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

chip away at the wall – bit by bit – trying to get an entrance to the river she could hear flowing below.

“I am not going to allow them to trap any more creatures! I’m going to get them out!” The sweat was trickling down her face with every swing of the axe.

Slowly, she was making progress at the base of the wall. She could see one small hole below that allowed the noise of the running water to come through………

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

When Thea woke up, she felt like she was in a fuzzy dream. Her headache was back in full force, pounding in rhythm with the beats of her heart. Her vision was blurry as she slowly brought herself up to a sitting position.

She was alone – the room was nicer than those that the Circle of Owls had used before, as in they were actual rooms and not cells. She had a bed that was made with linens and there was a chair that reminded her of her overstuffed chair with the dingy buttons at her cabin and the walls were painted a cheery green with tiny daisy accents.

Thea warily got to her feet, shuffling over to the door. The knob was locked, just as she had expected. Her vision was slowly coming back into focus and that is when she spotted her reflection in the mirror on the wall. A dark collar was around her neck. She tried to inch her fingers between the collar and her skin but couldn’t move it at all.

The panic set in as she tried over and over to conjure a fireball, with nothing but a sizzling smoke coming from her palms. Her breaths were short and quick as she searched the room for a way out.

Do I scream? Bang on the doors? Where am I? Where are the boys….and my cat?! She flipped everything in the room looking for an answer. She even slid her bed away from the wall, hoping to find anything that she could. All that was there was a little hole in the wall, with the beady eyes of a mouse looking out at her. Thea didn’t pay the mouse any mind as she continued to look for something to either get the collar off her neck, or find her way out of the room, until she saw that the mouse had a tiny piece of paper in its mouth that it scurried across the room with and dropped at her feet. She smiled and her breathing began to slow; she whispered, “thank you!” to the mouse before unfolding the note on the same tattered yellowed paper that she had gotten before.

Don’t panic, I’m right down the hall!

Both fear and joy swirled around in Thea’s head- she had finally found Penelope, but how could she possibly save her without her magic? And how was she going to save herself? She stuck the note back into the little hole the mouse came out of, and slowly started to put the room back in order. She placed the chair so that it was facing the door, and calmly sat down in it – waiting for whatever was to come next for her.

It may have been hours, but it felt like forever that she sat there, blankly staring at the door, when she finally heard movement on the other side. She could smell the aroma of pasta and her stomach started to growl. She flexed her ab muscles, trying to get it to stop before whoever was on the other side would hear it – she didn’t want them to think that they had any sort of an advantage over her.

A small gnome who Thea recognized in an instant came through the door, delivering a platter of pasta, fruit and tea.

“Boog?!” Thea gasped as she stood up to her feet.

“Good afternoon, Miss Thea. Here is your lunch.” His voice was just as deep and grizzly as she had remembered it. The small man hobbled over to the table, setting down her food – all the while watching his feet as he shuffled out the door.

Thea was directly behind him, asking a thousand questions a second. “Stop! Where am I? What’s going on? What are you doing here?!” Her eyes were lowered, trying to catch the attention of the little dwarf, when her eyes met the stomach of a woman in a peacock blue dress. Her gaze went up to meet the eyes of her aunt. “Damn.” She cursed under her breath for she now knew her fears were true.

“Now Thea, is that anyway to greet someone?” Cricket smiled down on her. “Welcome to your new home.”

“My new home? You’re not going to keep me here. Where is my cat? And my friends?” Thea was losing the battle of controlling the emotion in her voice. “What have you done with them?”

“I haven’t hurt anyone – yet.” Cricket just smiled at Thea as she could see the anger rising in her face. “Those men that you were with are locked up together down the hall – such a waste, the big one has no magical qualities at all. I’m not sure why you would choose to associate yourself with someone like that. The little fire cat has his own fancy collar on and is being kept with all the other critters. Now that you won’t be busy trying to track down our organization any longer, you won’t be in the way of us gaining our power over the kingdoms again…..perhaps, I’ll even figure out a way for you to help.” Cricket was tracing one long fingernail down the cheek of her niece. “Perhaps you’ll want to join us – help out with the family business?” Cricket had raised eyebrows as she squeezed Thea’s cheeks with one hand. “Maybe then your mom would be proud of her little witch.”

Thea jerked her head back from Cricket’s grip and took a step back from her. “I’ll never become what you are! You’re horrible! And