Free Missing Magic by Lexi Connor Page A

witches who have found their magic are able to enter. And here you are at last!”

Chapter 17
    “Doug! Oh, Doug!” a shrill voice cried.
    “Right here,” Mr. Bishop called, waving to a tall, skinny witch who was rapidly climbing down a ladder from the bookshelves in the topmost tower.
    The tall witch slid, fireman-style, down the last few flights of the library, and raced to join them where they stood in the center of the room.
    “Is this she?” the witch demanded, peering at B through purple crescent-moon-shaped spectacles. “Is this the spelling prodigy you told me about?”
    “This is Beatrix,” Mr. Bishop said. “B, to her friends. And yes, she’s every bit as extraordinary as I told you. Even more so.”
    B blushed to hear this praise, but her attentionwas riveted by the extraordinary lady who stood before her.
    She wasn’t just tall; she was
extremely
tall, and beanpole thin. Her hair wasn’t white, as B had first thought, but baby blue, and twisted into an elegant bun. Behind her purple spectacles, sparkling black eyes gave B the impression that she could read B as easily as she might read a book on one of these shelves. Her robe was woven of blue, green, and silver threads, and was so spangled with shiny silver charms that she looked like a beautiful coin collection. The charms on her robe tinkled when she moved.
    “Well, Doug, aren’t you going to introduce me?”
    “Sorry,” Mr. Bishop said. “B, this is Madame Mellifluous, Grande Mistress of the Magical Rhyming Society and Head Librarian of the society’s spell collection.”
    Madame Mellifluous thrust out a bony hand for B to shake. “Call me Mel,” she said. “Mellifluous is a mouthful.”
    “I can spell it,” B said quickly, then wished she hadn’t bragged.
    Madame Mellifluous smiled. “I’ll bet you can.” She raised her arms high in the air, and clapped her hands loudly. Her wrists dripped with bracelets, from which hung even more charms.
    “Everyone!” she cried. “Come and see our amazing new witch, whose powers are as strong as they are unusual.”
    Witches in sparkling clothes swarmed across the landings and down the stairs to gather around Madame Mel.
    And to stare in wonder at B.
    “Um, Mr. Bishop?” B whispered. “Don’t I need to get back for gym class now?”
    “Gym can wait,” he said.
    “Send Coach Lyons a tardy slip.
    B’s here on an important trip.”
    And right before B’s eyes, a pink tardy slip appeared with Mr. Bishop’s handwriting on it. It folded itself into a tiny paper airplane and zoomed out a circular window.
    “There,” her teacher said. “You’re off the hook.”
    But B’s attention was already elsewhere. Other witches were starting to appear, as if fromnowhere, in glittering cyclones of magical wind. B recognized Macey and Stef, and several witching families she knew, and then her own parents appeared with Dawn. Would they be mad that she hadn’t told them first? Her parents’ shining faces soon set B’s mind at ease. B’s mom was hugging onto Dad’s arm and dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief.
    “Gentlewitches everywhere,” Mr. Bishop said, in a booming voice, “it’s my pleasure to present to you a young lady whom I know we’ll all be hearing more about in the years to come. As you know, my department studies any unusual happenings with magic, and something that hasn’t been seen in four generations at least is spelling magic, the kind that is produced when a rare kind of witch spells words. And here before me is Beatrix, known to friends and family as simply ‘B,’ the first to be born in over a hundred years with that rare and powerful gift.”
    A gasp of oohs and aahs rippled across the sea of faces. B jammed her hands into her pockets so people wouldn’t see them shaking. Were herknees knocking together, or was the whole building trembling?
    “B’s amazing powers distill the essence of her magic into single words — in fact, into the mere letters that make up those