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

“That’s all right, my dear Sorgin. I feel that we have an even better item here than a castle. I have all three.”

“Quite the collection, indeed.” Sorgin couldn’t help but smile despite the anxiety she could feel brewing in the pit of her stomach. The imp in her would always appreciate a good collection. “What are your plans now?” She asked as she looked over her shoulder to the castle wall. She could see the shadows dance on the trees from the creatures within the castle, walking along the wall.

“Now we see if we can get that crystal to work properly, and then we’ll bring all three of them into the room.”

As the borgs and trolls began to gather where Sorgin and Cricket were talking, a single arrow landed in the ground near Cricket’s feet. On the end was a letter tied with string.

Leave the Kingdom of Owls NOW! You have been warned!

~Lola

Cricket created a thunderbolt in her hand and shot it toward where the arrow had come, but the bolt disappeared in a poof of smoke as it got close to the castle wall. “I should have fed her to the Grimalkin when she was still a squirrel.” Cricket’s tone was playful as she ran a fingernail down the cheek of Lilly Quinn, who was sitting on the ground, restrained by a troll – silently crying. “Don’t cry dear -you’re going to get what you want soon enough.”

With a nod, one of the borgs brought the horses to Sorgin and Cricket, and they started down the road leading back to their house. The troll picked up Lilly and put her over his shoulder. Lilly refused to react and laid there as dead weight the entire trip back.

“Now that you have all of them, will you give me my powers back?” She could hear Sorgin’s voice up ahead. Lilly turned her head and saw Cricket take a small bag from around her neck and poured a lavender powder into her hand. She blew it into Sorgin’s face as the old imp-witch inhaled every speck she could. Her aura started to glow a bright yellow, that could be seen by the naked eye before settling back to her normal self. Sorgin looked different to Lilly now. Like she gained years of her life back. Sorgin felt the void within her start to fill, making her whole – colors seemed brighter and she could smell the flowers of the forest around her in a new found sweet bouquet.

“Don’t disappoint me again, old friend. I don’t like having to do things like that to you.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, dearie.” Sorgin smirked, with a smirk as she looked ahead through the trees while rubbing the top of her skull cane. Little did Cricket know that the imp-witch’s powers had begun to rejuvenate immediately after she had lost them. She could feel the extra power surge through her all the way down to her toes. Her skin became brighter and looked tighter on her face as if she had started to age backwards. She felt stronger than she had ever felt before.

Lilly laid her head back down in a heap and stopped listening to what was being said. She now understood why Cricket had so many followers – She had something that belonged to each of them and that’s how she continued to have control over them.

The trip back to the house was much faster than the trip was to the Kingdom, as Cricket was eager to go and finish her plans. She whisked off to her private chambers and locked herself in. Meanwhile, Lilly was brought down to a room not far from where Thea and the others were being held. She knew that they were all in there, she didn’t need to ask.

Sorgin waited until nightfall, and crept her way through the halls, down to where Agatha was being held. She took her walking stick and gently placed it over the keyhole and was able to unlock the door without the use of a key. She pushed the door open to find Agatha, sitting in a chair, talking to someone that only she could see. She was startled and jumped to her feet when she saw Sorgin.

“What are you doing down here? You’re going to end up in one of these rooms if she sees you.” Agatha’s voice was a low hushed whisper. Sorgin checked the hall behind her before shutting the door.

“She won’t be able to – At least not yet.” Sorgin said as the skull on the end of her staff start to glow. “We need to get out of here, and fast! She caught Lilly now. It’s only a matter of time before she cracks the spell in that book you found for her.”

“I wish I never found that book.”

“Well it was hidden at my chateau! You shouldn’t have been snooping around for it!” The look of disappointment was like what she use to see from her mother.

“I didn’t know that you were part of the Circle back then. How was I supposed to know?! I was just following orders from her.” Agatha made a wildly pointing gesture up to the ceiling, to where she just assumed Cricket would be. “I was told that I was going to be a supreme by helping her, and that I would get all of the powers you were taking from my sister.”

“Yes, that is the beauty of Cricket, isn’t it? She makes sure you believe what you want, and only know enough of what she’s doing to believe her story.” Agatha was rubbing her head, looking past Sorgin – She couldn’t hear what the imp-witch was saying. All she could hear was Robin yelling at her from within. “I know how to help you with that.” Sorgin said as she pushed by her, taking the seat that Agatha was sitting in before. She reached up to the bun of her hair, removing a small vial from within.

Robin was