Ordinary Magic by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway Read Free Book Online Page B

with Jeremy behind us, so they could both get to me quickly. The carpet had spells to keep everyone’s balance, and there was a shield to prevent people from falling off. For extra insurance, Dad called up the rug fibers, twisting them into a rope around my waist. If I moved too much one way or another, it tightened up like a snake and jerked me back into my seat.
    Dad murmured something, and the carpet lifted up. There’s always a moment of freefall with magic carpets when your body goes up but your stomach stays down. It’s my favorite part. The carpet picked up speed and my head started spinning as we kept going up and up and up and then—everything was perfect. The wind was rushing all around, lifting us up until we were light as frosting and twice as weightless. The sky stretched out all around us, blue and cloudless. I could see part of one moon peeking out in front of us.
    There were only a few other people flying when we took off, but as we got closer to Thorten, the airspace started filling up.
    Since Mom and Dad were already planning to stop in Thorten on their way to Rothermere to drop Jeremy off at school, Alexa asked if they would mind picking up a fewstudents who lived nearby and giving them a ride into the city. Alexa arranged to meet us and accompany us the rest of the way. “They’re actually not that far from Rothermere themselves—we’ve got a girl coming from Glendale, and a boy in Teaneck. But I’d feel better if we escorted them ourselves.” Mom raised an eyebrow at this until Alexa admitted, “I’m not sure I trust the parents to get them to Rothermere. You’d be surprised how lazy some people get once they find out they have an ord.” Then she grinned. “Not every kid’s lucky enough to have parents as amazing as you guys.”
    Dad smiled and shook his head. “Please. Go on.”
    Alexa was waiting for us in the clear stretches of meadow outside of town, shielding her eyes from the sun as she watched us land. She gave us each a brusque kiss on the cheek. Jeremy pulled me in for a rare hug and made me promise to let him know about the curriculum. Then Alexa guided me and Dad back on the carpet while Mom and Jeremy headed off toward campus. He had to get checked in and make sure his stuff was all set.
    Below us, the place was packed—move-in day in a school town is always crazy. Stores were open, hawking crystals or dried herbs or extra-long bedsheets or anything people might have forgotten. There were so many carpets, taking off and landing, it was a struggle just to get through; we didn’t even try getting close to campus, and lines of students checking in wound all the way back through the streets. Even from a distance I could hear the massive doors of Thorten’s front entrance groan happily as they swung open to admit a new student.
    Alexa had arranged for us to meet the other new students at the Whittleby home. Their only kid, Peter, was going to be in my class. The Whittleby house was on the edge of town, small and white and square, with decorative blue tiles around the windows and tiger lilies purring along the fence. It was a nice place if you didn’t look too close: if you didn’t notice the chips in the tiles, or that the paint was faded and flaking, like no one was keeping up the maintenance spells.
    There was a girl waiting by the Whittlebys’ gate, hugging a faded leather satchel, her cheeks pink from the sun. Surprise slapped Alexa in the face, and she jogged over. “When did they drop you off? I didn’t know it was going to be this early.”
    The girl’s response was too quiet to catch. She was a tiny apple dumpling of a girl—soft and round and dimpled—with buttercup curls and a slump to her shoulders. There were deep, dark shadows under her eyes, and her fingers were bone white as they gripped her bag. She seemed to be trying to fold in on herself and disappear.
    “Why didn’t you go in? Aren’t the Whittlebys here?” Alexa asked.
    The girl shook her head and