Magic Steps by Tamora Pierce Read Free Book Online Page A

thatch on the roof, or to bring in the last fruits and veg etables. The shutters on her room and the rooms of her three friends were tightly shut, as they had almost never been when the four were there.
    Lark must be so lonely with no one at home, Sandry thought sadly. That spring Tris, Briar, and Daja had left Winding Circle with their teachers, who had decided they needed to see more of the world and of the magics used outside the temple city. Sandry and Lark had rattled about the empty cottage all summer, until word had come of the duke’s heart attack. It had been just like Lark to urge Sandry to go and stay with her great-uncle for as long as was necessary.
    Sandry shook her head. She had seen Lark since the duke’s illness, but always at the citadel. This was her first trip home, and she felt as if she’d lost something. She missed open shutters, the sight of Briar’s miniature pine in his window, the lamps burning in the workshops built onto the sides of the cottage.
    Something else was missing, too.
    Opening the gate, she realized what it was. Once any visitor would be hailed by canine shrieks and then bowled over, if they were not careful, by the wolfhound-sized dog who lived here—Little Bear was enthusiastic in his greetings. He belonged to all four of the young people. That spring, when Tris’s teacher Niko wanted to take her south, Tris had been so heartbroken at leaving that they had talked her into taking the dog. The three of them would be south of the Pebbled Sea by now, and were not due to return until next summer.
    The front door was closed against the night’s growing chill. Sandry, feeling unsure, knocked.
    She heard footsteps, then the door opened. The |woman who stood there was four inches taller than Sandry, with bronze-colored skin and wide brown eyes set over sharp cheekbones. Lark was dressed in a long h abit of the dark green shade worn by those who dedi-:ated themselves to the gods of the earth. She smiled warmly and hugged Sandry. “What a wonderful surprise!” she exclaimed. “I wasn’t expecting to see you till next week! How is his grace? Come in, and we’ll have tea.”
    Sandry hugged Lark fiercely, then walked into her home.
    Once she had brewed some tea, Lark made Sandry and eat. As she did, Sandry asked after the other residents of Winding Circle. “I have to stay with Uncle a while more,” she said, though Lark hadn’t asked when she would be coming home. “Till I’m sure he’ll be all right. He was so tired this morning, and he doesn’t know how to be careful.”
    Lark smiled at her. “It’s comforting to know you’re with him,” she said, offering Sandry an apple. “He really does listen to you—he has ever since we took that trip north with him, the year when you first came to us. He told us then he thought you had a head on your shoulders. And everyone knows he works much too hard.”
    Looking at her made Sandry feel as if she’d been walking through a gale and had stepped through a door into a warm house. “I miss you so much,” she said. “I wish you were there with me.”
    Lark shook her head. “I have so much to do here. Be sides, Duke’s Citadel is too big and drafty for an ex-tumbler turned stitch witch,” she teased. “And Dedicate Vetiver says one of the novices who came this summer shows some odd flashes that could be magic. I don’t think Daja will mind if this boy turns out to need her old room. Vetiver says he’s terribly shy and can hardly speak, even to other novices.”
    Sandry nodded. Just-discovered mages who had trouble fitting in at Winding Circle were often turned over to Lark and Rosethorn. The two women had taught a number of mages over the years, though none so unusual as Sandry, Briar, Daja, and Tris. “Can you manage without Rosethorn here?” asked Sandry.
    Lark chuckled. “It might even be easier, at least for the first few months.
    Never tell Rosie I said that.”
    Sandry grinned. Dedicate Rosethorn was a terror.
    The Hub