Read Online The Enchanter Heir by Cinda Williams Chima - Free Book Online Page B

the things I liked about her.”
    “What happened? Between you and my mother? How did she end up at Thorn Hill, and you back here?”
    He paused, did the flicker-eye. “After you were born, she complained about her job, more and more, and wanted to leave it, but she was afraid to. Afraid of what Mr. DeVries might do.”
    “Mr. DeVries? ”
    “Her boss.”
    “Because she quit her job ? Was she cooking meth or what?”
    He shook his head. “Mr. DeVries was somebody you’d never want to meet. A wizard.”
    “A what ?”
    “A wizard. You know.” He took a big bite of cake.
    “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    Tyler nearly choked on his mouthful. He dabbed at his mouth with his napkin. “Sonny Lee never told you about the magical guilds either?”
    “Maybe that was your job,” Emma retorted, unwilling to hear Sonny Lee criticized.
    “Maybe it was,” Tyler said, with a sigh. “I just figured you’d know, since you’re gifted.”
    “One thing I am not is gifted,” Emma said bluntly, recalling the endless round of conferences at school. “Not a single person in all my life has called me that.”
    “But . . . you have an aura.”
    “A what? ”
    “You can see my aura, right?”
    “That glow?”
    He nodded.
    “Lots of people glow. I asked Sonny Lee about it, once, and he acted like I was crazy, so I shut up about it.”
    “Because he is . . . was . . . Anaweir. Meaning he wasn’t gifted, so he can’t see it.” Tyler paused. “You don’t have any . . . special abilities? Unusual talents?”
    Getting into trouble? Emma thought, but it probably wasn’t the thing to say to your father that you’d just met. “I play a little guitar,” she said. “And I helped Sonny Lee in the shop. I’m not much of a student, but I’m real good with my hands.” I might as well lower expectations from the start, she thought.
    Tyler scowled at her, brow furrowed. “If blood is true, you should be a sorcerer, like your mother and me. I just can’t get a read on your stone. It’s like it’s muddied up.”
    “My stone?”
    “Your Weirstone.” Tyler brought his fist to his chest. “It’s right here.”
    Huh, Emma thought. Good thing I never got in a car with this one.
    “You think I’m nuts,” Tyler said, with a twisted smile.
    “Don’t you?”
    “Oh, no,” Emma blurted, thinking, Don’t make him mad. “I’m just confused. Like—aren’t wizards and sorcerers Sthe same thing?”
    Tyler shook his head. “Wizards can do fancier spells, what we call conjured magic. With charms. Sorcerers make magical things—herbs, medications, potions, magical tools, and like that. Seers predict the future, warriors are good fighters, and enchanters—stay away from them. They can talk you into anything. So . . . there are five Weirguilds in all.” He counted on his fingers. “Wizards, sorcerers, seers, warriors, and enchanters.” Right, Emma thought. Uh-huh. She slid a look at the door. Should she make a break for it?
    What’s your hurry? You got no other place to go. Might as well sit here in the warm and keep him talking.
    “So,” she said, settling back into her chair. “How do you know what guild you’re in? Or can you try out for different ones?”
    “You don’t choose. It’s based on what kind of Weirstone you’re born with, inherited from your parents.” Again, Tyler pressed his fingers against his chest. “In my case, from my mother, your grandmother. In your case, from me and your mother.” He studied her face, then looked down at his hands.
    “I know it’s hard to take in, all at once.”
    Emma hadn’t expected much of Tyler Boykin—a man who knew just where to find her for sixteen years but never made contact. Who let his father raise her, after a fashion.
    She’d expected a deadbeat, a drinker, an addict maybe. Not someone who was a good mile past eccentric. Guess that’s why Sonny Lee had to keep me.
    “How come I haven’t heard of any of this?” she said. “I’d