Read Online The Spellbinder (Tom & Laura Series) by John Booth - Free Book Online

them was sure what he accomplished, but they both felt that the bind had altered when he finished.
    Laura placed the sheets within the copper and screwed the plates together. She planned to take the drawings to her home and hide them in a place they would never be found. Meanwhile she took extra paper and copper sheets to go with her to the training school where she was sure she would find a use for them.
    There was a servant outside the room who informed them that carriages were waiting to take Laura to her home and Tom to his school. They parted on the front steps of Lord Magus House.
    “Don’t get into any trouble,” Tom suggested as he gave Laura’s hand a squeeze. He stepped into his carriage without looking back, scared Laura would see how worried he was.
    “Men,” Laura said. She sighed as she watched Tom’s carriage until it was out of sight. A polite cough from her driver reminded her that she would soon be facing her parents.
     
    “Laura, how could you do this to your mother?” her father asked with considerable displeasure before Laura’s feet were fully in the house.
    “Survive a gas attack?” Laura enquired innocently.
    Her father made a sound similar to a bull about to charge. “It was not an attack. The Times was most clear on that part. Do not change the subject. This morning I received a letter from Sir Ernest Trelawney informing me that you would be leaving your school and joining MM3 immediately. How could you do that to your mother?”
    “Let Laura be, George,” her mother said, putting a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “She always has her reasons.”
    “It was an attack, an enemy attack aimed at me.”
    Laura’s father grew red in the face, angry at Laura’s impertinence. Laura wondered why he still became so angry. She thought he should be used to it by now.
    “One hundred and thirty seven people dead, just to try and kill you?”
    “I am a Class A, Father. Sir Ernest told me himself.”
    The room fell silent for a few moments and then George Young closed the morning room door to address his daughter and wife in private. He had a worried look on his face.
    “I have feared that for some time. You should not have announced it where the servants might hear.” He took his daughter by the shoulders and pulled her towards him, squeezing her tight. “I had hoped to keep you for another year.”
    “I am sorry, Father. It wasn’t my idea.”
    “We must sort your clothing,” her Mother said, turning away so her daughter should not see her tears. “We must do it quickly, as they will be coming for you in the morning. I shall get Cunningham to get your father’s travelling case down from the loft. There is so much to do.”
    Laura managed to extricate herself from her Father’s grasp and went to cuddle her Mother. “I’m so sorry, Mother. I shall do my best to stay alive.”
    “You had better, young lady,” her Father said gruffly behind her. “Or I shall give you such a whipping when you get home.”
    Daughter and mother smiled through tears at the magnificent illogic of his statement.
     
    Tom returned to find his school a dark and lonely place. The death of Carmichael cast a shadow over its pupils and the staff, and in some strange way the other students seemed to blame him for it. They shunned him when he tried to talk to them.
    Just before he retired to his bed, there was a knock at the door and his tutor Mr. McCain entered the room and shook his hand. Mr. McCain told him that he had assessed Tom as a worthy student and was sure he would do well wherever he went.
    As Tom shook his tutor’s hand, he detected that Mr. McCain had a tumor growing near the heart. Tom had never been able to do such a thing before. Without a moment’s hesitation or a sign to Mr. McCain he destroyed the tumor as they talked. It left him weak and a little giddy, but he managed to avoid his tutor noticing.
    Tom sat alone in the dorm room for a long time before gathering up his meager possessions,