Free The Witches of the Glass Castle (The Witches of the Glass Castle Series Book 1) by Gabriella Lepore Page B

the room fell silent, their eyes fixed on Dino with a mixture of alarm and excitement. Mia sprung to her feet, rushing to her brother’s side.
    ‘Dino! Calm down!’ she ordered, grasping his arm before he could reach his rival.
    Dino glanced at her briefly and shook free from her hold.
    Soon Blue and Kizzy were both on the scene, too.
    ‘Forget h-him,’ Blue urged.
    Dino grimaced. Why were they all jumping on him like this? I’m not the one in the wrong , he thought.
    Mia renewed her clasp on his arm. ‘Look,’ she said, ‘you’ve made your point.’ Her eyes drifted to the boy who was now cowered behind a chair, half-heartedly trying to retain some of his masculinity by occasionally puffing out his chest.
    ‘Aaron Patterson,’ Kizzy grumbled under her breath. ‘He’s such a moron. I say hit him!’
    ‘Kizzy!’ Mia exclaimed.
    She grinned. ‘Sorry.’
    Dino relaxed slightly. Until then, he hadn’t even realised how taut his shoulders had been.
    Aaron cleared his throat. ‘Chill, man. I was only having a bit of fun. It was a joke.’
    ‘A joke?’ Dino scowled. ‘Didn’t seem like a joke to me.’ He reluctantly allowed Mia to drag him back to his seat, where he slumped irritably. Gradually the rest of the room lost interest in the fracas and the former indistinct drone of chatter resumed.
    ‘I should have hit him,’ Dino muttered tersely.
    ‘Why?’ Mia questioned. ‘So you can prove what a big man you are?’
    ‘No,’ he glared at her. ‘So I can prove what a big man he isn’t .’
    Blue laughed quietly at the statement.
    The response brought a smile to Dino’s lips. ‘That Patterson’s an idiot,’ he remarked complacently, more to Blue than anyone else.
    Dino wasn’t the only one whose attention was on Blue. Kizzy appeared to be observing him as though she recognised him from somewhere. ‘You’re Benny Blue,’ she said at last. ‘The Conjurer, right?’
    Blue nodded his head.
    ‘Wendolyn mentioned there was a Conj urer here.’ Kizzy held out her hand amiably. ‘My name’s Kizzy.’
    ‘I know,’ Blue admitted shyly. He shook her hand.
    Dino propped his elbow up on the arm of the chair and rested his head on his fist. ‘Blue, this is my sister, Mia,’ he said with obvious disinterest.
    ‘Hi, Blue,’ Mia acknowledged him, but her eyes were still on Dino.
    ‘Drop it, Mia,’ Dino grumbled under his breath.
    She raised her eyebrows at him.
    ‘You know what?’ Dino snapped at her, dropping his arm down sharply. ‘You can stop thinking your feelings of disapproval. Because I can hear them loud and clear. And it’s annoying.’
    ‘Stop telling me what to think and feel!’ she cried. ‘Get out of my head!’
    ‘Get out of mine!’ Dino shouted back.
    Mia folded her arms crossly. ‘It’s not my fault that you’re–’
    ‘Seriously!’ Dino bellowed at her. ‘Get away from me!’
    Mia bit her tongue to stop herself from verbally opening fire on him – it was either that or bursting into tears. She held her dignity and simply turned and walked away.
    ‘Mia!’ Kizzy called after her.
    ‘I’m OK,’ Mia insisted as Kizzy trotted up to her. ‘I need to…I don’t know…take a walk or something. I need to get away from him. ’
    ‘I’ll come with you,’ Kizzy offered. ‘I’ll grab my coat.’ She glanced over to the window where her raincoat lay sprawled out on the floor, still drenched from her last outing. She grimaced at the downpour beyond the window.
    ‘No,’ Mia replied . ‘Stay here. I’m fine, honestly.’
    Kiz zy furrowed her brow. ‘Are you sure?’
    ‘Yep.’ Mia nodded and faked a cheery smile.
    Although Kizzy wasn’t fooled, she surrendered and waved goodbye as Mia paced out of the room.
     
     
    Mia left the shelter of the castle and carelessly wandered out into the pouring rain. Within a matter of seconds she was thoroughly drenched. Her delicate cream jumper was instantly saturated and it clung uneasily to her skin, weighed down by the