Ravenspell Book 1: Of Mice and Magic Read Online Free Page A

course,” Imhotep said. “We invented them in Egypt—mummy’s curses, pharaoh’s magicians. Why, my own cousin is a genie’s apprentice.”
    “But who cursed me?” Ben wondered.
    “The young wizardess.” The lizard jutted a chin toward Amber.
    Amber’s heart pounded. “Me?” Amber squeaked, eyes wide. “ I zapped him? I can’t do magic!”
    But someone had turned the boy into a mouse, and Amber knew in her heart that old Barley Beard had been right—she did have magical powers!
    Ben whirled toward Amber, as if just noticing her. “You’re a girl,” he shouted. “And I’m naked!” He threw one paw over his chest and crossed his legs.
    “Of course you cursed him,” Imhotep told Amber in a deep, sedate voice. “You wished that he could see how it feels to be a mouse.” He paused, as Amber realized that she had screamed that just as Ben was dropping her into the lizard cage. “Now he’s a mouse,” Imhotep said with finality. “So, about my dinner . . .”
    “Mom!” Ben screamed. His shout echoed off the glass cage, no louder than a mouse’s squeak. “The lizard is saying mean things!”
    Imhotep lunged.
    Amber dove behind a stick. Her fur stood on end. The lizard lamp blazed overhead like a bonfire.
    Ben froze with fear for an instant, then stepped back and tripped over his own feet. He crawled behind the lizard’s sunning log to hide.
    “Wait,” Ben called to Imhotep. “Why eat me? I took good care of you!”
    “Good care?” Imhotep growled. “You thought I liked watching your favorite cartoons over and over? You thought I liked bubble baths?”
    “But,” Ben begged, “what about Amber? She’s the one you’re supposed to eat!”
    “Me?” Amber squeaked.
    The lizard froze for an instant, as if considering, but suddenly backed away. He was frightened. “I don’t like magic mice,” the lizard said. “They give me gas.”
    The lizard stalked forward, angling his body, forcing Ben toward a corner.
    Amber looked up and saw that Ben had left the lid halfway open. She got an idea. “Ben,” Amber shouted. “Jump!” She pointed up to the lid.
    “That’s got to be fifty feet in the air,” Ben screamed. “I can’t jump that high. I need a ladder, or a rope . . .”
    Amber scampered up the sunning log. In all of her days as a pet shop mouse, she’d never had a stick like this in her cage. She’d never gotten high enough to try to jump out. Now she scaled to the top of the log and leaped an enormous distance. With all of her might, she wished that she could reach the top. She snagged the edge of the lid, clinging by the tips of her paws.
    Ben peered up, and saw her tail hanging. “A rope!” Ben said, just as the lizard lunged at him.
    His legs seemed to explode beneath him, propelling him up like a marshmallow flipped from a spoon.
    He caught Amber’s tail and held on for dear life.
    “Feeeeed me!” the lizard whined, leaping as best he could and snapping at Ben and Amber. “Feeeeeeed me!”
    “Let go of my tail!” Amber shrieked.
    “Or what?” Ben asked. “You’ll turn me into a slug?”
    “Don’t tempt me,” she shouted.
    “Ah,” Imhotep said, peering up, “what a sweet delicacy dangles before my eyes! Tastier than the dates at the Temple to Ahmen Ra!”
    He climbed up the sunning log and chomped. Ben clung to Amber’s tail, screaming and swinging like Tarzan.
    “I’m slipping!” Amber cried. Her tiny claws couldn’t hold much longer.
    “Come down,” Imhotep shouted. “I love eating American.” He jumped and nipped at Ben.
    “Amber,” Ben shouted. “Turn the lizard into a bug!”
    Amber wondered. Can I really do that? But before she could even give it much thought, Ben screamed and kicked off, smashing the lizard on the lips. He must have hit solidly, for Ben went hurtling, and he was still holding Amber by the tail. In fact, he was grasping it so hard that when he arced out of the cage, he pulled her over the top with him. They both sprawled on the