Student Bodies Read Online Free PDF Page B

bear stuffing after the door breached the magic circle. The stuffing contained residual magical energy and I used it to do the locating spell that led to the Beltine. It was a hugely powerful magical force that blew in the door, right?”
    Mom blinked. “And you think this enthrallment spell might still be lingering where that boy was attacked? I was waiting for you to come up with that. Good thinking, Julie. See, Betty? I do acknowledge my daughter’s talent; I just need to see for myself that she’s still got a good magical head on her shoulders.”
    Pleased by Mom’s vote of confidence in me, I pointed to my Shadowcull’s band. “I have super-sensitivity to stuff when I’m wearing this. It’s worth a try, right?”
    Betty padded back into the lab. “Good that I managed to get through to you, Mother Witch. This kind of spell is a vile piece of work for any practitioner to invoke. You both need more information and I’d advise strongly against poking around too closely at the scene of the crime, Julie. When you wear that band on your arm it doesn’t just amplify your magical talents, it also amplifies you.”
    Mom stood up holding a tiny phial in her hand. “And this potion will mask her magical signature, Betty, Shadowcull or not. Now put your thinking cap on because we’re going to grill you about your knowledge of Soul Worms.”
    We dug into the spell books and I was amazed by the sheer volume of mind-control magic that has existed throughout the ages. There were spells that generated hallucinations, terror hexes, curses that removed all of a person’s inhibitions… There seemed to be a mind-control spell for every occasion. Every book in Mom’s collection was handwritten with the words scrawled onto brittle, yellowing pages. Outside the wind buffeted the basement windows. We were getting hammered with another good dumping of snow and I quietly cursed because I knew I’d be spending my Sunday morning shoveling out the driveway.
    Betty left the lab for a few minutes and then returned dragging a large pillow along the floor. She dropped it beside the table and then slowly lowered her bulk until she was resting comfortably.
    â€œThere are times when I wish my memories weren’t so vivid,” she began after a few moments. “Only a handful of practitioners have used this kind of enthrallment in days gone by, and some of those people were immortals. The power of this spell is such that it requires knowledge that is forbidden. That’s why you won’t find anything in your spell books.”
    I climbed off my stool and sat down on the floor beside Betty. I scratched behind her ear and the giant dog’s tail thumped. “That sounds cryptic as hell, Betty. Are you trying to scare us?”
    She exhaled through her thick lips and said, “You should be scared because Carrion Phage hasn’t manifested in modern times.”
    â€œDear Lord,” Mom whispered. “Is that what they’re known as?”
    Betty nodded. “Maggots feed on the dead. Soul Worms feed on the living until they are dead, or until they kill themselves. This boy you found at the train station, he was meant to die and the internal battle for his mind… I can’t even begin to wonder what he experienced. But you disrupted the spell, Julie. There might be something left for you to work with. The hour is late. In the morning you must go and find this boy. If he’s been altered, you will know it immediately because he won’t be the same as before.”
    â€œThen I’m going to crash,” I said with a yawn. “Tomorrow I’ll pay Mike Olsen a visit and then swing by the C-Train station to see what I can sense.”
    And so I headed off to bed. I’d like to say that I slept well, but I didn’t because it was the kind of sleep where you open your eyes to find that it’s eight in the morning and you feel