Accidental Sorcerer Read Online Free PDF Page B

desk, tapped them with his staff and uttered a joining incant, a task so simple it wasn't even included in the Third Grade examination.
    The pencil stayed stubbornly broken.
    Oh God.
'Idon't understand it,' he muttered. 'I've got nothing.
Nothing.
How can that be? Unless -' Horrified, he stared at Scunthorpe. 'Do you think I burned myself out when I short-circuited the inversion? Do you think channelling all that raw thaumic energy through those First Grade staffs somehow used up all my power?'
    'All
what
power?' roared Scunthorpe. 'You don't
have
any power, Dunwoody! You're the worst excuse for a wizard I ever met! I must've been
mad
the day I took pity and gave you a job! I must've been
ravingl
Get out! You're fired!'
    Gerald felt his throat close.
Fired.
Again. His stomach heaved.'Mr Scunthorpe, I protest. I didn't do anything wrong. Harold Stuttley's the criminal here, not me. I don't care what he says, I contained that thaumic inversion, I didn't cause it. The resulting explosion was unfortunate but -'
    'Unfortunate'?'
Scunthorpe wheezed. 'You mean catastrophic! Are you really this naive, Dunwoody? Stuttley's is demanding a parliamentary enquiry! They're threatening to sue the government! They want this entire Department disbanded!'
    'But - but that's ridiculous -'
    'Of course it's ridiculous!' snapped Scunthorpe. 'But that's not the point! The point is that if your head's not rolling down the Department staircase in the next five minutes we will lose control of this situation!'
    'And then what? Harold Stuttley gets off scot-free?'
    'Never you mind about Harold Stuttley! Forget you ever heard of Harold Stuttley! This isn't about Harold Stuttley, Dunwoody, it's about
you.
Don't you
understand?
You've embarrassed the Department and disgraced your staff. You're finished, do you hear me?
Finisliedl
So don't stand there staring like a poleaxed bullock! Get out of my office. Get out of the
building.
So that when Lord Attaby demands the privilege of personally kicking you into the street I can put my hand on my heart and say I don't know where you are!'
    Gerald shook his head. 'This isn't right. I'm not going to take this lying down, Mr Scunthorpe. I'm going to -'
    'What?' sneered Scunthorpe. 'Demand an enquiry of your own? Go on record claiming you're a better wizard than the likes of Lord Attaby himself?
You:
A correspondence course Third Grader? Well, I suppose you can. If you insist. But you'll never work as a wizard again, Dunwoody. That much I can promise you.'
    Stung, he looked at his red-faced superior. 'I thought I was already finished!'
    Abruptly Scunthorpe's manner softened. 'You are, son. At least around here. But if you go quietly, no fuss, no indignant, outlandish claims and accusations, lay low for a while, well, I'm sure once the dust has settled, in a few months, a year maybe, some little locum agency somewhere will take you on.'
    'A year?' He almost laughed. 'And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?'
    Scunthorpe shook his head. 'Sorry. That's not my problem. You should have thought of that before you blew up Stuttley's. Now if I could just have your official badge ...'
    Fingers numb, Gerald pulled his identification wallet out of his pocket and handed it over. In a final act of petulant defiance, he undid his official tie and thrust that at Scunthorpe as well. Then, with as much dignity as his tattered pride could muster, he turned on his heel and marched out of Mr Scunthorpe's pokey office.
    Mr Scunthorpe slammed the door closed behind him.
    Braving the gauntlet of eyes beyond it, the secretaries and the other inspectors, the visiting bodies from elsewhere in the DoT, he felt as insignificant as a beetle and as conspicuous as an elephant. Not one of his former colleagues said a word, just watched him walk past desk after desk to the lifts in hot, humiliating silence.
    Life in the street outside the DoT building continued in blissful ignorance of his latest wizarding debacle. Well-dressed, affluent