snapped the force field back up. “What exactly … does your sister do?” Fred managed, staring over the edge of the carpet.
“She’s in education,” I said.
CHAPTER
9
Barbarian Mike and Trixie had booked it into the forest, leaving Alexa gulping ice water after swallowing one too many fireballs. The cops said they couldn’t really do anything except take a report of the incident and “keep an eye out for them.”
Mom was furious with us when we met up with her and explained what happened, even though it’s not like we
asked
Barbarian Mike and Trixie to chase us. Still, Mom told Alexa that she’d scared us half to death and to never do it again. Alexa lied and said she wouldn’t. And Dad worried that Alexa might get in trouble; authorities frown on time spinning—it’s that whole “no reordering the world to suit you” thing. But Alexa basically told us that while King Steve wouldn’t let her get away with murder, he pretty much gave her free rein. “If spinning a few seconds to save a kid is going to upset the court I’ll take the heat. Besides, I should get some fun out of suffering through that awful Summer Palace.”
Fred just kept laughing about how that was the coolest thing he’d ever seen.
“I’m sorry,” I told him, then rushed on, explaining, “about your parents selling you. It stinks.”
“Deeta’s … not my mom,” Fred said. “She’s my stepmom.”
“It still
Similar Books
