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

her daughter and could barely cast a spell. She blamed her loss on the child and sent her away to her father. The child was raised as if she was a normal human child. She didn’t start to learn about her powers until she was older. Her mother was living a secret life, helping her sister with the circle all the while having a normal life.

The child would spend some time with Penelope and the rest with her father; occasionally seeing her mother, who barely paid her attention. Yousuf started to teach the child magic, which made Celeste angry as she could no longer cast. Yousuf found out about what was happening with Cricket and tried to separate his family from the Circle as best he could. Celeste eventually agreed to not be involved and attempted to be a simple housewife.”

“Are you going to tell me the name of the child or are you going to keep making me write out “Celeste’s daughter”? It’s Thea, right?! You said this was to help Thea!” Some of the sparkle Robin had been missing returned to her eyes as she continued to write.

“Yes Robin, the child is Thea. Ok? Her mother grew to hate her and blamed Thea for all the reasons she wasn’t satisfied in her life. The stronger Thea became as a witch and the awesome talents she possessed made Celeste’s detestation for her grow. Cricket was livid that Yousef had taken her sister away. Personally, I think that she needed Celeste to continue her research for her as the spells didn’t make sense to her, but that’s just my opinion.”

“I know the feeling….” Robin mumbled, as she continued to write.

“The Circle of Owls was no longer being seen as a helping organization. The king of the Kingdom of Owls seemed to have gone missing, as well as his advisor, Lola. News of the chaos being caused below the mountains was growing and a story of a Grimalkin stealing people’s souls surfaced. Penelope went back to the Circle, without warning, to find that her once work of art, was now full of the worst creatures. She confronted Cricket but, this time, was smart enough to not make eye contact with her when she spoke. Penelope and Cricket started to fight, and Penelope was overpowered by Cricket and the Circle of Owls. This resulted in her being forced to wear a black collar and being put in a cell. That is where she told me this story.”

“Wait! You were in a cell?! Why did they have you?” Robin was no longer writing but looking over her book with large eyes.

“We’ll get to that story later; will you keep writing?”

“Cricket had asked her sister to meet her for a visit. Thea could not be found because she was out with you that day, planning how she was going to save the world from the Grimalkin…remember?”

Robin nodded her head without looking up from her writing. A knot was tying itself in her stomach as she listened to a different perspective from that day.

“When Thea went to the field where the Grimalkin had last been seen, she made it just in time to see her mother being taken away in a cage and the Grimalkin attacking her father. Cricket had ordered the Grimalkin to kill…not stupefy, but kill Yousef. Celeste was brought back to the circle and joined the ranks with everyone else. Back to be the second in command and to help her sister become even more powerful. She found out that her mother was being held there and what she had done to her.

Thea continued to hunt for the Grimalkin and as you both had your powers increase toward becoming supremes, Cricket became more aware of your powers and didn’t want the competition to be available against her. She ordered the two of you to be dealt with. You were tricked by Sorgin for your spell abilities and then trapped in her collection case…Thea was to have her soul eaten by the Grimalkin on the orders of her own mother – who was trying to get her powers back and had read in one of her books that, if Thea’s soul was abstracted from her, that she may get her powers back. Thea showed to be stronger than any witch the Circle had dealt with in the past, knocking both herself and Lilly out when she attempted to use the Ether. While Thea was knocked out, Celeste was going to have her put in the dungeon with Penelope, but Cricket didn’t want them to be anywhere near each other. Unbeknownst to them, Penelope had put a protection spell on her granddaughter when she was younger, that prevented Cricket or Celeste from doing any real harm to Thea.” After Cricket and Celeste both had tried to kill Thea, Cricket got frustrated and put a forgetting curse on Thea, leaving her to her own devices out in the wilderness. I don’t know what her end intentions were in doing that, but that is the story of Thea’s past.”

“Wow…..I met her mom a few times, and she seemed so nice! I can’t imagine everything that has happened with that family……now, how did you end up there?!” Robin had even more questions but was cut short by the rumbling coming from the floor below. Off in the blackness of the cave, they could hear rocks crashing down and water splashing. The entire mountain was shaking.

“We need to get out of here!”

Robin hurried to grab her belongings and was shoving them in her bag when a large icicle fell from the ceiling. Tinker grew and filled most of the void of the cave – her fur had turned to solid ice. The icicle crashed onto her back as she stood over the top of Robin.

They ran out of the opening of the cave, into the snow storm, as the last of the rocks fell, sealing off the entrance.

Robin was shaking – both from the cold and her nerves.