The Night of the Solstice by L.J. Smith Read Free Book Online Page A

another name for deadly nightshade, or
atropa belladonna
. They now knew that quicksilver was mercury, that red wulfenite, peacock coal, and hornblende were all minerals, that wild elephant’s ear, bladderwort, and stinking smut were plants, and that sunfish scales, flyclub, and phoenix feather were parts of animals. But, as Charles said, knowing and getting were two different things.
    â€œI called that big nursery on Tustin where Dad bought his sago palm,” he told Alys, “and they don’t even have any of these plants. The guy just laughed when I asked about bladderwort and elephant’s ear, and when I got to stinking smut he hung up. And about the other ingredients—how many do you really think we can get hold of, three or four? Much less the human bone.”
    At the mention of the bone everyone looked quickly at Janie, but she seemed to be studying her own list intently. “I’ll tell you something else,” she said without looking up. “I got a book on witchcraft, and according to it witches gather their own herbs. By moonlight. Naked.”
    â€œNaked!” said Charles.
    â€œSkyclad, they call it. And there may be special incantations to be said… . Alys, you’re not paying attention.”
    â€œNo,” said Alys. “I’m sorry. But Charles is right. We’ll never be able to dig up half these things, naked or not.”
    Janie looked at her quickly. “You mean you’re giving up?”

Chapter 6
THE HIDDEN ROOM
    No! Of course I’m not giving up,” said Alys. “But I’ve been thinking all day and we’re going about this wrong. The vixen expected us to mix up the amulet in one afternoon, like Morgana did. If the ingredients were that hard to find she’d be expecting the impossible.”
    â€œMaybe they’re growing in the garden,” said Charles.
    â€œNot wulfenite and peacock coal and hornblende, they’re not. But
think.
Where does a sorceress get the ingredients for her spells? She can’t cross the Atlantic every time she needs European dwaleberry. She doesn’t keep a nest of falcon chicks or a bowl of sunfish—”
    â€œA laboratory!” A sudden light came into Janie’s purple eyes. “She’d have a laboratory of her own. Or at least a storeroom for her stuff. I bet it’s right herein the house. Hidden, maybe, behind a false wall—”
    â€œThe cellar!” cried Charles.
    â€œDamp,” said Janie. “Drafty.”
    â€œWitches like drafts.”
    â€œThe towers!” squealed Claudia, knocking over a chair as she bolted out of the kitchen. Charles bolted the other way.
    â€œWait a minute, let’s get organized,” said Alys, but they were gone. She looked at Janie, who was wearing quite a different expression than she had been these last few days.
    â€œFaust did it in a library,” Janie said thoughtfully.
    â€œThere’s a library on the second floor,” said Alys. “I’ll go up there. You do this floor. Try not to get lost.”
    Alys’s warning to Janie was quite serious. There were so many dozens of rooms in the old house, and so many unexpected twists and turnings, that it was easy to lose the way.
    The house was built like a hollow square enclosing a courtyard. The south and west sides of the quadrangle had been closed off. When their doors wereforced they revealed whole wings of little rooms which looked as if they had not been entered for centuries. All were empty.
    On the north side, the ancient, smoke-stained kitchen opened into the three-story living room, which was easily the largest room in the house. The east side was where Alys and Janie were going now. Leaving the first-story rooms to Janie, Alys went up the spiral staircase in the northeast tower to the second story.
    She emerged in a high arched hallway which looked down on the courtyard on the right and had a range of doors on the left. The first door