Spell Bound Read Online Free Page A

probably.
    The only other people in the room were Aislinn and a girl who looked around my age. When Mom and I walked through the door, both their heads shot up from a book they were studying. I saw a Maglite tucked into a holster around the girl’s waist. So this was Finley, Wielder of Flashlights. I rubbed the crown of my head, and she scowled at me.
    I turned to look at my quiet, bookish mother, a woman I had honestly never seen swat a fly. “I’m sorry, but there is no way you grew up here. It’s not even possible.”
    There was a whirring sound, and I felt something pass by my face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mom’s hand go up, and suddenly she was holding the hilt of a knife—a knife that had apparently just been hurled at her head. The whole thing had happened in less than a second.
    I swallowed. “Never mind.”
    Mom didn’t say anything, but kept her gaze focused on Aislinn, who, I noticed, still had one hand slightly raised. She was smiling. “Grace was always the quickest of all of us,” she said, and I realized she was talking to me. Smiling at me .
    “Okay,” I finally said. “Well, I didn’t get that from her, in case you’re wondering. I can’t even catch a football.”
    Aislinn chuckled, even as Finley’s scowl deepened.
    “So you’re the demon spawn,” Finley spit out.
    “Finn!” Aislinn snapped. Huh. So at least one of the Brannicks hated me. Weirdly, that made me feel better. That was normal. And if there was one thing I knew how to deal with, it was Mean Girls.
    “I actually go by Sophie.”
    From the couch, I heard a snort of laughter, and we all turned to look at Izzy. She covered her mouth and tried to turn it into a cough, but Finley still jerked her head and said, “Go on to your room, Iz.”
    Izzy closed the book and laid it on her lap, and I was surprised to see that it was To Kill a Mockingbird . “Finn,” she protested. “I wasn’t laughing like, with her.” Izzy glowered at me. “She tried to kill me.”
    “Actually, I didn’t,” I broke in. There was a hard look in Aislinn’s and Finley’s eyes that scared the heck out of me. The last thing I wanted was to be held responsible for Elodie’s actions, especially now that I was, technically, one of these women, and the words just came pouring out of my mouth. “See, I don’t have powers anymore, because I was supposed to go through the Removal, and that sort of locked my magic away so that I can’t use it. But there was this girl—well, this witch—Elodie, and because she passed her magic on to me when she died, we’re connected. That means her ghost follows me around and stuff, so when you attacked me, she possessed my body. Which is new and, quite frankly, super freaky, and something that I haven’t really processed yet. Anyway, she was the one who used magic on you. Oh, and held the sword to your throat, and said all that creepy stuff. I’m not creepy. At least not on purpose.”
    By now, all three Brannick women—all four, if you counted Mom—were staring at me. Man, what had that piney-tasting stuff been? The Brannick version of Red Bull?
    “I’ll, uh, stop talking now.”
    Aislinn wasn’t smiling anymore. In fact, she looked kind of horrified. Finley leaned one hip against the table and crossed her arms. “What do you mean, you don’t have powers anymore?”
    I tried very, very hard not to roll my eyes. “I mean exactly what I said. I had powers, then the Council—they’re the people who make all the rules for Prodigium,” I explained, only to have Finley roll her eyes, and say, “Yeah, we know that.”
    “Awesome for you,” I muttered. “So they did this ritual that didn’t…well, it wasn’t as intense as the Removal. My magic isn’t gone forever.” At least, I hoped it wasn’t. But I didn’t say that to the Brannicks.
    Aislinn and Finley glanced at each other. “But for all intents and purposes,” Aislinn said, “you’re human.”
    “Except for when Elodie’s ghost