Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan Read Free Book Online

one—“but there must be ways to shield against magic.”
    “I’ll tell you how,” Lillian said. “Do not put yourself in the path of sorcerers.”
    “Since that’s not happening, do we have an option B?” Kami inquired. “The way I see it is, we have to know exactly who our enemy is and work out exactly how to fight them: it’s the only plan that will work.”
    “Let me tell you my plan,” said Lillian. “ My plan is to kill Rob, and anyone else who continues to defy me once he is dead. How many times must I point out to you that you are useless?” Lillian asked, using her voice like a knife, and twisting it. “This is a matter between sorcerers: this is a question of magical power. Any use you could possibly have had, you lost when you broke the link between my nephew and yourself. You cost us a great deal of power that day.”
    “So is there a way to get us more power?” Ash asked. “A way that’s not—not Dad’s way?”
    “There is a way for Jared to gain more power,” Lillian said, looking at Jared rather than Kami or her son. “It is very dangerous.”
    Jared absorbed her words in sullen silence, head bowed and shoulders bunching under his jacket. At last he asked, “What would I have to do?”
    “There is a ceremony a sorcerer can go through,” Lillian said. “One must go down to the depths of one of the Crying Pools, and come out reborn. At the bottom of the pools there is—”
    Jared glanced up, his face looking younger suddenly, and shocked. “Gold,” he whispered.
    Lillian gave a tight little smile of satisfaction. “So the pools have been calling out to you,” she said. “I thought they might. Not as a human would mean gold. But yes, in a way. There is power to be found there, a ceremony you can perform to enhance your own power. Complete the ceremony and you can see into the heart of the woods. You might gain the power to wake the woods again. And you would have the magic to remake a link that was broken. To have a source again.”
    “No,” Jared said, his voice full of loathing. “I won’t do that.”
    “I simply thought, as the young lady seems so anxious to help—”
    Kami felt a chill run through her. She could have the link back, have him back.
    Jared said, still in that disgusted voice, “No.”
    Lillian spread her hands, as if to say As you wish. “If you do this,” she said, “you will have more power than any sorcerer in Sorry-in-the-Vale, save two. Only Rob and I have completed the ceremony.”
    “ I could do the ceremony,” Ash said suddenly, his voice cracking. His eyes rested on his mother, obviously hoping for her approval. “I want to do it,” he said, his voice getting stronger as he went on. “I want to help. You can count on me.”
    “Absolutely not,” Lillian told him. “You wouldn’t live through it.”
    Ash leaned forward in his chair. “And why not?”
    “How many people have died trying to complete this ceremony?” Kami asked, her voice rising.
    “Rob would have died, if I had not linked myself to him and shared my magic. The ceremony calls for courage and determination,” said Lillian. “Without those qualities, the sorcerer who goes through the ceremony will not survive.”
    The implication was very clear. Kami saw Ash flinch.
    “Sure,” Jared said, sounding tired. “I’ll do it.”
    “You most certainly will not,” Kami said in protective terror, at the same time Ash demanded, stung, “Why do you think Jared has a better chance of surviving than I do?”
    “She doesn’t,” Jared drawled. “But I’m not much of a loss, am I? I’m a half-breed: isn’t that how you put it once, Ash? Not really a proper sorcerer at all. And nobody cares much if I live or die. Why not risk it?”
    “I care,” Kami said loudly, and found herself the sole focus of everybody’s attention.
    They all looked sorry for her, she thought. Except for Lillian, who looked faintly contemptuous, and Jared himself, who looked away.
    “Well,” he