Magic's Child Read Online Free PDF Page A

none of them wanted to be thinking about this stuff; they still weren't talking about it. Reason was staring at the ceiling, Jay-Tee at her hands, and Tom at the two of them. "Do you want some water, Ree?" Tom asked at last.
     
     
"Yep," Jay-Tee said. "Water: well-known cure for confusion."
     
     
"I am thirsty."
     
     
Tom gave Jay-Tee an I-told-you-so look and went into the bathroom to fill the glass. He handed it to Reason and she gave him a fraction of a smile.
     
     
"Do you need anything else?" he asked Reason. He wanted to do something .
     
     
"I could make you a sandwich," Jay-Tee offered. "My specialty."
     
     
Reason shook her head. "Nah, I'm okay. I think I just need to rest for a bit."
     
     
"I can imagine," Tom said. "It's tiring just thinking about what happened."
     
     
Jay-Tee let out a long sigh. "Yup."
     
     
"Um, yeah," Reason said. "I kind of meant on my own. Resting, I mean."
     
     
"Oh, sure." Tom jumped up, pushed the chair back. "Sorry," Jay-Tee said, standing up. "We're gone already."
     
     
    * * *
"She'll fix things," Jay-Tee told Tom in the kitchen. The two of them were cleaning up slowly, as if the previous week's events were piled up so heavy on them they could barely move. It took Tom many attempts to get the butter, three different jams, and Vegemite into the fridge. He'd lost his ability to stack. Jay-Tee was just as slow loading the dishwasher.
     
     
"That doesn't go in there," he told her, channeling Esmeralda and resenting it. "No wooden things. No pots or pans and not the good knives either." Esmeralda was a bit thing about her kitchen and everything in it. Why wasn't she that way about her clothes? He thought again about how insanely messy her bedroom was. How could anyone care more about kitchen stuff than clothes? At his place they put everything in the dishwasher— but then, they didn't have any "good" knives.
     
     
"Hand wash 'em, then?"
     
     
Tom nodded, though he couldn't really see that it mattered. He could feel himself on the verge of a massive attack of the whatevers. Jay-Tee put the plug in the sink and turned on the hot water. She squirted dishwashing liquid in. The sink filled with bubbles.
     
     
"You want gloves?"
     
     
"Gloves?"
     
     
"You know, 'cause the water's so hot."
     
     
"Er, okay."
     
     
Tom bent down and opened the doors under the sink. Why had Esmeralda lied to him? Why had she taken his magic without asking?
     
     
"Wow," Jay-Tee said. "It's even tidy under the sink."
     
     
"Rita," Tom said. "She's Esmeralda's cleaner."
     
     
He handed her the gloves. She put them on and started to wash one of the good knives. Tom grabbed a tea towel, ready to wipe. Good knives had to be dried straight away. Stupid good knives.
     
     
"Reason's going to find the fix," Jay-Tee said again.
     
     
"The fix?" Tom asked, wondering what was up with Jay-Tee. She hadn't even protested when he said they should clean up. Very un-Jay-Tee.
     
     
Jay-Tee stared at Tom like he was bonkers. "To this ! Reason'll find a way to stop us from going mad. Stop us dying young."
     
     
"She what?"
     
     
Jay-Tee nodded, looking absolutely certain. "He dreamed about it." Her voice sounded strange. Oddly tight.
     
     
"Who dreamed about it?"
     
     
"You know. Him ." She waved a hand, splashing water and suds around. "In New York City."
     
     
"Your brother?"
     
     
"No! Reason's grandfather."
     
     
"Oh, sorry. Jason Blake. What did he dream about?"
     
     
Jay-Tee groaned. "He dreamed about Reason finding the fix for magic, for what it does to us."
     
     
"Okay," Tom said, pretending Jay-Tee was making sense. "That'd be grouse."
     
     
"I'm not using my magic again till then," Jay-Tee said, her voice rising. She handed Tom the knife to dry, her hands trembling, and started work on the frying pan. "I put my magic objects away. I'm not wearing my mama's leather bracelet anymore."
     
     
"Are you— "
     
     
"I'll probably go nuts in the meantime, but