Read Online The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black, Cassandra Clare - Free Book Online

thinner than his other leg, and covered in scars that had faded over the years from angry red to light pink. They weren’t so bad, he’d thought anxiously, sitting and looking at them in his room. Still, they weren’t anything he liked to show people.
    Neither of them had seemed to notice, though. They’d just laughed and splashed him and pretty soon Call was sitting out on the lawn with them and Alex and Kimiya, soaking up the sun and drinking iced mint tea with sugar. He was actually sort of getting a tan, which hardly ever happened. Not that that was unexpected, considering that he went to school underground.
    Sometimes Aaron would play tennis with Alex, whenever Alex could be pried away from Kimiya’s face. Magical tennis seemed a lot like regular tennis to Call, except that every time the ball went wide, Alex summoned it back with a snap of his fingers.
    Though they’d promised to practice magic, they didn’t get a lot of practicing in. Once or twice they went out beside the house and called up fire, shaping it into burning orbs that could be safely handled, or used earth magic to pull iron filaments up out of the dirt. Once, they practiced heaving big stones out of the ground, but when one flew perilously close to Aaron’s head, Mrs. Rajavi came out and scolded them for endangering the Makar. Tamara just rolled her eyes.
    One afternoon — late, when the hazy air was full of droning bees — Call was walking from the breakfast room toward the staircase and overheard Mr. Rajavi speaking in one of the parlors. His voice was low, but as Call crept forward, he heard him cut off by an exclamation from Alex. Alex wasn’t yelling, but the rage in his voice carried. “What exactly are you trying to say, sir?”
    Call edged closer, not sure what kind of conversation he was eavesdropping on. He told himself that he was doing it in case it turned out they were talking about Aaron, but in fact, he was more worried they’d discovered something about him .
    Could Alastair have said something else to Mrs. Rajavi on the phone, something she hadn’t told Call? The magical world already thought Alastair was nuts, but whatever he said about Call would have the advantage of being true.
    “We’ve enjoyed having you as our guest,” Mrs. Rajavi was saying. “But Kimiya is still young and we think you’re both moving too fast.”
    “We’re just asking you to take a break for the school year,” Mr. Rajavi said.
    Call let out a breath. They weren’t talking about Aaron or Call or anything important. Just dating.
    “And this doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that my stepmother opposed your last Assembly proposal, right?” Alex sounded furious. Call decided that maybe it was important after all.
    “Watch yourself,” Mr. Rajavi said. “Remember what I told you about respect?”
    “What about respecting what your daughter wants?” Alex asked, his voice rising. “Kimiya? Tell him!”
    “I can’t believe this is happening,” Kimiya said. “I just want everyone to stop yelling at one another.” After many years of arguing with his own father, culminating in the terrible argument that he couldn’t even think about without feeling sick to his stomach, Call knew this wasn’t going anywhere good. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the door to the room and looked at the four of them with the most confused expression he could muster.
    “Oh, hey,” Call said. “I’m sorry. This house is so big that I keep getting turned around.”
    “Callum,” Mrs. Rajavi said, forcing a smile.
    Kimiya looked ready to cry. Alex looked ready to hit someone; Call recognized the expression.
    “Oh, hey, Alex,” Call said, trying to think of a good reason to drag him out of there before he did something he regretted. “Can you come with me for a second? Aaron wanted to, uh, ask you something.”
    Alex turned that furious expression on Call, and for a moment Call wasn’t sure he’d made the right decision. But then Alex