Authors: Sage Blackwood

Jinx (34 page)

“Before. When I knew you had some protection, and that I could probably save you as long as you hadn’t actually been eaten. Now you haven’t got a bottled life anymore.” Simon frowned. “I suppose I could bottle it again before you go, but—”

“No,” said Jinx.

“You’re right. It’s too soon—the life hasn’t had time to recover its strength.”

“I mean no, never,” said Jinx. “You’re not getting my life back. It was never just lost in the forest; it was mine.”

Simon wasn’t surprised by this, Jinx could tell, but he acted surprised and looked at Jinx through narrowed eyes. “Lending your life to a wizard is the usual price of apprenticeship. Besides, it’s why you’re alive right now.”

Jinx wasn’t going to lose his magic again. If only he’d been able to see the Bonemaster’s thoughts, he’d have known the wizard wasn’t going to take Elfwyn’s sleeping potion and Jinx probably wouldn’t have fallen off the cliff.

“I brought your life back, and I’m going to put it back in you someday,” said Jinx. “And that’s the price of my apprenticeship. And I’ll work for you like I always have, clean up and stuff. That’s the price. Not my life.”

“You make the rules around here, do you?”

“It’s my life.”

“And what if you end up not being able to do the spell at all? Or what if you run off on me?”

“I won’t run off,” said Jinx. As for doing the spell—well, yes. Jinx was worried about that. He remembered how nervous Simon had been about doing it on Jinx—there were probably a lot of ways it could go wrong, all of them disastrous. At least Jinx had a lot of power to draw on. He had the Urwald.

He wasn’t about to tell Simon that. Because the trees were right—other wizards
would
misuse the Urwald’s power, and Simon was “other wizards” with a capital OW.

“You can’t stay away long,” said Simon. “You have to come back. There’s a lot to learn.” He thought for a moment. “I suppose I’ll have to send you to Samara to study.”

Samara—Jinx definitely wanted to go back there. Then a dismal thought struck him. “I promised Sophie I wouldn’t.”

“Wouldn’t what?”

“Go back to Samara.”

“Was this a real promise, or was this one of those Sophie promises, where you didn’t actually have a choice?” said Simon.

Jinx could see where this was going. “I guess it was that kind, yeah.”

“Doesn’t count,” said Simon.

Jinx felt his mood lighten. He wasn’t sure Simon was right. In fact, quite likely Simon was wrong. But he would work it all out with Sophie when he got to Samara.

Jinx was ready to see the world.

About the Author

Sage Blackwood lives at the edge of a large forest, with thousands of books and a very old dog, and enjoys carpentry, cooking, and walking in the woods of New York State.

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Copyright

Jinx

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Blackwood, Sage.

Jinx / Sage Blackwood.—1st ed.

p.cm.

Summary: A young boy named Jinx encounters magic and danger as he grows up in the deep, dark forest known as the Urwald and discovers that the world beyond—and within—the Urwald is more complex than he could imagine.

ISBN 978-0-06-212990-1 (trade bdg.)

EPub Edition © NOVEMBER 2012 ISBN: 9780062129925

[1. Magic—Fiction. 2. Fantasy.] I. Title.