A Charm for a Unicorn Read Online Free Page B

her hair. Slowly, she brushed it. Then she took off her mother's dress and hung it up, and slipped her soft, flannel nightgown over her head. She looked at her narrow bed, its worn white sheets and patchwork quilt, but she didn't lie down. Instead, she took her candleholder and walked down the hallway to her father's study.
    The crystal ball winked in the candlelight. Leonie peered into its depths, letting her mind free, not thinking of anything until she felt the little prickle that meant the crystal had become attuned to her. How did she know how to do this? Instinct told her to open her thoughts, to let the crystal enter her mind and link with her. But this time, instead of letting the crystal ball show her what it wished, she turned her thoughts to Renaldo.
    Show me Renaldo . Instantly, the image showed a lovely room with a huge stone fireplace and red and blue tapestries hanging from the wall. Renaldo lounged in a comfortable chair, the black and white dog lying at his feet.
    Next to Renaldo stood a young man who could only be Renaldo's brother. He had the same slanted, dancing green eyes, though his hair was dark brown and sleek, not tousled red curls. The two young men shared the same fair skin and smattering of freckles, high cheekbones and strong chins. Both wore velvet tunics cut to perfection, tight hose showed their long, muscular thighs, and they wore high leather boots. Both also wore circlets of silver.
    "If only Ann could see this,” she murmured to the crystal ball.
    She looked carefully at the two young men. They spoke, but she couldn't hear their words. She hadn't learned to adjust the volume on the crystal ball. Renaldo leaned back and crossed his booted legs, and his brother said something that made him laugh. The dog wagged its tail in its sleep, and Renaldo's expression became serious. He stared at the fire a minute, then spoke. His brother perched on the edge of the chair, his face intent. After Renaldo finished talking his brother nodded and grinned, clapping Renaldo on the back.
    Had Renaldo told his brother about her? She didn't know, but just seeing him soothed her tortured spirit. How she wished she could transform herself into a bird and fly to him—but magicians didn't do that sort of thing. They could change others, but only the most powerful magicians could change themselves. And powerful magicians hardly existed anymore.
    For some reason, magic seemed to be melting away at the same rate that technology advanced. When someone invented a new way of doing something with a machine, then the magic that had been needed before vanished. Her father had explained it with a sailboat. Before the invention of sails, magicians had been required to ride on the boat and use their magic to make the boats advance. But now, with sails, the magicians were free to do other things while the wind worked for them.
    There were magicians everywhere, and technology came slowly. But every time technology did arrive, a wizard would lose his job. The fire starters, for example, had been replaced by matches. Not as impressive as a magician waving a wand and starting a blaze with a burst of sparks—but a lot easier to carry around. Some magicians, like her father, did a bit of everything. Others, especially those who lived in great cities, were more specialized, and some worked together, like the wizards in charge of building.
    The rules of magic were quixotic, illogical, and unreliable. Ann, with her sharply logical mind, had trouble working with true magic. Leonie, on the other hand, understood it without trying to comprehend it, and that's why the crystal ball and the transformation spells worked on her and not on Ann.
    Ann thought that her father had never tried to transform her—but Leonie knew better. She knew it vexed her father considerably he could not make his spells stick on his practical, brilliant daughter, while she, a stupid, empty-headed twit, was as malleable to magic as soft clay.
    She had never told