Of Witches and Wind Read Free

catalogues.
    â€œWho are you?” Adelaide shook her blond hair back. She only did that when she felt threatened.
    â€œMy name is Mia,” the dripping girl said uncertainly.
    â€œYou’re the girl who saved me!” Ben burst out.
    I did a double take. Mia didn’t seem like the rescuing type.
    Encouraged, Mia slipped out of the water and glided to Ben’s side. She held out something oblong and leather—his missing loafer. “You lost this.”
    â€œRight,” Chase said. “Because that makes sense. Diving back into Lake Michigan to rescue his shoe.”
    I personally thought this was a fair point, but Ben shot to his feet in knight-in-shining-armor mode. “She saved my life. That doesn’t happen every day.”
    Poor new kid. After he spent more time at EAS, somebody saving his life wouldn’t impress him so much.
    â€œShe might be the Character we’ve been looking for,” Lena said distractedly. She was busy glaring at her M3. “It’s too foggy. We won’t be able to record anything this way.”
    â€œMaybe if we got a little closer, Mistress,” Melodie suggested.
    â€œGood idea.” Lena hurried toward the dunes between the shore and the soccer field.
    Adelaide turned to the other archers. “Who has the mirror the Director gave us? For the test?” Tina and Vicky both pointed at Daisy, who pushed her arrows aside and reached into her quiver.
    The chimera roared extra loud, and I glanced back toward the battle—all I saw were dunes, fog, more fog, and a soggy stretch of grass.
    But Chase tensed too. He took his sword belt back and buckled it on.
    â€œTest?” Mia asked, drawing closer to Ben.
    â€œIt’s not hard. You just look into a magic mirror and tell us what you see in it,” Ben explained.
    I was sure Mia would never suspect that he had just taken the test himself three days ago. “We need to know if you’re a Char—”
    â€œIncoming!” one of the eighth graders called.
    The chimera galloped across midfield as fast as its lion paws could carry it, all three heads focused straight on us.
    I dropped Chase’s stuff and hurriedly drew my sword.
    â€œOy! Monster!” cried Ben.
    Snorting, Chase unsheathed his blade. “Did you seriously just say that?”
    Only one Character stood between us and the charging chimera, and she was too absorbed with her updated M3 to draw her sword.
    Lena.
    Chase and I erupted forward. The second my hand curled around the sword hilt, my body seemed very far away, like someone else was moving for me. This was normal. I had an enchanted sword. This runner’s-high feeling happened every time the magic kicked in.
    â€œI got it.” Chase ran so fast he practically skimmed over the sand. “You go cover Lena.”
    The sword’s magic sent me weaving through the dunes to Lena’s side, right at the edge of the soccer field. Her eyes were still glued to her M3. “Rory, you have to see this!”
    â€œThe image is so clear,” Melodie added.
    They clearly hadn’t noticed the chimera barreling over the grass, twenty-five feet away and closing.
    â€œLena, we’ve got company!” I tried to tug her back through the dunes. She would be safer behind the archers.
    â€œNo, I can’t move—” Then she glanced up and found herself practically face to face with a three-headed monster. “Oh!”
    â€œDon’t worry. I’ll take care of it.” Chase charged out, and, seeing him on the field, the chimera slowed. Its snake head hissed. “Yeah, you know it’s all over for you—don’t you, ugly?”
    Lena dashed back through the dunes and behind the archers before Chase and the chimera even came to blows. She wasn’t the fastest runner in seventh grade for nothing.
    When I was halfway to the others, Chase said, “Crap!”
    I whirled around and raised my sword, its magic