The 13th Mage Read Online Free PDF Page B

and went onto the next table to hush the readers out of her domain.
    He opened his briefcase and stared at the shawl for a few seconds. Did this mean he had to have a baby? Why would a Keeper want him to have a baby? And what did a baby have to do with the number thirteen?
    He hoped against hope he didn’t have to have thirteen babies. It would be difficult enough finding a mother for one, but thirteen ? The Council would expel him no questions asked.
    He collected his notes, which included many subjects so as to disorient any elder who might be spying on his research, put on his coat and left the library.
    It was already dark outside. H e hated London in the autumn, but not as much as he hated it in the winter. He felt a few heavy raindrops fall on his face and wondered what would look good and cover his head at the same time, hats were out of the question these days. He’d have to look into something called hoodies.
     

Chapter 4
    “Oh dear Mary Mother of God, Jesus Christ all mighty, please let it not be true! Not my baby girl, not Jennifer,” Esther Stone shouted, then held her face in her hands and sobbed.
    “There, there Esther, it’s not the end of the world you know,” Mrs. Crow said tapping Esther gently on the arm and leading her to the sofa. “We all got here this way. Nothing wrong with a baby.”
    Esther very rarely lost her composure, she had lost it the day her mother died, the day she married Jennifer’s father, and now.
    Her baby girl, all the plans they had for the future, dashed. She had sacrificed her own life to give a better one to her only daughter, so she could have a real life, a real chance in life, a real education. Now this. It was the end of her world.
    “Please mom ,” whispered Jennifer, but she couldn’t look at her mother in the face. She simply stood there, by the door, holding her bag with all her strength, the worst was over, she thought, the worst was over.
    “Here, drink some of your tea, it’ll make you feel much better,” Mrs. Crow said to Esther, she knew for a fact a cup of tea worked wonders on shattered minds and hearts.
    “My baby, oh dear God, Jennifer,” added Esther putting the tea back on the coffee table, she wasn’t about to be comforted with a cup of tea, not over something this serious.
    “Mum, it’s alright, I’ll cope.”
    How could she cope, Esther thought, Jennifer was but a baby herself, always pampered and protected. Maybe that was it. Maybe she had over protected her, maybe she should have been harsher, and maybe she should have allowed her to see all the misery in the world, misery caused by irresponsible men.
    Now her girl was all alone in the world with a baby to raise.
    “What about the father? What has he to say about this?” She asked.
    The father was gone. Had paid his bed-sit, packed all his possessions and gone. Not a word or sign from him since. Nothing.
    “I’m sure the boy had his reasons,” put in Mrs. Crow.
    “He had reasons alright Mrs. Crow, you know what men ar e like. I t’s just so typical, use the girl for their dirty deeds and leave when the baby comes along.” Esther spat out. It was all so common, and her daughter had fallen for it.
    “You were meant to go have a better life than this Jennifer, remember? How will you do that with a baby in your hands?” She said to her daughter, her Jenny, her pride and joy. “And how are we going to afford this baby? T he shop hardly turns over enough to keep us fed and clothed.”
    “I’ll get another job mom.”
    “A job? Who is going to give you a job here Jennifer, an unmarried mother.”
    “When Daddy left you, you got a job mom.”
    “Yes, but we got married first, then he left.”
    Mrs. Crow knew what Esther was thinking now, what would people say? If word got around about this unfortunate event there might be no customers left for the shop to keep going at all. After all, most of Esther’s clientele were young mothers. Upright, married mothers with legitimate