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

in snow?” Thea was getting frustrated as she could no longer see the kingdom over her shoulder. “How do you track a person in this?”

Percy chuckled as Thea spoke. “You need to know the trees and look for the things that are out of place. Like broken branches, or something that has been left behind. It helps to have walked through these trees hundreds of times over the years, too.” Percy patted the stump of a tree that was barely sticking out of the snow. “This tree has been gone for seven years or so. I use this stump to line me up with the path.” He pointed to the right of where they were facing. “Otherwise we would get lost.”

“I’m glad I have you with me. I’m sure I would already have been lost to a snow drift if I was on my own.”

“People don’t last much more than a week out here if they don’t have the proper supplies.” Percy immediately regretted saying that to Thea. “But I am sure that Edward and Robin took enough supplies with them when they left the castle!”

Thea’s face was grim when she responded. “Robin has survived much harsher things than a bunch of snow. She will be alive.”

They didn’t say much as they continued up the path. Thea was getting cold and picked Fig up onto her shoulder again. He purred so hard that Thea could feel him vibrate through her heavy coat. “Hey! I have an idea!” Thea couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it before: she lit a fireball in her hand and rolled it over the snow. The snow melted down to the brick path for a few feet ahead of them.

“You may not want to do that…” Percy said as he heard the calls of a bazzle come from the trees. “You’re drawing a lot of attention to us.” Beady red eyes from the trees lit up on either side of their path.

“Oh.” Thea whispered as she started to walk faster down the path. “Sorry….” Fig’s tail grew large as he started a low throaty growl. “Shhhh boy! It’s okay!”

In difficult silence they continued up the mountain. The bazzle’s and the yeti’s eyes could be seen glowing from the trees, but unlike when Thea was traveling before, they appeared to have a fear of Percy’s presence. The hours seemed to creep by as they made it to a cave opening. The sun was starting to set, and the wolves could be heard crying off in the distance. Thea’s excitement for going on an adventure was no longer enough to cover her feelings of worry.

“We better stay here for the night. I’ll start a fire for you to warm yourself with.” Percy did his best to find some dry wood within the cave.

Thea walked deep into the opening, exploring as far as the light would carry onto the stone walls. There were remnants of past visitors there; empty containers and an old blanket were left on the ground. Nothing that would be a sign of Robin or Edward though. Thea went toward the front of the cave to see Percy struggling to get a spark from rubbing two sticks together. She tilted her head to the side and raised her eyebrows. “Need some help?”

“No, I got it.” Percy said through gritted teeth.

Thea walked over to the pile of wood and squatted down next where Percy was working. She gently pushed his hands back with her right hand. Percy gave her a disgusted look as she conjured a fireball with her left. She placed the dancing flame onto the sticks and watched as the flame slowly spread to the rest of the pile. Percy started to laugh deep from his belly. “I honestly forgot you could do that.” He started to wipe tears from the corners of his eyes. “Sorry about that.”

Thea winked at him, as she started to warm her hands by the fire. “No worries. I appreciate the effort.”

Percy took one of the sticks with the flame aglow and started toward the back of the cave, to make sure that there weren’t going to be any surprises later that night. Fig curled up on the blanket that Thea had found and was happy to be by the warmth. Thea took some snacks out of the bag they had packed, making sure to ration out what they brought in case they were to be out there for a while. Percy came back with a concerned look on his face.

“What?” Thea questioned with a mouth full of crackers. “What’s the matter?”

Percy put the makeshift torch back into the fire and sat down farther away from the fire than Thea. She could see that he was sweating from its heat. “Nothing to worry about, but I found an opening in the back of the cave that leads down below….and I can hear running water.”

“Okay…so why do you look so perplexed?” She finished her snack and handed some to Percy as Fig snacked on a hunk of some type of jerky meat that she found.

“I don’t remember there ever being an opening in the caves along this route before….let alone a path to flowing water.”

“Really? That’s interesting. You’ve piqued my interest. I want to see.” Thea picked up the end of what was left of Percy’s torch and started to walk to the back of the cave. After a few minutes Thea could hear the sound that Percy had talked about. It grew louder the further back into the cave they went. Fig, not caring for the noise he was hearing, climbed up Thea’s leg and was sitting on her shoulder again, like a fur stole. “You’re too heavy for this.” She grumbled, as she reached the entrance Percy had spoken about. “Not much of a guard cat, are you?”

“See? I don’t remember this ever being here. I can’t see where the path goes or how deep it is.”

“Here, hold this….and this.” Thea handed Percy the torch and Fig as she