He's A Magic Man (The Children of Merlin) Read Free

through the open window.
    Tammy continued as Jane smiled and waved. “You see, you sit down and pull your heel up against his side.” She balanced on one leg while she bent the other knee as though sitting on a horse. “You ask for the canter while he’s already cantering, but you use the opposite leg, so he skips and changes the lead hoof.” Tammy, who’d just turned fifteen, skipped around the library, ending at Jane’s armchair, where she scooped up her sleeping kitten. He was black with immense chartreuse eyes. When Tammy had heard that black cats had trouble getting adopted from the shelter, Bagheera had a home.
    “I get the idea,” Drew sighed and closed the huge folio on the reading table before her.
    The flute music that had been floating in from the music room cut off in mid-trill. Impatient strides could be heard down the hall. Drew’s youngest brother, Lanyon, appeared in the doorway, frowning, his black hair spiking out in all directions. “Tammy, leave Drew alone. She’s on a mission.” The whole family knew about Drew’s deal with her mother.
    Tammy stopped in mid-skip. “Oh. Sorry, Drew. I forgot.” Tammy turned, a suddenly determined look on her freckled face. “But you’ve been in here for weeks with all these dusty old books. It isn’t fair. I’m going to tell Mom she should let you out of the deal.”
    Drew lounged back in her chair. Pretty cute that Tammy wanted to protect her. “You know I like old books. I’m a history major. And anyway, I’m done.”
    “Not like you to give up, Drew,” Lanyon said, disapproving.
    “No. I mean I finished.” She pointed to the screen of her laptop, so incongruous next to the worn leather of the huge book.
    “Yay!” Tammy crowed.
    “Have you told Mother the bad news?” Kemble asked, appearing in the doorway. All her brothers looked more or less like her father. Same strong jaw, black hair, broad shoulders. Lanyon was lanky at seventeen, but he was growing into them. And all the girls looked like their mother: porcelain skin, light eyes of green or gray or turquoise, elegant cheekbones. Tammy’s hair was red, but she was unmistakably a Tremaine girl. Only Devin, taken in by the family after his parents had died, was an anomaly, with his brown eyes, blond hair and tanned skin. But Kemble was an actual clone of her father. When had Kemble gotten little lines around his eyes that made him look older than his thirty-one years?
    “Did you ever think it might not be bad news?”
    Kemble frowned. “You’re kidding, of course.”
    “She seems to be right a lot,” Tammy reminded them.
    “A woman’s intuition about her family.” Kemble always acted sure of himself. Didn’t mean he was, though.
    Drew snorted. “So women’s intuition is believable, but the Tarot couldn't have come from Merlin.”
    Kemble had the grace to turn red. But he went on the offensive. “So you telling me that you believe a deck of cards can tell the future?”
    Drew shrugged. “Wait for the big reveal tonight after dinner.”
     
    *****
     
    “So why the long face?” Drew’s mother found her alone on the terrace, staring out at Catalina Island across the lawn that sloped down to the cliff above the beach. It was closing in on six-thirty, but it still felt like late afternoon. The sun glinted across the water.
    Drew managed half a smile. “It’s not long.”
    Her mother sat down beside her. “Oh, dear. Roger.”
    Did she have to be so percipient? And did everyone know about Roger?
    Her mother sat down next to her on the teak bench weathered to a gray patina. “Don’t look so appalled. The cards said you were coming into a very difficult time. And you’ve been talking about ‘Roger this’ and ‘Roger that’ for weeks.”
    “I was a fool.” Her voice caught but she managed not to let the tears flow.
    “Honey, we’re all fools sometime in our lives.” Her mother hugged her close. The touch was so comforting Drew almost started sobbing.
    Drew swallowed