Free ARC: The Wizard's Promise by Cassandra Rose Clarke Page A

a glimmer behind my closed eyelids, a tremor in my muscles. I pulled the wind’s strength into me so that it was racing through my blood, sparking and shining. I opened my eyes and dumped the fish bones into my palm. They jumped with enchantment. My whole body thrummed, the magic rising and falling with the swell of wind.
    I murmured the incantation and scattered the bones across the deck. Kolur snored in the distance. The bones arranged into their patterns. At first I thought it was a scatter of islands, some archipelago in the north that I didn’t recognize, and my heart leapt – was this where we were going? Jandanvar wasn’t an island chain, I knew that much. But then I looked closer and saw that the bones had fallen into bland nonsense: Friendship. A long journey. Magic.
    “Worthless,” I muttered. I gathered them up and tossed them again, this time trying to concentrate on a specific question: Where are we going?
    The bones clacked across the deck. They had fallen into the exact same formation as before.
    I batted them away in frustration, sending them scattering toward the mast. Kolur slept through it all. I stood up and shivered in the cold. Water splashed around the Penelope’s prow, spraying me with a frozen mist. Moonlight bounced off the water.
    “Hanna.”
    I jumped. The voice was melodious and soft. Inhuman.
    “You!” I grabbed the railing and leaned over the side. Isolfr floated in the water, his eyes wide and shining, gazing up at me. “Did you put a spell on Kolur and Frida?”
    He slid into the water so that his shoulders and neck and most of his chin were submerged.
    “You did .” I clung to the railing like it could save me. “Kolur!” I shouted. “Kolur, wake up.”
    “He won’t.” Isolfr’s voice was quiet, a rush of whispers to blend in with the roar of the sea. “He won’t wake up.”
    I stared down at him. Cold horror crawled up the inside of my stomach. “What did you do to him?”
    “Made sure he slept through the night.” Isolfr rose out of the waves, looking indignant. “Maybe I was helping him. Frida Kuhn, too.” He wore a dark tunic and his pale skin gleamed in the moonlight. “I just want them to sleep.”
    “No, you don’t.” I wished now I hadn’t kicked my bones across the deck, since I would have liked something to throw at him. “What are you doing? What do you want?” I paused. “What are you?”
    His eyes went wide again. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought him scared.
    “Well?” I said.
    He dove under the water.
    I cursed and screeched in vexation. Across the boat, Kolur snorted but didn’t wake up.
    “Answer me!” I shouted into the water. Isolfr was down there, a dark shadow moving beneath the waves. “Tell me what the hell is going on. What do you want?”
    The shadow moved back and forth. I was certain it would disappear. But then Isolfr’s head crept up, water streaming through his hair. He looked like silver.
    “Am I going to get an answer out of you?” I demanded.
    “Only if you ask the right question.” His lifted his chin, almost like he was trying to be brave. My heart slowed. Maybe he really was scared. Now, there was a thought. That this strange shimmering magical creature was afraid of me .
    “What are you?”
    He shook his head.
    “What do you want?”
    He paused. Opened his mouth. Closed it. The water sloshed around him. Finally he said, “To help.”
    “Help with what?”
    “I can’t tell you yet.” He paused. “There are – factors.”
    I sighed. “Fine. Why did you enchant Kolur and Frida? They ignore me if I try to tell them about you.”
    “They can’t know about me.” His eyes flicked back and forth. “It would be – dangerous right now. I can’t reveal my identity to them. But I can reveal it to you.”
    “I don’t know your identity.”
    “I told you my name.”
    I sighed and leaned my elbows against the railing. Even with my coat, I was getting cold out here. I rubbed my arms. It didn’t