My Merlin Awakening Read Online Free PDF Page A

building on the ocean.”
    Vane’s gaze sharpened. “Merlin had a vision about the ocean?”
    “Where else would you have a tsunami?” I grabbed the laptop from Vane. I punched up the term “underwater volcano” in a search engine. I clicked on a news clip about one that caused a tsunami. South Asia. 2004. Images of the hundred-foot high tsunami I’d seen in my head played out on the news clip. The news clip changed to show the aftermath—scene after scene of destroyed villages and homeless people followed.
    “This is what’s coming, but what I saw is going to be much worse.” My eyes swam with tears.
    Vane cursed. Reaching out, he caught my shoulders and steadied me. “Why can’t he shut this out from you like he’s shut me out?”
    Vane and Matt’s powers were connected. At one point, Vane had been able to talk to me through the amulet. Once Matt found out, he’d blocked Vane, but for some reason, he hadn’t blocked me. Well, I suspected the reason. I refused to verbalize it… even in my head. I could never tell Vane. Truthfully, I was glad Matt had shut him out. He was intense enough to have as a boyfriend. I didn’t need him in my head too.
    “I’ll be fine.” I straightened away from him and reached for my cellphone. “We should call the emergency services. Warn them.”
    Vane yanked the phone away. “And tell them what? That you had a vision? Actually you didn’t have a vision. You saw Merlin’s vision. They will hang up on you without a second thought. With all the alert systems they have in place telling them that everything is fine, the regulars won’t pay attention to you.”
    “I’ve got to do something!” I said.
    “No, you have to calm down and think. We need help figuring this out.”
    Vane tapped on the touchscreen of my cellphone and dialed a number. I saw the number on the screen, but I didn’t recognize it. It didn’t pick up as any of my contacts. The number connected.
    “Marilynn?” He put the phone to his ear. “What does the Council know about tsunamis?”
    ***
    The rest of the school day went by in a blur. Everyone seemed to be on autopilot, even the teachers. Most of them checked news updates, blatantly ignoring the no cellphone rule. Yet, everything seemed to have quieted after the small tremor.
    Grey and I drove home together. The main street of Concord seemed unusually abandoned as I drove the car we shared around the turnabout and onto the small street that led to the wooded suburbs just past Walden Pond. The cold February sky of grey and blue highlighted the blackened snow that sat in the gutters of the road. At least, the air flowing in from outside smelled of wet pine and dewy wood.
    I turned at a small gravel opening off the road, marked by a stumpy mailbox. The Land Rover thundered downhill. About midway, another Land Rover pulled out from behind a hidden lane, blocking our path. I rolled down my window and waved. Without acknowledgement, the other Land Rover reversed and disappeared back into the hidden lane, giving the okay to proceed.
    Bodyguards or sentries? I didn’t know exactly what to call them. Wizard-goons seemed too impolite for someone risking their life for you. Besides the physical checks of who was entering the woods, Vane and Sylvia had also set up an invisible perimeter to detect any magic.
    I cast a speculative look at Grey, who sat hunkered down in the passenger seat. It wasn’t like him to give me a chance to drive, but today he hadn’t even put up a token protest. The tremor had brought back too many memories. We emerged from the lane into a circular courtyard in front of Ragnar Manor, my home.
    The hundred-year-old manor boasted gorgeous arched windows, several balconies, and even a pointy turret. Stone gargoyle rainspouts stuck out at the edges of the house. Ironic, since actual gargoyles nearly burned down the house a few months ago.
    I pulled to a stop near a broken fountain in the middle of the courtyard. It used to have a