Calling on Dragons Read Free Page A

invisible dusk-blooming chokevine,” Morwen said. “I won’t keep you any longer now; just let me know when you’ve got things arranged. Chaos, Miss Eliza, Scorn, wait for me inside, if you please.”
    The three cats sitting on the railing looked at each other. Then Chaos, the long-haired tabby, jumped down and sauntered past Fiddlesticks into the house. The white cat, Miss Eliza Tudor, followed, tail high, and Fiddlesticks fell in behind her, apparently without even thinking about what he was doing. Scorn sat where she was, staring stubbornly at Morwen.
    â€œI’m not leaving while that idiot of hers is still here,” Scorn said with a sidelong glance at Grendel and Archaniz. “There’s no telling
what
he might get up to.”
    As this did not seem unreasonable, for a cat, Morwen let it pass. She walked Archaniz out into the yard, where there was plenty of room for a takeoff, and bade her a polite goodbye. As soon as the Chairwitch was out of sight above the trees, Morwen turned to go back inside. Jasper Darlington Higgins IV was sitting in front of the porch steps, watching her.
    â€œWas that a good idea?” he said. “Invisible dusk-blooming chokevines aren’t exactly easy to find, you know. Much less to grow. And you haven’t got any, unless you’ve added them to the garden since early this morning.”
    â€œI’m well aware of that,” Morwen said. “But I’ve been wanting some for a long time, to put along the fence by the back gate. Now I’ve got a good excuse to hunt them up.”
    â€œAs long as you know what you’re getting into,” Jasper said. “Can I go back to sleep now, or is there going to be more noisy excitement?”
    â€œGo to sleep,” said Morwen. As she climbed the porch steps, she gave Scorn a pointed glare. Dignity dripping from every whisker, Scorn jumped down from the railing and walked into the house. Morwen shook her head, picked up her broomstick and her paint can, and followed.

2
In Which Morwen Encounters a Rabbit
    M ISS ELIZA, SCORN, AND CHAOS were sitting in the kitchen, trying to look as if they were waiting for something interesting to happen and not as if they were doing as Morwen had told them. The only one who managed it was Scorn, who had jumped up onto the bench below the side window and begun washing her face. When Morwen entered, she looked up briefly and then returned to washing. In contrast, Chaos jumped guiltily and Miss Eliza Tudor looked away. There was no sign of Fiddlesticks.
    â€œArchaniz has left, and Grendel has gone with her,” Morwen said, setting the paint on the table. “Now, which of you three would like to begin?”
    â€œBegin what?” Chaos asked warily.
    Scorn stopped washing and snorted. “Don’t be dense. She wants to know about our chasing Grendel.”
    â€œWe have already explained that,” Miss Eliza said.
    â€œNot to my satisfaction,” Morwen said. “You know better than to pick a fight with another witch’s cat. At least, I thought you did.”
    â€œIt’s our job to keep things out of the garden,” Chaos said, looking up with his green eyes wide. “That’s all we were doing.”
    Morwen sighed. “Well, at least I don’t have to ask who started it. What happened, exactly?”
    The cats exchanged looks. “We were out by the back fence, the three of us and Aunt Ophelia and Murgatroyd,” Miss Eliza said. “Chaos was in the apple tree—”
    â€œAs usual,” Scorn put in. “You’d think it belonged to him.”
    â€œâ€”and he saw that witch swoop down over the hill behind the house. He said he saw her cat jump off the broomstick—”
    â€œProbably looking for that blue catnip that grows on the far side,” Scorn said. “Grendel’s a little too fond of his nibbles, if you ask me.”
    â€œNobody did,” said Chaos.
    Miss Eliza