Faery Born (Book One in the War Faery Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF Page B

towards me and snapped her teeth together a few times. ‘It bites.’
    I backed away from her and into Thomas.
    ‘Freaky much?’ he murmured as she brushed past us. When she had gone he grasped my arm and said, ‘That was amazing.’
    ‘Me getting handed my arse was amazing?’
    ‘No, but that somersault was. And since when can you do backflips?’
    ‘I’ve always…’ I stopped and stared at him.
    I’d never done a backflip in my life. I had been too tall and gangly to be co-ordinated enough for gymnastics. Yet when I’d been fighting her it had all felt so natural.
     
    ***
     
    The first thing I saw when I got to work was Mum seated in one of the booths with Sabby’s Mum.
    ‘Hi Aunty Grindella.’ I leant over and kissed them before heading out the back. Throwing an apron over my head, I tied the strings behind me and then went back to the common area to begin taking drinks orders. The food wouldn’t start for another half an hour.
    Everything was progressing swimmingly till just before my break when Bob, one of the regulars, yelled out, ‘Hey Izzy, heard you got your powers. How come you’re still hand-delivering those drinks?’
    All of the other witches, positioned at strategic locations, used their wands to transport their trays. Only Sally, a human, and I were hand-delivering ours.
    ‘Umm, Bob, let’s just say you’d probably prefer me to do it like this,’ I said.
    ‘Nonsense,’ he roared. He had consumed quite a bit of Elves’ Elixir and his cheeks were flushed. ‘Who wants to see Izzy do her stuff?’
    The rest of the crowd, who had been getting rowdier as the night went on, took up the cause. ‘Izzy, Izzy,’ they chanted, some of them banging their mugs on the table. The band had been playing a lively jig. Now, it screeched to a halt, everyone in the pub turning to watch me.
    Mum was whispering to Grindella, probably telling her about the chair episode from the night before. I saw them hold hands across the table and then she looked up and winked at me.
    Oh thank the Great Dark Sky. They were going to use their powers to control mine.
    Turning confidently to the crowd, I held up my hand. ‘All right, all right,’ I said, placing my tray on the table nearest to me. It held eight large mugs of ale and two glasses of Faery Water. Pulling my wand out of my hair I concentrated on the tray.
    ‘Risius trayius,’ I said.
    The tray leapt off the table and smashed into the ceiling, splintering the glasses and mugs. I shrieked and threw my hands up as liquid and glass flew towards me. The air above solidified, like a sheet of glass, and the falling debris bounced harmlessly onto its surface.
    The entire pub was silent, staring at the pool of ale floating above me on the invisible shield.
    Finally Bob broke the silence, ‘Well ain’t that something,’ he said. ‘If you don’t mind though Izzy, I’d prefer you to hand-deliver my drinks.’
    The band struck up again, everybody turned back to their conversations, and just like that, it was over.
    I kept my hands in the air till Mum came to rescue me.
    ‘I thought you had it covered,’ I whispered.
    ‘So did we,’ she muttered as she banished the mess to a bin in the corner of the room.
    ‘What happened?’ I lowered my hands, watching as the shield disappeared.
    ‘Our spell had no effect on yours. We didn’t even feel your magic.’
    ‘How can that be?’ All spells have a weave and a flow about them that another witch can detect. It’s what makes spell duelling possible. If you are fast enough you can feel a spell and counteract it.
    ‘I don’t know. But the sooner we find out about it the better.’
    ‘Yeah, I’m getting sick of throwing things at the ceiling.’
    ‘Why do you keep trying to levitate things?’
    ‘I’m too scared to try anything else.’
    ‘Don’t. Not until we get professional help.’
    Professional help?
    Deciding it was a good time to take my break, I slid into the booth beside Mum. Grindella leaned over