Magic at the Gate Read Online Free PDF Page B

over at me. “Have you heard their story?”
    I didn’t waste my breath answering.
    He looked over at Old Dad, who shook his head.
    “Hundreds of years ago when all magic was one magic, there were two young lovers, Leander and Isabelle. Leander’s father was a very powerful member of the Authority—a Voice of magic for all of Greece. Isabelle was the daughter of a strong line of magic users from England who had a knack for Blood magic.
    “Isabelle’s mother was in poor health, so they wintered in Greece, staying in Leander’s father’s home. That is where Leander and Isabelle met and fell in love. Leander’s father was not pleased with his son’s dalliance, thinking the girl no more than a distraction to his son’s schooling.
    “But when Leander’s father forbade him to see Isabelle, she came to his defense. Together, she and Leander cast magic more beautifully and perfectly than he had ever seen.
    “A gathering was called. They were tested as Soul Complements. And it was clear from the moment they stood across from each other on the testing floor that they were not only Soul Complements but perhaps two of the most powerful magic users ever known.
    “They were young. Not even twenty. Magic came to them like bees to the flower, answering their every whim and asking no cost. Soon they used magic for every simple thing, casting together as one until they knew each other’s thoughts, saw through each other’s eyes, and even breathed in rhythm with each other. If one were cut or bruised, the other bore the wound; if one cried, the other shed the tears; if one spoke, the other whispered the words.
    “At first, they were praised for their mastery of magic, and for using magic through each other, as each other. And then the insanity began. It is said they possessed the people around them and forced them to do their bidding.”
    I held up the bracelet and gave him a look.
    “Not Influence,” he said. “They crawled inside people’s minds and bodies and forced them to do horrific things. Terrible things. People died.
    “At first, the Authority thought they could teach them to resist using magic together. It was hoped that their insanity would pass if they were given enough time to be apart, to remember that they were two people, two minds, two souls. They were separated. Leander was made a prisoner in his father’s manor and Isabelle was taken by a trusted advisor back to England.”
    “With her mother?” I asked.
    “Her mother was found dead the day before they set sail. She had carved out her own heart with Isabelle’s blood blade.”
    Why did I have a feeling this story wasn’t going to end well?
    “Five years passed. They underwent grueling training to learn control of their own minds, passions, and personalities again. But even that was not enough. They escaped their prisons on the same day, killing their keepers. Members of the Authority around the world were quickly found dead, triggering the most massive manhunt the Authority had ever undertaken.
    “For three years they avoided capture. It was rumored they could walk in and out of death, as easily as walking through an open door. A world council was called. It was decided that the only way to separate Isabelle and Leander was to break magic into two, creating a Rift between light and dark, life and death, binding light magic to life, and dark magic to death, and each of the lovers to their own body.”
    “They can break Soul Complements?”
    “It had never been tried before.” He was quiet, and I didn’t know if he was thinking about the legend or had just run out of things to say. I mean, seriously, my dad was in two places at once. I had no idea what that did to a brain.
    “What happened?”
    “Neither would let go of the other. Nor would they let go of magic. Leander died. Isabelle’s mind shattered. She lived a long life, tended and guarded. She never smiled again, never cried, never spoke. When she finally passed away, the Authority