Red Hart Magic Read Online Free PDF Page B

breakfast on Monday morning, though she did drink her orange juice, which was the only thing that tasted good. The toast was too dry, in spite of the marmalade she spread thickly over it. Such bites as she swallowed rasped her throat. She got down about three spoonfuls of oatmeal, and envied Chris a little. He ate with his usual slowness, though Aunt Elizabeth told him twice that it was almost eight five and they must not keep Mrs. Ames waiting.
    He was still at the table when Nan excused herself and went to get her coat and cap, being sure she had the envelope with her transfer grades in it. By the time she was back in the hall, he stood by the outer door, plainly impatient, bumping a book bag against the wall as if he would like to hammer it clear through that surface.
    Mrs. Ames waved to them from her car as they came out of the lobby. Nan hurried forward, not out of eagerness but because she felt she had to get the worst over as soon as possible. She saw another girl in the back seat.

    “This is Martha, Nan,” Mrs. Ames said. “You two can ride in the back. Chris can get in the front as he gets out first.”
    Nan managed a “Hello,” and Chris echoed her in his I-don't-care voice. He ignored the girl. Nan glanced at Martha, who eyed her in a way which made Nan feel that either her hair was dreadfully untidy or else she had spots on her face.
    Mrs. Ames said nothing more. It was plain she was concentrating on making her way through the early-morning traffic, a rush of cars which made Nan wonder how anyone dared try to edge into lines such as these.
    Nan wanted to break the silence at first, needing desperately to have some small token of acceptance from this stranger. Then pride came to her rescue, and she sat looking straight at the back of Chris's tousled head. All right, if this Martha did not want to talk, she could be quiet, too.
    “What grade are you in?”
    When abruptly Martha did ask her that, Nan was startled. “I'm in the sixth—I was in the sixth,” she corrected herself. Who knew where she would end in the new school, especially coming in at the middle of the term?
    “Then they'll probably put you in the Crab's room.” Martha sounded smug. “I'm in Miss Hill's. But we're full—they can't get anyone else in.” Her voice held a note of pleasure as if she were only too glad to impart this daunting bit of information.
    “Who is the Crab?” Nan asked, refusing to be put down.
    “Miss Crabbit. She's as old as the hills and twice as hard— that's what my friend Ruth says. She really piles on the work. Ruth got her mother to transfer her out of that class in a hurry when school began.”

    When Nan made no reply, Martha continued, “She won't like you coming in in the middle of the term either. If you can't keep up, she'll put you back at grading time. She did that last year to a couple of the kids.”
    The car pulled to a stop, and Chris got out in front of a tall brown building, which was set back from the street a little, with an iron fence between it and the sidewalk. He looked around at Mrs. Ames, still ignoring Nan. “Thanks for the lift.”
    But, Nan thought, he did not sound as if he were thankful at all. She watched him, turning her head as the car moved out into traffic again. He was walking with his shoulders a little hunched, almost as if he hated what lay ahead of him.
    She had envied Chris. Now she began to wonder if he liked the Academy. He looked so—so as if he expected something unpleasant. There were boys in the yard, but Chris did not look at or speak to any of them, not as long as she could watch.
    “He's your brother now, isn't he?” Martha demanded.
    “No!” Nan was quick to deny any relationship with Chris.
    “Your stepbrother then, or something like that. Didn't your mother marry his father?”
    “Yes,” Nan answered shortly. She was not going to discuss that with any stranger.
    “Must be funny, having a stepbrother all of a sudden. Why doesn't he go to school with