Off to Be the Wizard - 2 - Spell or High Water Read Online Free PDF

bleary-eyed Magnus. Clearly Phillip had woken him.
    The image of Magnus’ head said, “Hey, Phillip.”
    “Good morning, Magnus. How’s Magnus?” Phillip replied. Magnus’ best friend was also a wizard who lived in Norway, who was also named Magnus.
    “He’s Magnus,” Magnus answered, “you know what I mean?”
    “I think I do.”
    “What’s up?”
    Phillip said, “Official business, I’m afraid. As you know, I am now the chairman of the wizards.”
    “Well, yeah. I voted for you. It was only two months ago.”
    Phillip smiled. “Right. Well, I’ve decided that we need to take a census.”
    “A census,” Magnus said, clearly thinking he’d misunderstood .
    “Yes. We need to count and list every wizard in Europe,” Phillip explained patiently.
    Magnus squinted, and said, “But, Phil, you know every wizard in Europe.”
    “Well, that’s the thing,” Phillip said, “I think I do. We both think we do, but we can’t be sure. For all we know, David, out in Russia, might know another wizard who he never mentioned because he assumed we already knew about him.”
    Magnus kept on squinting. “I guess that’s true. Why are you calling me?”
    Here we go , Phillip thought. “Magnus, I’d like for you to make a list of all the wizards in Europe that you know of.”
    Magnus nodded and said, “Okay, I can do that.”
    “Good,” Phillip said. “Then I want you to call every wizard on that list, and ask them to make the same list.”
    Magnus’ eyes widened. “You want me to call everyone?”
    “Yeah,” Phillip said, brightly. “It’s not like I’m asking you to go see them in person.”
    “Yeah, I suppose not,” Magnus agreed, grudgingly.
    “Unless someone comes up with a wizard you’ve never heard of. Then I want you to go track them down and get their information .”
    “What kind of information?”
    “You know. Who they are. Where they’re from. Where they found the file. The basics.”
    “How soon do you need this, Phillip?”
    “Oh, there’s no particular rush. A couple of days, I guess.”
    Magnus sucked his teeth, then said, “That’s fine if there are no new wizards. If I do have to hunt someone down I’ll need more time. Can I have a week?”
    Phillip looked disappointed, but said, “Of course, Magnus. If that’s how long it takes.”
    They said their goodbyes and Phillip turned his attention back to the list.
    Item three: think up some busywork and delegate it to a wizard who’ll make a lot of noise about it . Done for the week! On to item four.
    Item four: Do whatever you like for the rest of the day.
    Phillip played some GORF, then settled in to his most comfortable chair to read his dog-eared copy of Catch-22 .
    He had been reading for about an hour when he heard the noise. It wasn’t an inherently alarming noise. It sounded like someone at the foot of his staircase had rung a crystal bell. The sound shook Phillip down to his bones, since he didn’t own a crystal bell, and due to his magical security measures, it shouldn’t have been possible for anyone to be at the foot of his stai rs.
    Phillip put down his book, grabbed his staff, and carefully crept to the head of the staircase. Carefully, he peered down into the distance below and was thoroughly confused by what he saw there.

5.
    Martin didn’t know what his next move would be, but he knew he’d have to make it in the next five seconds. He was flying as fast as he dared, at an altitude of seven feet above the forest floor, high enough to not get caught in the undergrowth, but low enough to avoid getting hung up in the canopy. He held his staff in front of him, tilted so as to be parallel to his body. The last thing he needed was his staff slamming into a tree trunk sending him falling in a heap to the ground. He couldn’t slow down because one of his pursuers was flying right behind him. Martin was sure he was losing ground, since he had to find his way through the trees, while all his attacker had to do was