Kendra Kandlestar and the Door to Unger Read Free

know, twelve is an important age for Eens. It’s the age you finish school. It’s the age you can begin an apprenticeship with a master. It’s when you’re old enough to understand certain things.”
    “I can understand now,” Kendra declared. “I’m almost twelve anyhow.”
    “But this isn’t about them,” the old wizard said.
    “But I thought you said—,”
    “It’s about you ,” Uncle Griffinskitch murmured, leaning forward in his chair. “You see, long ago, when you were just a baby, your mother and the rest of your family disappeared.”
    “I know,” Kendra said, sitting at her uncle’s feet. “They were traveling in the outside world, beyond the magic curtain.”
    “Aye,” Uncle Griffinskitch said. “But what you don’t know is that you were with them.”
    “What?!” Kendra exclaimed. “Then how come I didn’t disappear with them?”
    “I don’t know,” the old wizard admitted, his wrinkled face flickering in the light of the fire. “I went after your family with hopes of bringing them back. But I didn’t find them. I only found you, wrapped in your tiny green blanket, lying on the rocks. Everywhere, there were Unger footprints. But you were safe.”

     
    “Ungers took my family?” Kendra asked.
    “It seemed that way,” Uncle Griffinskitch said. “But the thing is, they didn’t take you .”
    “Maybe they couldn’t find me,” Kendra suggested.
    “No, I think they did find you,” Uncle Griffinskitch said. “They just didn’t take you. They left you behind.”
    “But why?” Kendra asked.
    “I have often wondered,” Uncle Griffinskitch said, leaning back in his chair with a sigh. “There’s some connection between you and the Ungers, Kendra. They left you behind as a baby. Then last year, you saved one. And then . . . there was last night.”
    “Why would the Ungers take my family?” Kendra asked.
    “Because they detest Eens,” Uncle Griffinskitch said solemnly. “That’s why.”
    “That Unger I saved last year—Trooogul—he said he didn’t hate us,” Kendra said. “He said it was the Eens that hate the Ungers.”
    “Then he was lying!” Uncle Griffinskitch cried, his face flushing red. “The only reason he said that is because you had just saved his sorry hide! Of course the Ungers hate us! That’s why they took your family! That’s why they set out to destroy all of Een!”
    Kendra lifted her hand and stared at her palm. “But Trooogul didn’t hurt me,” she murmured once her uncle’s ire seemed to fade. “And the Ungers left me behind as a baby. Is it because of this mark, Uncle Griffinskitch? This mark that the Unger Oroook saw upon my palm?”
    “It may be so,” Uncle Griffinskitch muttered.
    “I wish Oroook had told us more,” Kendra said. “I still don’t know how he was able to cross the magic curtain. Only Eens and Een animals should be able to go in and out of Een. Oroook should have never even found the curtain or the land of Een—it should be invisible to him.”
    “And yet his tracks didn’t come from the curtain,” Uncle Griffinskitch mused, stroking his whiskery chin. “I examined them myself, before sunrise.”
    “You’re right,” Kendra agreed. “The footprints only started in our garden. It’s as if the Unger just magically appeared.”
    “This whole thing is a mystery,” Uncle Griffinskitch said.
    “What are we going to do?” Kendra asked.
    “We shall pay a visit to Winter Woodsong tomorrow,” Uncle Griffinskitch declared. “We are in grave need of her wisdom.”
    Kendra had met Winter Woodsong only twice. Even though she was very old, she was a powerful sorceress and the leader of the Council of Elders. Uncle Griffinskitch himself had once been an Elder of Een, but he had retired from the council after arguing with the other members—especially Burdock Brown.
    “Elder Woodsong has been very ill,” Kendra said. “Do you think she will be well enough see us?”
    “I hope so,” Uncle Griffinskitch