Winter Fire (Witchling Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

more responsive. He walked into the forest, his step slowing as he counted.
    Forty eight.
    At step forty nine, he felt the loss of warmth that kept him from getting cold while he stood on the campus grounds.
    “That’s not good,” he said and bent to the ground. He rested his hands on the frozen ground. It warmed instantly beneath his palms as the earth magick rose up to greet him.
    At step forty eight, the magick coursed through him. At step forty nine, it merely floated.
    Crouching, Beck pulled out his phone and texted his mother, the only person he could think of to talk to about this. Amber and the instructors at the school knew the Light was losing ground, but they didn’t have the depth of knowledge about the Darkness to advise him.
    We lost a foot .
    His mother would understand. He waited for her to show up, aware of her ability to find him, no matter where he was. She said it was a mother’s instinct, but he was pretty certain the former Mistress of Dark had placed spells of some sort on both her children so she always knew how to find them. Most of the time, it was annoying. Every once in awhile, it came in handy.
    The Light had stopped receding for the first four months since he took his position as Master of Light. He checked it every day he was at the campus, wary for any changes that might indicate if he were gaining or losing ground against the Darkness. Moving the Dark students off campus probably helped salvage what was left of the only source of pure Light magick on the planet.
    Today was the first day he checked it in three weeks, and the first loss he saw since taking his position.
    Something was wrong.
    He felt his mother’s warm-cool shadows a moment before she appeared. Beautiful and small, Rania Turner was dark of skin with long, blue-black hair captured in a low ponytail. She wore dark colors that amplified her natural sultriness.
    “A foot?” she asked, kneeling beside him.
    She was careful to stay opposite the Light source. Her Dark remained powerful, even after passing off the hereditary title of Mistress of Dark to his brother, Decker.
    “After months of nada,” he summarized. “Suddenly a foot. I know Decker’s behaving.”
    “Summer is seeing to that,” his mother answered with a smile.
    “Great. Except that means I’m screwing up something.”
    “You’re too hard on yourself, Beck.”
    “A lot I gotta take care of.”
    “Your dad can help you with the Dawn issue,” his mother said. “I can help you a little with this one.”
    “You know what’s wrong?” he asked.
    “No, but I know what’s not wrong.”
    “No riddles, mother!”
    “It’s not Decker or me. It’s not Darkness growing that caused this,” she said, ignoring him. “And, while I don’t know for sure, I’m going to guess it’s not anything you are or aren’t doing.”
    Beck thought hard. “What does that leave?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Seriously?” he demanded. “That’s it?”
    “That’s all I know, son.” She said, laughing at his baffled look.
    “So, something did this, but it has nothing to do with the three people most likely to cause it.”
    “When did you notice it?” she asked.
    “Today,” he answered.
    “What’s happened on campus?”
     He thought hard. He spent some time catching up with Amber. She’d reported no issues, no trespassing of Dark students, nothing. Even Decker had obeyed the rules about staying off campus when he came to see his girlfriend, Summer, and stood at the edge of the Light source.
    “Nothing,” he said.
    “Something did. I suggest you figure that out, son,” his mother said, amused.
    “I’ll add it to my to-do list.” He rolled his eyes. “You’re certain about the usual suspects?”
    “Absolutely. Only Dark can chip away at the Light source. All I can sense is that it wasn’t from a Dark source we know of.”
    “If you think of anything else, will you tell me?”
    She nodded and rose. Beck did so as well, attention on the ground