The Blood Binding Read Online Free PDF Page A

useful,” said Steve. “What do
you bet there’s some old herbal or something here?”
    “Let’s split up,” said
Belladonna. “I’ll take gardening. Steve and Elsie, you take history ‘cause
there’s more of that.”
    For the next ten minutes, all
was silent as they each scanned the shelves for anything that might be useful.
    “Ha!” said Belladonna.
“There’s a book here called “The Complete Book of Herbs” and it’s got
pictures!”
    She took the book over to one
of the tables and was soon joined by Steve with an old book on the languages of
ancient Britain.
    “Look,” he said. “There’s a
glossary in the back.” He pointed to a word. “Isn’t that one of the herbs?”
    Belladonna checked the list.
    “Stune…yes!”
    “It says here it’s Lamb’s
Cress or Hairy Bittercress.”
    “Oh, it’s not in the herb
book.”
    “Uh oh.”
    “Wait,” said Elsie. “I’ve
heard of that. It’s some kind of mustard. My grandmother used to add it to
stews sometimes.”
    She ran over to the tiny food
section, followed by Steve.
    “There! Try that one!” she
said, pointing at the oldest book on the shelf. “Look up stews or casseroles.”
    Steve did as he was told, and
a smile slowly spread across his face.
    “She’s right. It looks like
some kind of weed, though.”
    He showed the page to
Belladonna, who sketched the plant as well as she could, and drew an arrow
connecting it to the word.
    “Let’s start at the
beginning,” she said. “Mucgwyrt.”
    “That’s got to be mugwort,”
said Steve.
    Belladonna looked it up in
the book. The picture showed a silvery-leafed shrub.
    “I’ve seen that,” she said,
amazed that something so seemingly arcane could just be a common garden plant. “Our
neighbors have a bush of it in their front garden. Okay, next is…attorlathe…”
    “Betony,” said Steve. “It
says here that it used to be planted in churchyards to discourage ghosts.”
    “Honestly,” laughed Elsie,
“Why on earth would we want to hang around churchyards? The living really are
daft sometimes!”
    “I bet there’s some in St.
Abelard’s,” said Belladonna. “Aya should know it. Right…um…wegbrade.”
    “Hosta.”
    “Mrs. Naylor next door has
some of those too – in the herbaceous border next to the mugwort.”
    “Jolly useful neighbor!” said
Elsie.
    “Maethe.”
    “Uh…chamomile.”
    Belladonna looked it up in
the herb book.
    “Yes! It looks sort of like a
yellow daisy. Oh, it’s what they use to make chamomile tea—I think my mum has
some of that in the kitchen cupboard. Next…stithe.”
    “Nettle,” read Steve. “Well,
that’s easy, there’s a big patch of them over by the football pitch.”
    “Wergulu.”
    “Crab-apple.”
    “There’s a tree in the garden
of the convent next door,” said Elsie. “I can see it from the attic. I think
it’s still got some fruit on it.”
    “How on earth are we going to
get into a convent?” asked Steve.
    “Over the wall, perhaps,”
suggested Elsie.
    “Or maybe we could just ring
the bell and ask them for some,” said Belladonna, rolling her eyes.
“Right…fille.”
    “Thyme. That’s easy.”
    “Finule.”
    “Fennel. Yuck. Hate that
stuff. Too aniseedy.”
    “Yes, but they’ll have it at
the shops. Okay, last two…herrif.”
    “Burdock.”
    “That’s easy, too,” said Elsie.
“Burdock always grows near nettles.”
    “Last one – lasar.”
    “Laserpiciferis…oh.”
    “What?”
    “It says here that it’s
extinct.”
    “It can’t be,” gasped
Belladonna, grabbing the book off Steve, before frantically scanning the index
in her herbs book.
    “Maybe you can miss that one
out,” suggested Elsie.
    “You know that won’t work,”
said Steve. “If we’ve learned anything, it’s that a single change to a potion
completely alters what it does. Remember the manticore?”
    “I wasn’t actually there, but
I get your point. It won’t work, then, will it? We’ll have to find