Free Bookworm II: The Very Ugly Duckling by Christopher Nuttall Page B

butter his father up ...
    But that wouldn’t go very well, Elaine knew. Lady Light Spinner had issued orders that no one, apart from Elaine and Dread, were to see Johan. If his father turned up and demanded entry – he hadn’t, as far as Elaine knew – he would be denied. The administrator’s hopes of a new hospital wing, donated by a grateful and wealthy father, might be thoroughly dashed.
    “There are nutrient potions in the soup,” the nurse said, addressing Johan. “You’re to drink all of it, as you haven’t eaten in two days. Then – and only then – you can eat the rest of your food.”
    Johan looked mutinous. Elaine wasn’t surprised. The soup might have tasted nice before the potions had been added, but few potions really tasted good. Her tutor had used to say that potions were addictive and anything that discouraged people from taking them was a good idea. It made sense ... and besides, nicer-tasting potions required more expensive ingredients.
    “Drink it,” she urged. “You need energy more than anything else right now.”
    To set a good example, she took her own bowl and began to sip it, while quietly continuing to examine the wards. Johan hadn’t even been breathing hard when his spell had finally been cancelled, suggesting vast magical power. He’d been tired, sure, but how much of that had been the magic and how much his general lack of food? And the spell had clearly gone out of control. That was unusual. One of the reasons the light spell was used as a teaching tool was because it was very hard to lose control of it. Even the rawest student should have been able to do it.
    But Johan’s spell had produced heat as well as a blinding light.
    She raised a hand and touched her cheek, wincing slightly at the pain. It must be what sunburn felt like, she told herself grimly; if she’d been looking right at it, she might well have been seriously hurt, despite her protections. A quick check revealed that some of her protections had been damaged too, accidentally. If Johan had meant her harm, he might have been able to burn right through her protections, no matter how subtle they were. The results would have been disastrous.
    “I’m sorry,” Johan said, meekly. His eyes were watching her. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
    That was a good sign, Elaine told herself. The more powerful the magician, the harder it was for them to care about the lesser magicians, let alone the mundanes. Millicent had been completely heartless until Kane had broken her mind; the gods alone knew if she would ever recover completely. She seemed normal, until she broke down and started crying for no apparent reason. Even the most advanced medical magic couldn’t heal a damaged mind.
    “Accidents happen,” Elaine said. “We’re just going to have to work on how much power you put into your spells.”
    She finished her soup and started on the main meal, a serving of chicken and rice in a spicy sauce. Johan hesitated, then joined her, eating with more enthusiasm as he realised that the meal was actually very good. Elaine watched him eat, wondering just how much magic he had. There had been more than one odd thing about the spell he’d cast.
    “Tell me about your family,” she said, as she finished her dish. “What are they like?”
    Johan made a face. “My father is strict; my mother is more concerned with being a social climber than with her family,” he admitted. “My siblings are horrors – apart from Charity, I think, and even she can be a horror at times. The cooks and maids pitied me or looked down on me. Is it any wonder I wanted to leave?”
    Elaine nodded in sympathy. She’d grown up at the orphanage – her guardian would hardly have taken her into his home – and had never known her family. Discovering who her father had actually been had convinced her that there were worse things than growing up without a mother or father. But it was clear that Johan’s parents hadn’t done anything about the