The Magical Flight of Dodie Rue Read Online Free PDF

purchase his shop and equipment and was paying a steep debt.
    Oddly enough, though, a few months earlier, Raz had suddenly started doing remarkable things with potions and elements. Raz gave no explanation for his sudden powers, and no one questioned him since the village benefited from his new knowledge (except for the palm trees, of course). Around that time he demanded the title of Turah’s Alchemist, and no one argued.
    Raz appeared in the doorway, rubbing his sharp chin that sported a trim black beard.
    â€œPoison?” Gamal rushed to him, his family at his heels.
    â€œIt was poison, a very rare and deadly poison called Devil’s Kiss,” Raz paused, gripping Gamal’s shoulder. “It’s a wonder anyone was able to get a hold of it. I myself don’t carry it in my shop.”
    â€œYou can prescribe an antidote, yes?” asked Nadar.
    Raz’s face looked pained. “The only one who knows the antidote to Devil’s Kiss is Zalla the Great. And we all know he’s—”
    â€œDead,” finished Gamal, rubbing his eyes.
    â€œWho was Zalla the Great?” Dodie asked Binni out of the side of his mouth.
    â€œThe most powerful alchemist of our time,” whispered Binni. “The desert swallowed up him and all his work over a year ago.”
    â€œWhat do you mean swallowed ?”
    Binni shook his head, his eyes wide with mystery.
    â€œThere is no other antidote,” Raz was saying.
    Gamal’s creases in his forehead deepened. “So .  . . ”
    â€œThe poison will take its fatal effect on Taj in the next seven days. He will die if he does not get the antidote.”
    Gamal stared.
    Nadar choked.
    Binni cursed.
    And Dodie vomited. He grabbed the closet thing, an empty pitcher, and threw up most of the feast he had eaten earlier at the party .  . .
    . . . Where someone had poisoned Taj .  . .
    . . . Where someone had wanted to kill his brother.
    â€œNo antidote?” Gamal looked utterly shocked, as if someone had just told him that carpets don’t fly.
    Raz gripped Gamal’s shoulder. “Listen, I will exhaust all my resources and search for the antidote. I will do everything in my power to save your son. But I must be clear, it will take a miracle.”
    â€œThen there’s still a chance,” Nadar spoke up from his floating carpet. “I’ve witnessed enough miracles in my day to know they can happen.”
    Raz smiled slightly. “Yes, sir.” Turning to his nephew, he said quietly, “Come, Binni, we have work to do.”
    Binni gave Dodie a parting wave and left with his uncle.
    Without a word, Gamal went back into the boys’ room to sit with Taj.
    Nadar turned to Dodie. “Pray for a miracle.”
    Dodie lingered in the doorway, but did not enter the room. After seeing Taj still lying unconscious, he climbed upstairs to the roof. The silver moon was heading west as the early hours of dawn arrived. Dodie lay on a straw mat and gazed up at the stars fading in the brightening sky. He sent a prayer up for Taj.
    But his heart wasn’t in it.
    He knew his grandfather had witnessed many miracles—he had heard of them in his stories. But Nadar had been an extraordinary person; champion of every Grand Flyer and every Grand Renegade he had ever raced in. He had earned the right to believe in miracles.
    Dodie had no reason to believe in miracles, for he hadn’t witnessed any—not even the small miracle of being cured of his flying fear. He was not a champion of anything.
    But right now none of that mattered. Taj was dying. By the end of the week, his brother would be dead. Only a miracle could save him.
    Dodie started to think about Taj being gone, but his imagination couldn’t stretch that far. Taj had always been there for Dodie and had always made Dodie feel like he mattered, especially when their father didn’t seem to even notice Dodie’s