The Witch Hunter's Gauntlet Read Online Free PDF Page A

Honestly , this couldn’t have happened at a worse time.”
    “Why is that ?”
    Agent Rosenberg looked to Agent Sampson for permission. He shrugged, which she took as approval. “Relations with the Sorcerer’s Guild have been strained more than usual lately.”
    “How come?”
    “Hard to say exactly. They’ve always been nervous about science. They don’t understand it, and people tend to fear what they don’t understand,” Agent Sampson said. “They have tried to slow us down before. I’m sure you’ve heard of the Dark Ages. This could lead to another war.”
    “That isn’t going to happen,” Agent Rosenberg said , shaking her head. “Nobody wants that. Right now all we have to worry about is finding and returning the Lantern of the Blue Flame.”
    Sam realized that despite how nice they were being to her she was still a suspect to them; in fact according to Agent Rosenberg she was the primary suspect. It was even possible that all of that war talk was just their way of trying to scare her into turning over the stolen lantern. She wondered how her life could have gotten so complicated in less than an hour. It wasn’t fair at all.
    Sam was so deep in thought that she was startled when the car stopped outside her apartment building.
    “We’re here.”
    Sam followed Agent Sampson up the steps to her apartment on the third floor. Agent Rosenberg followed behind her, pinning her in just in case she decided to make a run for it. Agent Sampson only managed to knock on the door once before Sam’s godmother tore it open.
    “Oh, Sammy,” Helen said , wrapping her arms around her. Helen Robinson was barely an inch taller than Sam. She was very skinny, always wore her hair up in a frazzled unkempt bun. Helen was an anthropologist like Sam’s mom, they had been college friends, but once she took guardianship of Sam she settled down to give Sam a normal life. There was very little for an anthropologist to do in Illinois, so she had become a secretary for a local temp agency.
    “Are you alr ight, princess?” Harold asked when Sam finally untangled herself from Helen. Harold Robinson was a civil engineer specializing in bridge construction. Since Presley, Illinois already had all the bridges it needed, Harold took a job as a teacher at the local community college.
    “I’m fine, I guess.” Sam said. She kept waiting for the day when Harold realized she was too old to be called ‘ princess’. 
    Harold awkwardly shook each of the agents’ hands in turn. “Thank you for bringing her home, uh, officers.”
    “Yes,” Helen said squeezing Sam’s hand. “Thank heavens you got to her before the GSI.”
    “ISG,” Agent Rosenberg corrected. “And we didn’t. But they’ve agreed to let her go for now.”
    Helen instantly wrapped a protective arm around Sam’s shoulders. “For now? What can we do to keep her safe?”
    “I believe I have a solution for that,” said a mysterious new voice from the kitchen. The voice belonged to a man in a drab brown suit.
    The man handed Sam a brochure with the words MILLER’S GROVE ACADEMY emblazoned above a picturesque private school.
    Harold spoke up. “Sam, this is Vice Principal Luis Hernandez. He’s been waiting for you.”
    “ It is a great pleasure to meet you Miss Hathaway,” he said, shaking her free hand. “I understand you’ve had quite a day. I come bearing good news. You have been accepted into Miller’s Grove Academy for the Exceptionally Gifted and Talented.”
    Sam and the Robinson s sat on one side of the kitchen table and Vice Principal Luis Hernandez sat on the other.
    “Miller’s Grove Academy rests on the eastern shore of Lake Laverne across from Futuro University, in beautiful Miller’s Grove, California. The university, founded forty-three years ago by Dean Alistair Futuro, has produced many of the world’s foremost scientists, scholars, and business leaders. The university will share many of its facilities and faculty with Miller’s Grove