Read Online The Wrong Side of Magic by Janette Rallison - Free Book Online

you, because the pure in heart don’t take revenge like you’re doing right now. But I’ll tell my dad about this. And he might do something worse to you.”
    The conversation was not going in the direction Hudson wanted. He had the unsettling fear that if Mr. Fantasmo got angry, he might turn Hudson into a rabbit.
    Hudson cleared his throat with new nervousness. “Can’t you just tell me how to get rid of the troll curse? Once it’s gone, I’ll give you back the compass. Besides,” he added, “you should want to help me. Any second now you’re going to break out into boils.”
    Charlotte put her hand to her face. “I can’t break out. My dad will realize I’ve done something.” With a groan, she shot off the couch, ran across the living room, and disappeared down the hallway.
    Hudson stared after her, not sure whether she was returning. After a few moments, he stood up and stepped tentatively into the hallway. “Charlotte?”
    â€œI’ll be right back,” she snapped from behind one of the closed doors. “I’m putting on enchanted lotion to keep my skin clear.”
    Hudson went back to the living room and waited, looking around the room again. If the picture on the wall was the Forest of Possibilities, then the other pictures might be places the compass mentioned. The Sea of Life, Grammaria, and Gigantica. That would explain the close-up of the boot.
    He was studying the castle picture when Charlotte came back. A blue sheen covered her skin. It looked like she’d smeared a thin layer of finger paint over herself.
    â€œWell,” Hudson said, “your dad won’t notice anything different about you now.”
    â€œIt’s less painful than boils, and the protection lasts for a day.” She’d brought out a large tube of ointment. She squeezed some onto her fingers, walked over to Hudson, and applied it to his hands. “Thorn-tree scratches will make your hands swell up like balloons if you don’t treat them.” Her touch was light, thorough, and for some reason made him blush.
    â€œThanks,” he said, feeling all the guiltier for not giving her the compass back. “Can this medicine get rid of everyone’s boils, too?”
    Charlotte put the ointment on a side table by the couch. “Everyone’s boils will fade away once you’re no longer around.”
    Well, that was good news for the rest of the eighth grade. “So how do I get rid of a troll curse?” he asked again.
    Charlotte walked to the couch and gingerly sat down so as not to get lotion on it. “There are only three ways. You can give the mirror to someone else and stick them with the curse, you can get a troll to take it back, or you can give it to a member of the Logosian royal family. They’re born with a magic protection that absorbs troll curses and things like that.”
    Hudson thought about these options and began pacing in front of the tree as he tried to figure out a solution. “If I give the mirror to someone else…”
    â€œThat,” Charlotte said pointedly, “is something a person with a pure heart wouldn’t even consider. It’s cruel to whoever gets the mirror and to everyone who comes in contact with him.”
    She was right, but Hudson wasn’t willing to give up the idea so easily. “Couldn’t I give it to some recluse who never went out? That way, I’ll be rid of the mirror, and no one else will get hurt.”
    Charlotte lifted a blue eyebrow at him. “Do you know any recluses who never go out?”
    â€œUm, no, although maybe I could find one on the Internet.…”
    â€œYou can’t just send the mirror someplace. You have to physically give it to someone, tell him what it does, and he has to say he accepts the gift.”
    Rex had tricked Hudson into taking it by not being clear about how the mirror worked. It made him mad to think