The Wrong Side of Magic Read Online Free Page A

people here so everyone would know she and her father weren’t crazy. As soon as Hudson got home, he was going to talk to her about it. And apologize.
    He looked down at the compass still gripped in his hand. The phrase LAND OF BANISHMENT had disappeared from the face. The settings now read FOREST OF POSSIBILITIES, SEA OF LIFE, GRAMMARIA, and GIGANTICA . The needle pointed to FOREST OF POSSIBILITIES . Apparently, the compass pointed to where you were instead of telling you directions.
    He glanced around at all the bushes and trees. How would he find catflower in this place, and more important, how would he get back home once he had? Charlotte had probably told Bonnie these details, but Hudson didn’t know them.
    He’d pulled the knob up to get here, so pushing the knob down might take him back. He wouldn’t try it yet. First he would find catflower. Since he didn’t know what it looked like, maybe he should just pick every type of flower he saw. It would take a while, but hopefully he’d end up finding the right plant.
    A thudding noise from somewhere in the forest interrupted his thoughts. It sounded like several footsteps. Not human footsteps—larger, heavier, probably scarier. Behind the curtain of trees, something was moving around. He couldn’t tell exactly where. The sound seemed to echo around him.
    â€œHello?” Hudson called.
    No one called back.
    Come to think of it, magic and being in the land of Logos probably had its drawbacks. He suddenly remembered all the fairy tales he’d read—stories about dragons, witches, and giants.
    Hudson heard a grunt of some sort, low and grumbly, like something was hungry. The noise brought him to the immediate and urgent conclusion that he couldn’t stay here, not even to find catflower. He pushed the compass knob back down.
    Nothing happened. He still stood on the dirt path in the forest.
    Hudson lifted up the compass knob and pushed it back down a second time. Still nothing.
    The noise came again. More footsteps were rustling through the forest. He considered running off the path and hiding, but he still wasn’t sure where the noise had come from, and besides, who knew what strange creatures lived in this place? Maybe multicolored lions and bears were skulking around behind the trees, waiting to pounce. Maybe they already had him in their sights.
    Hudson’s gaze darted around the trees, searching one side and then the other. What was he facing? He tried to remember everything Mr. Fantasmo had said about Logos. There was that bit about King Vaygran, the tyrant, taking over. Charlotte had mentioned giants, although if one of those was lumbering around, Hudson probably would have noticed it by now.
    What else? Oh yeah, trolls. Monstrous trolls lived in Logos. You always had to be on your guard against them. What sounds did trolls make?
    Hudson had no way to defend himself. He didn’t see even a stick or rock lying on the ground that he could pick up and use to ward off an attack.
    He turned the compass over in his hand, fumbling as he looked for instructions, anything that would help him. The only words on the compass were the settings on its face: FOREST OF POSSIBILITIES, SEA OF LIFE, GRAMMARIA, and GIGANTICA.
    Another grunt echoed through the forest. Probably trolls. Time to panic. He pushed the knob up so hard it popped off and fell to the ground.
    He stared at the place the knob had been. Shouldn’t magic compasses be built better than that? If he had any chance of making this thing work, he needed all the pieces. He dropped to his knees and searched the ground, looking for a glint of gold. He ran his hands frantically over dirt and bits of dried leaves, all the while cursing magic compasses.
    Hudson heard another low, rumbling noise, this time directly over his shoulder. He wouldn’t become troll dinner without a fight. He spun around, swinging his arm as he did. His fist didn’t connect with anything. The