Magic and the Modern Girl Read Online Free PDF Page A

edge in my voice that sounded suspiciously close to hysteria.
    “I don’t understand,” I protested. “Magic isn’t like yoga. It’s not like I’m going to lose my powers just because I don’t work out every day.” Even as I protested, I wondered where I’d come up with that argument. One quick glance at my beloved best friend showed that she didn’t think I knew the first thing about yoga, much less about my magic abilities.
    And, truth be told, what did I really know about my powers? I mean, I’d learned to use the tools in my basement. David had been a harsh taskmaster as I studied for my confrontation with the Coven, and he’d forced me to become an expert at crystals and spells, herbs and potions.
    But the whys and wherefores of being a witch? The actual history of magic? Functioning as a witch separate and apart from her Coven?
    We hadn’t had the luxury to study all of that last autumn. I’d been scrambling too hard to learn enough of the basics, enough that I could keep my familiar, my newfound, new-loved life as a witch. And after I’d finished my dealings with the Coven, issued my little Declaration of Magical Independence, I’d hardly been interested in learning more. The laptop crash had only cemented my lassitude in my mind.
    As if saluting my spring and summer of indolence, David helped himself to his own Lemon Pillow, and then he leaned back in my kitchen chair, acting like he didn’t have a care in the world. Which, if I truly was no longer a witch, and he truly was no longer my warder, might very well be the case.
    “These,” he said to Melissa, gesturing to the plate of pastries, “are excellent.”
    “Thank you,” she said. “I use lemon rind, along with a little fresh lemon juice, when I beat the cream cheese for the filling—”
    “Excuse me!” I interjected. Neko jumped at the harshness of my tone. Melissa and David turned to me in surprise. “I am in the middle of a witchcraft emergency! I don’t care about the recipe for Lemon Pillows! I don’t care about baking or yoga or any of the rest of this. Help me!”
    “Jane, you don’t know what you’re in the middle of,” David said maddeningly, and then he took another bite of Pillow. “Besides, witchcraft is actually a lot more like yoga than you might think. Discipline is the key to both.”
    I flashed a glance at Melissa, but she managed to look innocent as she sipped her mojito. I toyed with the idea that this was all some elaborate game she and David had devised, some grand ruse to get me to go to the animal yoga class without any additional sulking.
    But Melissa had already won that battle. And she’d had no way of reaching David for the past five months. And David didn’t joke. Especially not about magic. And the tools in my basement were being destroyed.
    “So,” I said, forcing myself to play along until I understood the rules of the game. “I just have to master the magical version of Downward-Facing Dog, and everything will be all right? Stretch those hamstrings, and my runes will be back in no time?”
    David sighed. “The runes are gone. You can acquire another set, of course. They’ll stay stable for a while—a year or two, anyway—even if you never practice magic again. But if you don’t go back to using your power regularly, any new runes attuned to you will crumble, as well.”
    “But that doesn’t make any sense! Those jade runes sat in my basement for years, for decades before I ever used them! Why would a few months of sitting around make them disintegrate now?”
    David grimaced and helped himself to some cheddar. The slice that he cut was large enough that Neko whined in dissatisfaction, but my warder did not seem at all concerned. “Your magical tools were put into stasis by Hannah Osgood when she hid them downstairs. Once you found the materials, once you started using them, you broke the seal. Power could leak out.”
    His matter-of-fact explanation angered me, broke some sort of seal