Read Online The Heart of the Phoenix by Brian Knight - Free Book Online
Authors: Brian Knight
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said. “Where is this?”
“If you were me you’d know.” Penny didn’t know why, but the girl’s questions made her uneasy.
“You don’t trust me?” The girl laughed. “You know that says a lot about you, and none of it very good.”
Penny found that her wand was back in her hand, and the flame she’d been carrying was now burning in the stone pit. Her doppelganger surveyed the hollow by its flickering light. “You don’t think you know everything about yourself, do you? You keep a lot of secrets from yourself, and this place is just one of them.”
“You’re full of it,” Penny said, resisting the urge to point her reacquired wand at her doppelganger. “Tell me who you are.”
The girl held up her own wand, identical to Penny’s distinctively twisted and burned one. She didn’t point it at Penny, didn’t threaten her in any way, but her point was made. There was no attack Penny could launch that this girl could not protect herself from.
“You know who I am,” the girl said. “But you don’t know everything . I’ll come back when you’re ready to talk.”
The girl began to fade, and Penny took an instinctive step toward her.
But awoke in her own bed, sitting propped up against her stacked pillows, her wand in her hand and the Conjuring Glass in her lap. She looked down at her own reflection and waited for it to do something. Wink, wave, or turn away.
Penny touched the glass tentatively with one finger, and when the reflection touched her back Penny pulled her hand back and stifled a scream. She had expected to feel the cold, smooth glass against her fingertip, but she’d felt the press of warm flesh.
Her reflection blinked, then spoke.
Penny heard the words in her mind, not aloud.
Do you believe me now ?
Penny realized she did.
* * *
“Where’s the tall one?” Erasmus sat cross-legged atop a stool, spinning slowly and poking the ground with his cane. Katie and Ellen stood at a distance, Katie with her arms crossed, glaring into the middle distance, Ellen slowly prying a rock from the ground with the toe of her shoe to pass the time.
“The tall one is somewhere in Northern California right now,” Penny said, stepping the rest of the way through her wardrobe door and into the hollow. She was tired from lack of sleep and feeling resentful of Erasmus’s new training schedule. Early mornings kept her afternoons open to help Susan with her deliveries, but she would still much rather have been sleeping in after yet another restless night.
“We told him,” Katie said through clenched teeth.
Erasmus stopped spinning and slid off his seat to face in Penny’s general direction. “We can wait for a little while then. How long until she arrives?”
“About three weeks,” Ellen snapped, finally freeing the stone she’d been working from the ground and launching it through the air. It plunged into the sluggish water of Clear Creek with what Ellen seemed to consider a wholly unsatisfactory splash. She moped her way over to one of the boulders ringing the fire pit, plopped down on it and practiced her grumpy face.
“She can’t just jaunt back here any time you want,” Penny said. “She has a life and parents who don’t know she’s a founding member of the Dogwood supernatural geek squad.”
Erasmus grunted irritation. “If she’s not going to take this seriously...”
“Can we just get started?”
“The short one is bossy, isn’t she?” Erasmus said.
* * *
Erasmus assessed them individually starting with Penny: elementals, offence, defense, and special strengths. He appeared only mildly impressed with Penny’s display of Phoenix Fire, admitting that he had never seen it in action before, but that he had expected something a little more impressive. He listened to the girl’s account of Katie’s ability to raise storms in lieu of a practical display, deciding that conjuring a storm above Aurora Hollow might attract attention. He was disappointed
“If you were me you’d know.” Penny didn’t know why, but the girl’s questions made her uneasy.
“You don’t trust me?” The girl laughed. “You know that says a lot about you, and none of it very good.”
Penny found that her wand was back in her hand, and the flame she’d been carrying was now burning in the stone pit. Her doppelganger surveyed the hollow by its flickering light. “You don’t think you know everything about yourself, do you? You keep a lot of secrets from yourself, and this place is just one of them.”
“You’re full of it,” Penny said, resisting the urge to point her reacquired wand at her doppelganger. “Tell me who you are.”
The girl held up her own wand, identical to Penny’s distinctively twisted and burned one. She didn’t point it at Penny, didn’t threaten her in any way, but her point was made. There was no attack Penny could launch that this girl could not protect herself from.
“You know who I am,” the girl said. “But you don’t know everything . I’ll come back when you’re ready to talk.”
The girl began to fade, and Penny took an instinctive step toward her.
But awoke in her own bed, sitting propped up against her stacked pillows, her wand in her hand and the Conjuring Glass in her lap. She looked down at her own reflection and waited for it to do something. Wink, wave, or turn away.
Penny touched the glass tentatively with one finger, and when the reflection touched her back Penny pulled her hand back and stifled a scream. She had expected to feel the cold, smooth glass against her fingertip, but she’d felt the press of warm flesh.
Her reflection blinked, then spoke.
Penny heard the words in her mind, not aloud.
Do you believe me now ?
Penny realized she did.
* * *
“Where’s the tall one?” Erasmus sat cross-legged atop a stool, spinning slowly and poking the ground with his cane. Katie and Ellen stood at a distance, Katie with her arms crossed, glaring into the middle distance, Ellen slowly prying a rock from the ground with the toe of her shoe to pass the time.
“The tall one is somewhere in Northern California right now,” Penny said, stepping the rest of the way through her wardrobe door and into the hollow. She was tired from lack of sleep and feeling resentful of Erasmus’s new training schedule. Early mornings kept her afternoons open to help Susan with her deliveries, but she would still much rather have been sleeping in after yet another restless night.
“We told him,” Katie said through clenched teeth.
Erasmus stopped spinning and slid off his seat to face in Penny’s general direction. “We can wait for a little while then. How long until she arrives?”
“About three weeks,” Ellen snapped, finally freeing the stone she’d been working from the ground and launching it through the air. It plunged into the sluggish water of Clear Creek with what Ellen seemed to consider a wholly unsatisfactory splash. She moped her way over to one of the boulders ringing the fire pit, plopped down on it and practiced her grumpy face.
“She can’t just jaunt back here any time you want,” Penny said. “She has a life and parents who don’t know she’s a founding member of the Dogwood supernatural geek squad.”
Erasmus grunted irritation. “If she’s not going to take this seriously...”
“Can we just get started?”
“The short one is bossy, isn’t she?” Erasmus said.
* * *
Erasmus assessed them individually starting with Penny: elementals, offence, defense, and special strengths. He appeared only mildly impressed with Penny’s display of Phoenix Fire, admitting that he had never seen it in action before, but that he had expected something a little more impressive. He listened to the girl’s account of Katie’s ability to raise storms in lieu of a practical display, deciding that conjuring a storm above Aurora Hollow might attract attention. He was disappointed
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