Free The Wizard's Secret by Rain Oxford

Veronica. Veronica kidnapped her
because she wants her magic. And if you can save Livia without using sorcery,
your uncle will seal your dark magic like Livia did.”
    I didn’t really think of Magnus as my uncle. “Pretty
much.”
    “And you haven’t met Veronica?”
    “No. I have met my other cousin, though. Sonya was
Livia’s second daughter, and she only had light magic because she was born
after Livia sealed her magic. Well, I sort of met her. She’s a ghost, and she
doesn’t remember anything from before she died. She doesn’t even remember her
name; she goes by Kisha.”
    Asiago stopped and gaped at me. “She’s a ghost?”
    “Yes.”
    “Maybe she can help us. Sisters typically know
secrets about each other.”
    “She doesn’t remember anything.”
    “I’m a necromancer . I can either access those
memories, or find out what happened to them. I can even see her last moments of
life. The only problem is that I need something of hers.”
    “How did you raise an entire cemetery on accident if
you need something of theirs?”
    “It’s a completely different thing. Raising a zombie
is not like calling a spirit. A zombie is only an impression of the person that
was once alive. Some of them can speak words that they used a lot, some can say
the name of their killer, and stuff like that. Spirits are fully coherent,
assuming they didn’t die in some horrifying way. A spirit once followed me
around and I couldn’t figure out why because her mother had sewn her mouth shut
when she was alive and her spirit mouth wouldn’t open.”
    “That’s horrible!”
    “Was it? Her mother had warned her that she talked
too much. The point is, I need something of Sonya’s in order to call her here.”
    I reached into the saddlebag. “This isn’t something
of hers, but will this work?” I asked, pulling a drawing out. It was a drawing
of Sonya between Livia and Magnus, where Livia and Magnus’s heads were cut off.
    He took it and nodded. “It should work.”
    “What about your bag that the villagers took?”
    “Magnus gave me some supplies this morning,” he said,
pulling out two candles, a ball of red yarn, and a dagger. “Well, at least the
supplies he had, which surprised me. I didn’t think a wizard would have
anything I could use.”
    “What else do you need?”
    “Fire, dirt from the footprint of a virgin, and the
blood of a unicorn.”
    Kirin neighed and tried to knock Asiago off of Sam
with his horn. Sam easily dodged him. “You can’t use Kirin’s blood,” I said.
    Asiago shrugged. “That’s okay. Unicorn blood isn’t
really necessary, it’s just popular to sell to the younger generation.”
    “Where are we going to get dirt from the footprint of
a…” I stopped talking when I saw his expression. “Don’t you dare.”
    “Hop down,” he said.
    “I’m going to feed you to the first monster we see in
this forest. Do you really need a footprint or did you just say that so you
could tease me?”
    “I just wanted to know if it was true. Obviously, it
is.”
    I leaned down to whisper in Kirin’s ear. “If he
disappears in the night while I’m asleep, I won’t say anything.” The unicorn
nodded.
    “What are you two talking about?” Asiago asked. When
I didn’t answer, he glanced down at Sam. “You’ll protect me while I sleep,
right?” The griffon shook his head solemnly.
    “What in the world is that?” I asked when I saw what
appeared to be a house made of straw. We stopped in front of it because even
Kirin and Sam couldn’t believe it. “Maybe there is a wooden frame under it.
Otherwise, what would protect it from the rain?”
    Asiago frowned at it. “It looks like a strong wind
could knock it down.”
    “It looks like a slight breeze could knock it down.”
We continued for another moment before we came upon a second house. “This is
ridiculous.” It was a house made of sticks.
    “It’s so ridiculous that I really want to knock it
down,” Asiago said.
    “Don’t