AutumnQuest Read Online Free PDF

just took a few things, and now you’ll take the tray back.” I tucked the food into the pocket of his worn but clean tunic. “You needn’t tell them I didn’t eat what I took.”
    Traz grinned. “Thanks, miss.”
    “Now, back to the kitchen with you, before I report you for loitering!” He giggled as he scampered off. There was something appealing about the boy. I almost wished he were my little brother. I watched him go, sorry I wouldn’t get a chance to become better acquainted with him.
    In the refectory, my entrance was greeted with a sudden hush. No one looked directly at me, but I knew that everyone was watching nonetheless. I held my head up as I walked towards where my friends sat waiting for me. The last thing I wanted to do was to appear guilty—no matter how I actually felt.
    I sat down next to Marileesa, who wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. “It’ll be all right,” she said. “You just see if it won’t.”
    “Yes, you’re right,” I said. “It will.” Ever since last night’s meditation and trance, or whatever it was, a residual sense of certainty had settled on me, making me confident that my plan, however improbable it might seem, would work. Everything would be all right. I hugged Marileesa back. “Let’s eat.”
    I tried to nibble on a pear, while my friends dug in to their breakfasts. By this time, the shock of my arrival seemed to have worn off, and the noise level returned to normal, although I occasionally caught a surreptitious glance shot my way.
    “So what are you going to do?” Marileesa asked.
    I sat up and straightened my shoulders. “I’m going to prove that Breyard is innocent and get him set free.” A long silence followed this pronouncement.
    Loreen cleared her throat. “How’re you going to do that?”
    Before I could answer, Sira said, “You don’t have much time. I overheard some of the masters saying that the king wants Breyard tried and convicted . . .” her voice dropped to a whisper and she didn’t meet my eye, “. . . by Emancipation Day.”
    “Emancipation Day?” My brain whirled, and I pressed my hands onto the tabletop to steady myself. “That’s only a month away!” On foot, I couldn’t reach Penwick, the capital of Alloway, that quickly, much less find the evidence I would need to prove Breyard’s innocence. I struggled to quell the fear within.
    The bell calling everyone to classes would sound any minute now, so I started to say my farewells. When it finally did ring, everyone stood up and headed towards the doors. I hugged each of my friends, wiping away more of Loreen’s tears with my sleeve. I held Marileesa longest, trying to draw some of her strength into myself. Then we kissed each other’s cheeks, and a moment later, all my friends were gone.
    I meandered through the corridors, feeling sure I was seeing them for the last time. This brought memories flooding back. Memories of Breyard showing me around the academy the day of my arrival, smug in his big-brotherly superior knowledge. Memories of the first times I wandered the corridors alone, terrified of getting lost. And memories of whispered conversations with my friends—especially about boys .
    When I arrived back at the cell I no longer considered mine, I sighed. How would Mama and Papa react to the news that their only son had been arrested, that their only daughter had disappeared? A lump rose in my throat, and I tried to hold back the threatening tears. Everything had gone so horribly, horribly wrong from what we all expected.
    Admittedly, it was unusual that our parents had sent both of their children to a magic academy, leaving no offspring to take over the small family farm. There had been much whispering and gossip about it in the village.
    But Grella, our village magician and my tutor, said not to worry, perhaps Papa was especially proud that both of his children had such strong magic when he and Mama had none. That had satisfied me at the time, but