The Witch's Daughter (Lamb & Castle Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

shells must have been eighteen feet across – so big I could easily have climbed inside it – and its spines would have made Mimi and Tallulah’s look like no more than pins in a pincushion.”
    “Oh,” said Amelia, feeling a bit light-headed at the thought. She wondered if that had been the inspiration for him to don his own apparently permanent armour, his own shell, but didn’t like to ask. Having hoped that lunch would finally give her the opportunity to find out if he was handsome or not, he disappointed her by declining to join them in their meal. However, while they waited for their food to arrive, Meg raised an interesting topic again. “So, would you like to learn a little gesture magic?”
    As much as it had sounded a casual question, Amelia saw the look in Meg’s eyes and knew the correct answer at once. “Yes please.”
    Meg pushed back her sleeves, slipping off one bracelet from each wrist, and half a dozen of her rings. “Firstly, let’s see how these fit you,” and she helped Amelia place the rings on the correct digits. “Not bad, not bad. I dare say my old set from before I married will fit you perfectly. That’ll save the time and expense of having you fitted for your own set new, at least. Don’t do that, dear,” she said, as Amelia turned her hands this way and that in the sunlight shining through the window, admiring the fine workmanship that had gone into the jewellery. “You never know what might happen, if you just start gesticulating wildly like that.”
    Chastised and more than a little nervous, Amelia sat very still, with her hands laid out in front of her on the table. She didn’t think she’d been ‘ gesticulating wildly ’ at all. But then, what did she know?
    “Now,” said Meg, “picture a fire. Just a small one, mind. Don’t close your eyes, dear, or you won’t be able to see what you’re doing… And when you’re quite ready, gesture like so – ” she flicked her fingers out in one very swift and fluid motion, “– in the direction of that candle over there.”
    Still fearful and inclined to close her eyes, Amelia squinted at the candle and flicked out her hand. A bright green spark leapt from the tip of her forefinger with a loud snap that hurt and made her squeak in surprise. Meanwhile, the spark shot across the room and hit the wall several feet from the candle. Amelia sat and stared, absently rubbing her sore finger.
    Meg pursed her lips. “Hmm. Don’t do that, dear,” she said absently, stilling Amelia’s hands.
    “Not at all bad, for a first attempt,” said Percival gallantly.
    Meg ignored him, looking over the top of her spectacles at her anxious student. “ Green fire, Amelia?”
    Amelia offered a nervous smile. She’d been thinking of her pet fire sprite, Stupid, whose company she had begun to miss. As far as she’d been able to ascertain, emerald green indicated a cheerful, contented fire sprite.
    “Again,” said Meg. “Try for a more conventional colour if you can, but more importantly, try to improve your aim. That poor old gentleman at the next table nearly lost his hat last time.”
    Amelia scowled, too busy concentrating to answer back. Having been instructed that Stupid was not a suitable mental image of a small fire, she found it impossible to think of anything else.
    By her fifth attempt she managed to hit the target, and Meg nodded in approval, for all that the candle cast a distinctly green light.
    Amelia wasn’t enjoying her first magic lesson as much as she’d hoped she would. Most of the tea house’s patrons took little notice of the flashes of green fire emanating from the booth, but a group of young men who’d had a bit too much to drink took it as free entertainment, making bets on what she would hit next, cheering each shot and shouting for more. She felt certain that at least a few others patrons were not so amused, and that it was only a matter of time before the whole lot of them – Amelia, Meg, Percival, rowdy young