House of Many Ways Read Online Free Page A

ready.
    She put that one down too and lifted up the heavy, square book on the corner of the desk. It was called Das Zauberbuch and it turned out to be in a foreign language. Probably what they speak in Ingary, Charmain decided. But, most interestingly, this book had been acting as a paperweight to a pile of letters underneath it, from all over the world. Charmain spent a long time going nosily through the letters and becoming more and more impressed with Great-Uncle William. Nearly all of them were from other wizards who were wanting to consultGreat-Uncle William on the finer points of magic—clearly, they thought of him as the great expert—or to congratulate him on his latest magical discovery. One and all of them had the most terrible handwriting. Charmain frowned and scowled at them and held the worst one up to the light.
    Dear Wizard Norland (it said, as far as she could read it) ,
    Your book, Crucial Cantrips , has been a great help to me in my dimensional (or is that “demented”? Charmain wondered) work, but I would like to draw your attention to a small discovery of mine related to your section on Murdoch’s Ear ( “Merlin’s Arm? Murphy’s Law?” I give up! Charmain thought) . When I next find myself in High Norland, perhaps we could talk?
    Yours alluringly ( “allergically? admiringly? antiphony?” Lord! What writing! Charmain thought) ,
    Wizard Howl Pendragon
    “Dear, dear! He must write with a poker!” Charmain said aloud, picking up the next letter.
    This one was from the King himself and the writing, though wavery and old-fashioned, was much easier to read.
    Dear Wm (Charmain read, with growing awe and surprise) ,
    We are now more than halfway through Our Great Task and as yet none the wiser. We rely on you. It is Our devout Hope that the Elves We sent you will succeed in restoring you to Health and that We will again shortly have the Inestimable Benefit of your Advice and Encouragement. Our Best Wishes go with you.
    Yours, in Sincere Hope,
    Adolphus Rex High Norland
    So the King sent those elves! “Well, well,” Charmain murmured, leafing through the final stack of letters. Every single one of these was written indifferent sorts of someone’s best handwriting. They all seemed to say the same thing in different ways: “Please, Wizard Norland, I would like to become your apprentice. Will you take me on?” Some of them went on to offer Great-Uncle William money. One of them said he could give Great-Uncle William a magical diamond ring, and another, who seemed to be a girl, said, rather pathetically, “I am not very pretty myself, but my sister is, and she says she will marry you if you agree to teach me.”
    Charmain winced and only flipped hastily through the rest of the stack. They reminded her so very much of her own letter to the King. And quite as useless, she thought. It was obvious to her that these were the kind of letters that a famous wizard would instantly write and say “No” to. She bundled them all back under Das Zauberbuch and looked at the other books on the desk. There was a whole row of tall, fat books at the back of the desk, all labeled Res Magica, which she thought she would look at later. She picked up two more books at random. One was called Mrs. Pentstemmon’s Path:Signposts to the Truth and it struck her as a trifle moralizing. The other, when she had thumbed open its metal clasp and spread it out at its first page, was called The Boke of Palimpsest. When Charmain turned over the next pages, she found that each page contained a new spell—a clear spell, too, with a title saying what it did and, below that, a list of ingredients, followed by numbered stages telling you what you had to do.
    “This is more like it!” Charmain said, and settled down to read.
    A long time later, while she was trying to decide which was more useful, “A Spell to Tell Friend from Foe” or “A Spell to Enlarge the Mind,” or perhaps even “A Spell for Flying,” Charmain suddenly knew