Kendra Kandlestar and the Crack in Kazah Read Online Free PDF Page A

a furious debate. Kendra, too weary to listen, trudged below-decks to the cabin she shared with Oki.
    The little mouse was already fast asleep in his hammock, but Kendra left the candle lit for a little longer. She sat on the edge of her bunk, feeling too tired to even take off her boots. Then she remembered Kazah. She took out the mysterious ring and turned it over in her hands. She stared deep into its terrible fracture. She couldn’t help thinking of Agent Lurk’s words: “I would rather live in Burdock’s kingdom than by the foolishness of any council of yours.”
    Why had he said that? It was like he knew something she did not. Her mind was dizzy with thoughts.

     

    Still holding the Kazah ring, Kendra closed her eyes for a moment, and breathed deeply. There was a game she used to play when she was little, when she felt panicked or overwhelmed. She would imagine her family, what they would have looked like, what it would have felt like to know them. Especially, she would think about her mother, the infamous Kayla Kandlestar. Trying to imagine her always helped Kendra forget her worries.
    Everyone had always said that Kayla Kandlestar was a skilled sorceress. She was legendary for her wild and impetuous behavior. Burdock Brown had especially hated her—but that was no big surprise. That hunched and horrid old wizard hated pretty much everyone. But most Eens would just look away uncomfortably when the subject of Kendra’s mother came up. That was Eens for you; they even had a saying: “If you can’t say something nice, pretend your tongue is ice.”
    Just what had her mother done to upset everyone so much? Back at home, there was a painting or two of Kayla hanging on the walls. Kendra tried to imagine them now. It had been so long since she had been home. She missed those walls! She missed those pictures. She tried to remember one particular portrait of her mother that was in the kitchen hanging next to the narfoo, that complicated musical instrument. Kendra tried to use Uncle Griffinskitch’s model of meditation, concocting in her mind every detail of her mother. She imagined the color of her hair and eyes, the blush of her cheek. She tried to imagine her mother’s voice, and what it might have felt like to hold her hand. She even tried to imagine her smell . . . .
    “Kendra! What’s happening?”

     

    It was Oki. The little mouse was squeaking frantically and tugging at her sleeve. Kendra opened her eyes, only to find the room a complete blur. Everything seemed to be spinning around her—were they under attack again?
    “The ring—it’s glowing!” Oki exclaimed.
    Kendra still couldn’t see—but she could feel. Kazah, clutched tight in her hands, was throbbing with warmth.
    “Oki!” Kendra cried.
    “I’m here—I won’t let go of you! EEK!”
    Suddenly it was bright. And cold. To her horror, Kendra realized she and Oki were outside, hurtling through the sky, towards the ground.
    “What’s happening?!” Kendra shrieked.
    “I don’t know,” Oki squealed, “but we better do something!”
    Kendra’s wand was tucked in her belt. Desperately, she reached for it with her free hand, still clutching the ring in her other.
    Concentrate, she told herself. Even though she was terrified and falling, she found a pocket of calm and clarity in one corner of her mind. She seized onto this and chanted:

    Wand of might
    Ease our flight
    Like a sprite
    Let us alight.
     

    It was hardly the best spell in the world, but she kept repeating it and soon enough they began to slow down. Kendra could see the landscape rise up around them: mountains, crags, and hills. Soon Kendra could see the trees; they were now approaching them at what felt like an alarming speed.
    “We’re still falling too fast!” Oki squealed. “Try to slow—”
    Crack! They struck the top of a tree—heavily—and tumbled through its network of branches, snapping twigs and sending down a shower of leaves as they fell. Kendra wasn’t