Read Online Scary Cool (The Spellspinners) by Diane Farr - Free Book Online

was entire ly focused on chasing down the mystery.
    Thus the power of discovery to the scientific mind.
    He was now pacing back and forth, thinking . I could almost hear the gears spinning , although I still couldn’t pick out specific thoughts . He tossed words over his shoulder at us.
    “If she doesn’t have her power stone, that might have a number of effects. One of them could be that her power only manifests itself temporarily.”
    “Could be?” Lance frowned. “You don’t know?”
    “Can’t know. The situation is unique.”
    “But you’re the history guy.”
    “Yes.” Rune sounded impatient. “And there have been instances, of course, where a spellspinner has been separated from his power stone. Centurie s ago, they were routinely taken in battle or stolen by enemies.”
    “And when that happened?”
    “The spellspinner lost most of his powers. Which is why this is so exciting, frankly.” He spun to face us, his strange, light eyes blazing. “Why is Zara able to do so much? H er spells don’t last , correct? B ut they are unusually powerful, even so.”
    Unusually powerful? I tucked that interesting tidbit away for future pondering. Meanwhile, Rune dropped back in his chair. “There are several possibilities.” He started ticking them off on his fingers. “One, that she has a power stone after all.” He looked keenly at me. “Is there a piece of jewelry that you keep somewhere special? Or wear all the time? It would be purple, by the way. An amethyst.”
    I shook my head. “I’m not really a jewelry person.”
    “Very well . So we move on to number two, which is that her power stone is hidden from her—but still near enough that she can draw on it unconsciously .”
    Lance sat beside me on the sofa, leaving only an inch or two of space between us. Living dangerously, as usual. “W ho would hide it from her?”
    Okay, I’d had enough. It was time to interrupt. “Go back one step, please,” I said. “What is a power stone?”
    But Rune was listening to neither of us. “Or three, ” he went on, “ that power stones are not as important as we have been led to believe. When captured spellspinners lost their stones, is it possible that their loss of power was partly psychosomatic?”
    Lance snorted, and I sensed Rune reluctantly letting his latest theory bite the dust. “Probably not. No, probably not.” His lips twitched into a half-smile. “It would be nice to think so, though, wouldn’t it? We’re all so afraid to let our guard down. It would be pleasant to believe that our powers are truly inherent. Not linked to an object outside of ourselves.”
    “They are, though,” said Lance flatly. “Case closed.”
    “Well, yes. In a manner of speaking. If I took your stone, Lance, you would not lose all your power.”
    “Just most of it.”
    “Yes,” Rune agreed. “Most of it. Which brings us back to Zara.”
    I was pinned by two sets of eyes, peridot and aquamarine. I hugged myself defensively. “What about Zara?”
    “ You have the Power ,” said Rune. “You must, therefore, have a power stone. Where is it?”
    Lance lifted his soda glass in a mock toast. “Zara Norland , international woman of mystery.”
    I cracked a weak smile. “Guess you can add this to the mystery list. Power, but no power stone.”
    Rune’s lips thinned. “And a spellspinner with no spellspinner blood line , a pparently.” He leaned back in his chair, still regarding me with those ice-blue eyes. “ That’s even more impossible than P ower without a power stone.”
    I took a sip of fizzy grape and set my glass down, very carefully, on the coffee table. If my hands were shaking, I didn’t want the soda ’s shiver to give me away. I tried to make my voice sound casual. “Are we sure about that bloodline thing ? Sounds like you know who my parents are.”
    “No,” said Rune bluntly—dashing my unspoken hopes. “ We know who your parents aren’t.”
    I tilted my head like a puzzled puppy.