The Magician's Dream (Oona Crate Mystery: book 3) Read Free

I get motion sickness, so I do. This here forest seems to be the only place I’ve managed to avoid him.”
    It’s only a matter of time , Oona thought, but knew better than to share it out loud.
    “I’ll have a word with him,” Oona said, though in truth she knew that much of the magic that happened in Pendulum House was not due to the faerie servant.
    Deacon, who appeared to be having a similar train of thought, said: “Not all of the unnatural occurrences are due to Samuligan. Pendulum House is steeped in magic, and many of the house’s peculiarities come from the random surfacing of the ancient power it holds. Nearly five hundred years ago, the Magicians of Old combined their remaining magic and placed it into the house. They then chose a custodian of that magic—a keeper known as the Wizard.”
    Mrs. Carlyle ran a thumb across her feather duster, causing it to giggle several times. “All’s I know is that whenever that faerie’s around, funny things start to happen.”
    The maid bent down to retrieve the fallen book. “Look at that. The strangest books you have in here.”
    The book had fallen open to a page revealing a drawing of a large, hairy creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull.
    “It is a minotaur,” Deacon said. “And that book is a rare copy of Mortenstine’s Monstrous Conspectus . Possibly the only copy left in existence. Please do be careful.”
    Mrs. Carlyle peered at the creature and visibly shivered. “Sure would hate to come across him out on the street, so I would.”
    Oona peered at the image and had to agree. “I looked through Mortenstine’s Conspectus several years back . . . and I had bad dreams for a week. I remember that minotaur was exceptionally vicious.”
    “He’s not real, is he?” the maid asked.
    Deacon, who seemed to have no interest in putting the maid at her ease, said: “He is.”
    The maid appeared truly alarmed.
    Oona threw Deacon a scornful look. “Yes, he is real . . . but what Deacon neglected to say was that no minotaur has been seen this side of the Glass Gates for hundreds of years. Nor most of the other creatures in that book.”
    She reached over and closed the book in the maid’s hands before attempting to change the subject. “Will you be attending Mrs. Molly Morgana Moon’s campaign rally on Wednesday?”
    “I will if your uncle will give me the time off. Takes place in the middle of the day, and those are my usual work hours.”
    Oona was surprised. “What do you mean if Uncle Alexander will give you the time off? Of course he will. We can go together. After all, I might not have known about the rally if you hadn’t told me it was happening.”
    Mrs. Carlyle smiled. “That’s good of you, Miss Crate. But don’t go making trouble.”
    “Trouble?” Oona asked. “What do you mean?”
    Mrs. Carlyle sighed. “It’s just that most householders would not let their servants attend such functions during work hours . . . and I do need this job. So please, if he insists I stay here and do my work, don’t argue with him. I can support women’s rights on Saturday, when I vote.”
    Oona opened her mouth to protest, but seeing the concerned look on Mrs. Carlyle’s face, she realized that as much as the maid was concerned for women’s rights, she was also concerned for her job. Oona didn’t think the Wizard would mind; after all, they had gone over half a year with no maid at all, and he himself was a supporter of Molly Morgana Moon’s politics. But rather than drive the point home, Oona once more steered the conversation to a less-upsetting subject.
    “I see you are using one of the enchanted dusters.”
    “Oh, this,” Mrs. Carlyle said, frowning. “I forgot my own at home, so I grabbed this one from the cleaning cupboard. It keeps laughing at me.”
    “It’s not laughing at you,” Oona explained. “It’s just very ticklish. It’s one of the novelty objects my uncle sells in his enchantment shop . . . though it’s not