True Magics by Erik Buchanan Read Free Book Online

cheers and whistles came from the students. Eileen raised one hand in a rude gesture before using the blanket to rub the parts of her that were still wet. She grabbed her shirt up from the ground and for a moment arms and cloth waved above the blanket as she pulled the shirt over her head. She disappeared again, grabbed her skirt from the sand and a moment later pulled the blanket from Thomas’s hands. “Done!”
    “Good!” said Thomas, stepping away to grab his shirt while Eileen tied her skirt and started on her stockings. A couple of boys gave half-hearted, shivering whistles, but by now most of them had hit the water and were too busy getting themselves dried off. Thomas hurried into his coat and cloak, and grabbed his braies off the beach while Eileen quickly struggled into her bodice. “M-m-my hands,” she said. “Th-th-they’re shaking too bad to do up the laces.”
    Linda elbowed her way to Eileen. “Here,” she said, taking the laces and deftly pulling them tight. “Is your brother as wild as you?”
    “N-n-n-no,” said Eileen. “He’s the calm one in the family.”
    “B-but not the s-smart one,” said George, who was standing in his braies, still dripping water. He was shivering now, and turning blue, but he didn’t look any less angry. “Otherwise I’d have g-guessed you were g-going to d-d-do that and b-b-brought you your own b-b-blanket.”
    “George!” Eileen grabbed up her blanket and threw it over George’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry!”
    Thomas tossed his blanket over George’s shoulders as well. “Get yourself dry. Hurry!”
    George wrapped one blanket around his waist and struggled out of his braies while Linda dried his shoulders and back with the other. Thomas noted that her father did not seem at all distressed by her actions and wondered just how far along their relationship was.
    “Thomas!” Eileen’s call brought him back from his thoughts. “What do we do next?”
    “Breakfast!” declared Mark, coming up beside her. “Hot breakfast and mulled wine! And cheers to Eileen for going in!”
    Eileen managed a smile as the Student Company cheered, slapping her back and shaking her hand. Keith, still in line to go into the water, ignored them entirely.
    “I always said you had lovely legs,” said Henry clapping a hand on Eileen’s shoulder. “Thanks for showing everyone I was right.”
    Eileen punched his chest. Her cheeks were bright red, and not just from the cold. Thomas wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “You were amazing. Now let’s get out of here.”
    Eileen nodded and leaned against him as Thomas led them all off the beach. Most of the students had girls with them, and Linda was walking arm-in-arm with the still-furious George. Everyone was shivering, and their wet hair was turning to ice
    “To the Quill for breakfast!” declared Henry.
    “The Smiths’ Guild is coming to my place,” said George, “I’ll be making breakfast for them all. Eileen, you need to be there to serve. Thomas,” George looked angrier than before. “Don’t come.”
    “George,” Linda sounded very disapproving. “That’s not nice. Thomas is your oldest friend.”
    “I want to stay with Thomas,” Eileen said. “If he can’t come, then I can’t come.”
    “You’ve caused enough trouble for one day,” said George. “You need to come home.”
    “I wasn’t the one causing trouble.”
    “No, you were the one naked on the beach.”
    “No more than you!”
    “Be fair, George,” said Thomas. “She wouldn’t have done it if it weren’t—”
    “For you?” said George. “I know! None of us would be here if it weren’t for you.” Sarcasm and anger laced his voice. “But maybe, just once, we can make this not about you!”
    “George!” Linda’s tone was sharp. “What’s going on here?”
    “Thomas Flarety?”
    Everyone turned to look. The voice belonged to a thin, weather-beaten man wearing the blue and white livery of the king. He rode the most magnificent