Schooled in Magic Read Online Free PDF Page A

as you feel you need,” Void said. He moved over to the wall and leaned against it, adopting an insolent pose. “Pick the one that feels right to you.”
    Emily nodded, staring down at the objects on the table. One was a large hammer, marked with runes that seemed to have been etched into the metal; a second was a long black cane that appeared to be made of shadow. A third looked to be a magic wand, right out of Harry Potter ; a fourth seemed to be a fairy wand, complete with a glowing star on the tip. There was a bracelet with solid metal runes, a green ring that seemed to glow with its own light, a sword that gave off a sense of being incredibly old, a dark statuette of a falcon and a key marked with a Greek letter. The Omega letter, if she recalled correctly. A book that looked almost as old as the sword, with yellowing pages and a brittle cover, marked in dark letters she didn’t recognize...
    Finally, there was a piece of wire that twisted in ways that went outside normal reality. She tried to follow the wire with her eyes and felt the world spinning around her until she tore her gaze away from the object.
    Shaking her head, trying to escape the sense of being muffled , she looked from object to object. The hammer glowed with electric power; the cane looked almost translucent, as if it wasn’t really there. Something about the key warned her not to even think of touching it.
    Pick the one that seems right to you , Void had said. Emily tried to think about it logically, and then realized that magic–and she was dealing with magic–might not follow the rules of logic and reason. She might as well assume that she was in a role-playing game and act accordingly. Her hand drifted from item to item, never quite touching anything until it settled on the book. She’d always loved books, right from the day her mother had shoved a kid’s comic under her nose and gone off to drink herself into a stupor. Books had been her companions throughout her entire life.
    Carefully, she picked up the book and held it out to Void. “I choose this,” she said. “Is this the right choice?”
    Void snorted. “ Is it the right choice?”
    “Yes,” Emily said, suddenly tired of the game. “It is the right choice.”
    “You have a talent,” Void said. “Every would-be apprentice is offered the chance to choose something from a similar table. Choosing the book...”
    He smiled, thinly. “We shall expect great things from you, I think.” He took the book from her hands and studied it thoughtfully, before passing it back to her. “Far too many take the wands, or the hammer, or the sword. They would make poor magicians.”
    “I can be a magician?” Emily asked, stunned. “But -”
    “You have the talent,” Void confirmed. He turned and led her out of the room. “The book is yours now, although it may be a long time before you know how to use it. My master gave it to me and promised to teach me all of his dangerously-won knowledge if I learned to read it in less than a year. It took me ten years to learn.”
    Emily stared down at the book. Ten years for someone to learn how to read it? The letters seemed to twist and turn in front of her eyes, as if the meaning constantly changed into something else. Emily had never tried to learn a foreign language in her life, unless one counted the codes they’d invented for their games. How could she even make a start on reading the book?
    “I need to make some arrangements for your future,” Void added. “We shall eat and then you can rest while I speak to the rest of the council. They will need to be informed of your appearance. And then we can decide what to do with you.”

Chapter Three
    E MILY LAY IN BED, UNWILLING TO open her eyes. It had all been a dream. It had to have been a dream. Because being transported to a land of magic and wonder, so different from the dull mundane world that had given birth to her, was a dream come true. No; it was too good to be true. When she opened