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

Penelope turned around to face her daughter who was leaning against the door frame. Penelope was still being held by the Circle of Owls, however, this time she wasn’t in a damp dungeon. She had a full furnished room, a couple floors under the small house that the Circle was using to repopulate their organization.

“Would we do that to you? You’re our MOTHER.” Cricket’s voice was far from sincere as she attempted to have a pleasant smile for her.

“You thought you had it with stealing their souls, but you were so far off, little one.” Penelope rolled her neck around in the black collar, stretching her neck from side to side. “You could always take this contraption off, and I will gladly show you what I did to your sister.” They both started to laugh at the same time.

“So, you can do the same to me, as you did to Celeste? That’s not going to happen.”

Penelope was laughing so hard that she had tears in the corners of her eyes. “I do what I can to entertain myself down here, darling.” She blotted the tears away.

“We could accomplish so much, if you would just work with us, mother. The three of us would be unstoppable.” She raised her eyebrows adding an extra lift to her smile.

“Accomplish what, Cricket? My group, the true Circle, fought against adversity, evil tyrants, and for equality…..once you and your sister took the group over you turned it into everything I tried to fix in this world. Pitting creatures against each other, trying to get more than you earned, enslaving creatures! I didn’t raise you like this! You were never an evil child! Then you drag your sister into this mess and leave her getting the blame for something that you did! So what exactly are we going to accomplish, darling? I’m not really into world domination.”

Like every other time Cricket had this conversation with her mother, she started to get infuriated. “Why can’t you see that there is more to life than just settling for what is given to you!”

“I didn’t settle; I had everything I wanted. I did the family thing with you two when you were younger, and I had the love of a sweet man. That’s all I ever wanted. I helped people and made the world a little bit brighter than how I found it.” Penelope picked up her knitting that was sitting on her side table and lazily started to work on her sweater. “I’m not sure what happened to you, or what you did to get such control over your sister, but the life you are chasing isn’t going to end well for you, dear Cricket. Making sure that everyone else fails just so you can have better won’t work.”

“It was working just fine until Thea showed up again! I thought taking her memory was going to be enough to keep her away! I tried to spare her!” With her arms crossed over her chest she glared at her mother.

“You weren’t trying to be kind and spare her, you were trying to get her powers and you didn’t know how to do it. Can’t get your powers from a dead witch. At least you’ve learned that much.” Penelope smirked.

“I’m going to find the book that has whatever spell you used to take Celeste’s powers, and then I’ll be able to do the same to Thea. You made her a Supreme without even knowing it. Can you imagine if I had her powers with my knowledge? I would be the most powerful witch that was ever known! And do you know what we could do with that?”

“Get overthrown by the next idiot who is power hungry and has no respect for the natural order of things?” Penelope’s words came out faster than she could think of what she was saying.

“Fine, mother, you don’t want to help your own daughter succeed? You can stay in your room with your knitting as I finish rebuilding the Circle of Owls.”

“You’re not owls anymore….I think you have one owl mask left up there. You’re just a flock of birds – not smart enough to be owls!” Cricket turned on her heels, slamming the door behind her as she left; leaving the same way she did every time that she came to see her mother to ask for help.

“Thea is going to make a much better leader when she gets down here. You two are such disappointments.” Penelope muttered to herself as she searched for a stitch she just dropped.

Penelope worked on her project for awhile longer until she heard the familiar scratching coming from behind her vanity. She slowly stood up from her chair and peered through the little window on her door. When she was sure that no one was watching her, she carefully slid the table away from the wall. There she found a small grey mouse with a scrap of paper in its mouth. She ruffled her brow as she looked down at her little friend. She placed her hand down to the ground and he climbed into her palm.

“Well this is a new twist, you’re bringing me letters now…” She unrolled the paper that Thea had sent, a smile spreading across her lips. “There we go! She’s catching on!” She pulled a scrap of paper and pencil out of her hair, scribbling a note while looking over her shoulder. “You give this to the raven and tell him to fly slowly back to me, so Thea can find where we are.” She softly ran her finger over the head of the mouse before handing him the new paper. He left through the small hole behind her vanity and off into the darkness he went. She pushed the vanity back into place, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She giggled to herself as she saw the black collar around her neck. “My daughters