The Crimson Brand Read Free Page B

boy with olive skin and a smile that made the girls walk into walls and forget how to talk. 
    That both Trey and the normally aloof Ellen had come to the party was the talk of Dogwood school the next day, and many sullen looks followed Zoe through the halls. 
    Ellen was friendly and well-liked, and though she usually rebuffed most attempts at anything beyond casual friendships, she seemed determined lately to ingratiate herself into Penny, Zoe and Katie’s little gang. 
    Half the girls from the eighth to tenth grades were crushing on Trey, and it was becoming painfully obvious to them that he was interested in Zoe.  Zoe appreciated his kindness, and understood her classmates’ jealousy but denied that Trey had feelings toward her.
     “He’s just happy to find someone with a little color in this town,” she insisted, making it clear that she considered him a friend who just happened to be a boy and not in any way a boyfriend .  Trey’s family was new to Dogwood, too; his was father a dentist in Centralia, the closest thing to a real city within easy driving distance.
    The party had ended abruptly with a call from Zoe’s mother, the former Dana White, who, unknown to Zoe, was supposed to be a surprise guest, along with her father.  After a brief shouting match with Zoe’s mother, during which it became clear that the birthday party was also supposed to be a farewell party, her grandmother sent everyone home.  Reggie and Dana Parker had changed their minds about returning to Dogwood and were now headed for the East Coast.
    As far away from her as they can get , Zoe opined a few days later at school. 
    For the next week, Zoe had been sullen and standoffish, and Penny had resolved to lighten her own dark mood and try to cheer Zoe up.  Penny didn’t know if her attempts had anything to do with it, but Zoe’s mood eventually lifted just in time for Katie’s to take its place in the dumps. 
    Katie’s father, whose fourteen-year-old grudge against Penny’s mother and long lost and recently discovered aunt seemed to have expanded to include Penny herself, was becoming more outspoken against their new friendship, which unfortunately included controlling the time Katie spent with Penny and Zoe.  These limits were proving to be very untimely , because they also restricted the time the three could spend at the secluded canyon grove, Aurora Hollow, near Penny’s old family home.
    Katie’s frequent absences were beginning to raise their fourth, secret friend’s hackles, both figuratively and literally.  Ronan, the strange talking fox who haunted Clover Hill, where Penny now lived, and Aurora Hollow, was increasingly insisting that they spend every free moment they could at the hollow for much needed magic practice.  Though being constantly bossed around by a creature that shouldn’t even exist was beginning to get on her nerves, Penny knew he was right.
    Aurora Hollow wasn’t just special because it was the one place that Rooster, Penny’s closest neighbor and least-favorite person in Dogwood, never managed to find and torment them, though that was one of its major attractions.  Aurora Hollow was also where they’d discovered something even stranger than Ronan, and even more fantastic.  Aurora Hollow was where they’d discovered magic and were learning, too slowly it seemed, to use it.
    Unfortunately for Penny and Zoe, who had almost a half-year head start on Katie, there was nothing else for them to learn until Katie caught up to them.  The Secrets of The Phoenix Girls , a curious old book that was much more than just a book, refused to show them anything more until Katie learned what Ronan called the Elementals.  She had learned her first three quickly—water, earth and air—seemed in fact to have a particular knack for water spells, but she’d developed something of a block on the last, fire.  As hard as she tried, she just couldn’t master it, and her diminishing practice time wasn’t