The Circle of Owls (The Grimalkin Book 3) Dani Swanson (best books for 8th graders .TXT) 📖

The adventures were continuous throughout the Circle of Owls. Penelope and Peter led the group to fight against the evils that were controlling their beloved Erresuma. Many members died during the escapades – Peter was one of them, leaving behind Penelope with two young daughters, to continue the quest for peace.”

“The Circle would bring food to the poor and capture the orgs and imps who were hurting those around them, imprisoning them in the dungeons of the Kingdom of Owls and forcing them to sign deals with imps to do good deeds. It took some time, but the revolution against King Rupert grew as the masked members of the Circle of Owls recruited people of the neighboring kingdoms to come together against their oppressors.”

“In the beginning of the spring, the Circle of Owls along with a group of vegetarian trolls, and Tog’s family of smaller than normal giants, raided the castle of Erresuma. The king was overthrown and entered into a contract with the Circle of Owls. A magic contract that kept the king from leaving the tunnels, having to do the bidding of the Circle for the rest of his days.” Robin paused from reading the story with an inquisitive look on her face. “……but who took over Erresuma? How long ago was this?”

Robin could hear a sigh – she didn’t even bother to look over the top of her book. “Sorry. I’ll keep going.”

“The Circle of Owls’ group became smaller. Now that peace was found throughout the kingdoms, many of the members started families and left the kingdom all together. Penelope had met the King of Izotza and had fallen in love. She no longer felt that she was needed among the Circle, thus leaving the Circle of Owls in the hands of her two daughters who were now adults, Cricket and Celeste. Both of her daughters were talented witches with an eager thirst for knowledge. They often bickered on who was truly in charge of the group.”

“Peace continued for many years and the group shrank further in size. The queen passed away and the king didn’t take another wife. He ruled the Kingdom of Owls with little regard to the group that resided beneath his kingdom. The sisters craved more than what they were given as they grew bored of their modest life. Celeste, the elder of the two had taken a husband and was with child….leaving behind Cricket, who always wanted more than she had. She saw the riches of the kingdom and wanted not only the wealth, but the control that a queen would have.”

“Cricket started to free the creatures who were imprisoned there. She sent them on a recruitment mission to gather those who had helped King Rupert in the past….elves, giants, imps, humans, fairies, witches and warlocks came from the darkest corners of the world, thirsty to return things to how they used to be. All of them wanting power and chaos to consume anything good.”

“Alright, that is where you left off, what is the rest of the story?” Robin had a new-found interest in the project, and she wanted to know what was going to happen next, even though she knew how the group turned out to be. Pen to paper, she started to take dictation:

“Cricket wanted to destroy what her mother had created, and started to give her minions different bird masks, leaving the name of the group intact, to not draw any suspicion from the kingdom above. She no longer wanted to guard the cells, living in what she considered rags, when there was so much more for her to go out and just take. Celeste, who was about to give birth to her child, came back to the circle to be with her sister. Cricket had promised her riches beyond her imagination and eventually her own kingdom. Celeste’s husband Yousef was failing to provide for her the riches that he promised her, and Celeste feared that she and her child would suffer for it. She agreed to help her sister and became the second in command (though her powers were much stronger than Cricket’s), creating a blood oath contract with the help of one of the freed imps, Sorgin.”

Robin’s eyes grew large as she tried to keep up with recording the story. “She’s part of the circle too! Well of course she is. She tricks everyone into contracts with her.”

“Robin shhhh…. Penelope heard word that the Circle of Owls had started meeting again. She was excited that her daughters were finally working together. She left the Izotza Mountains and went to go see them, but when she arrived, she found that there were no more owl masks amongst the group, and the cells had all been emptied. She went to the sisters and questioned everything they had been doing. Cricket told Penelope that Celeste was trying to become the most powerful witch in the world and was studying dark magic, and that she was recruiting creatures to do her biding.”

“Penelope, knowing that Celeste had great power put a curse on her, that when she had her child, it would take all her powers away from her. Penelope believed Cricket, as one of Cricket’s powers is being able to control people. I don’t think that Penelope was aware of that at the time. Cricket convinced Penelope to leave and go back to the Ice King’s palace. Penelope knew that Celeste wouldn’t be able to harm anyone once the child was born and followed the directions that Cricket had suggested to her.”

“Now, Celeste didn’t know that she had been cursed or that her mother had even been to the Kingdom of Owls. She continued to assist Cricket in growing the new chapter of the Circle of Owls – both through recruiting, and then researching the dark arts books that Cricket had to learn in order to know how to take other creature’s powers. As she helped her sister grow stronger with power, she started to lose her own. Then she had