Soul Stealer Read Online Free PDF Page B

their souls. If
     he could understand their desires, he could manipulate their souls. In effect, steal them.”
    “Steal them…?” Pip said.
    “Not steal in the sense one might a coin or valuable object,” Sebastian explained. “More to gain controlover. One only has to know some of the thoughts harbored in another’s soul to discover that person’s innermost secrets and
     enter their very being. And the deeper one may go, the greater the control.”
    “What you really mean,” Tim said, “is that once Yoland got inside the head of one of Gloucester’s enemies, he could tell what
     it was he was after so Gloucester could give it to him and sort of buy him.”
    “Indeed!” Sebastian exclaimed. “And this is exactly what happened. Yet all did not go well for Gloucester. In time, he gained
     many enemies and his wife was imprisoned in Leeds Castle in the county of Kent, accused of sorcery. Some of his followers
     whom he bought, as you put it, Tim, were accused of conspiring to kill the King and put their master on the throne in his
     stead. Gloucester’s son, Arthur, was among them.”
    “And after the plot was uncovered,” said Pip, “all his men were executed, I suppose.”
    “No,” Sebastian replied, “the King pardoned them. His Majesty, you see, knew of Yoland and his powers. He believed Gloucester’s
     men and son had been bewitched.”
    “What happened to Gloucester?” Pip asked.
    “He died in 1447,” Sebastian replied. “Some believed, poisoned by followers of the Earl of Suffolk, one of his enemies. Others
     declared he died of palsy. Yet I heard talk and believe that Yoland killed him so that no one might discover his part in the
     planned overthrow of the King.”
    “How did Yoland kill him?” Tim inquired.
    Sebastian answered, “To the best of my knowledge,by giving him a honey and saffron quiche containing henbane.”
    “Quite a thought,” Tim mused. “Our homeroom teacher is a murderer, a mind-bender and a traitor. They don’t come worse that
     that! Except,” he added, “maybe the Duke of Gloucester.”
    “Do not judge Gloucester too harshly,” Sebastian responded. “He was known by many as the Good Duke Humfrey. He was a widely
     read and a very educated man and a great collector of books which he gave to the University of Oxford, where they remain to
     this day in a grand building called Duke Humfrey’s Library.”
    “So you can go there and borrow them?” Tim asked in amazement.
    Sebastian smiled. “They are not lent, being most rare, but you may enter the library and see them.”
    “Cool!” Tim exclaimed.
    “Let me get this right,” Pip said. “Yoland is able to look into people’s minds, see what they are thinking and then corrupt
     them.”
    “Yes,” Sebastian agreed bluntly.
    “So Yoland can read minds!” Tim exclaimed. “And now he’s our homeroom teacher. Cosmic!” he added ironically. “No more lame
     sorry-my-homework’s-late-the-cat-threw-up-on-it excuses. Tell him a lie and he’ll see through it. But he doesn’t sound that
     dangerous to me. It’s not as if he can turn us into newts or snails, or make another homunculus, and I see no reason why he
     might want to get inside our heads. We’re school kids. Hardly worth bribing.”
    Pip listened quietly to her brother and then said,“I’m not so sure.” She looked at Sebastian. “What about his magnetizing me?”
    “He was reaching out to you,” Sebastian declared, “searching for you, to see how easily he might gain access to your mind.”
    Pip shivered at the thought and whispered, “Why me? What’s in my mind that he can want? A knowledge of the best shampoo for
     split ends? Where to get film-star gossip on the Internet?”
    “That remains to be seen,” Sebastian answered, which did nothing to ease Pip’s anguish.
    At that moment, Mrs. Ledger called up the stairs, announcing supper.
    “I shall depart,” Sebastian declared, “to consider this turn of events. We shall meet