Read Icefire for Free Online

Bergstrom?
    He’s weird,
replied David.
Did you shake his talisman?
    Pardon?!
    David sighed loudly and hammered a response.
He gave me an Inuit carving to hold and said it would show me my true destiny. He thought I might need some luck for his competition.
    Too right. Start saving, because I’m gonna storm it. Didn’t get a talisman to hold, though. I’m curious. What happened? What’d ya see?
    This is dumb,
thought David, sitting back.
Why am I telling
Zanna
this?
He typed,
Nothing. Just a name. Gotta go now. Bye.
    Rain, come on,
she wrote back quickly.
Don’t leave me hanging. Spill. I’m agog.
    No, Zanna. You’ll never let me live it down.
    Rain, play nice boy or I’ll turn you into a squelchy toad. The cauldron is a-bubbling, beware …
    To his horror, David found himself laughing at that. But before he could type a response, Zanna came back with another incentive.
OK, handsome, I’ll make you a deal. You tell me about your mystic experience and I’ll lend you a really smart book on dragons.
    That made David sit up and think. Handsome? He smiled at Grace. No doubt about it, that dragon was frowning. “Sorry, you’re going in the wardrobe,” he told her. And he picked her up and put her on the shelf above his shirt rail. A reproachful dragon he could do without. He went back to the keyboard and tapped out a message.
Why do you want to give me a book? Could help me win the comp.
    Well, I guess under this chimney sweep’s outfit I’m just a plain old-fashioned girlie at heart. Could bring it over tonight if you like? Have car. Will travel. Not busy. Hint.
    Didn’t know you had wheels?
    More convenient than a broomstick.
    Very funny,
thought David. But she was,
very
funny. Despite his reservations, he was warming to her. What’smore, she was just the type to know about dragons. But bring her to the house? That was risky. A Goth: What would Liz and Lucy think? And Bonnington? She’d probably terrify him.
Tonight’s not good,
he typed.
How about Sunday afternoon?
(when Liz and Lucy would be out selling dragons at a local craft fair).
    It’s a date,
she tapped back.
    No, it isn’t. You’re bringing me a book.
    Relax. I don’t bite — except when I’m draining necks. Come on, let’s hear this name.
    David paused over the keyboard. It felt odd, giving the name away, as if he might be betraying some special kind of confidence. He looked at Gadzooks, who was staring through the window, his gently curving smile reflected in the glass. David took that as a sign of approval. He typed out
Lorel.
    The reply almost scorched the screen.
NO WAY?! YOU’RE KIDDING ME???
    David frowned and felt a shudder run down his spine.
You know what it means?
    That’s spooky,
she wrote.
You got THAT in Bergstrom’s presence? Wow. Swear you’re not pulling my braids?
    Got out of the playground years ago, Zanna. Just tell me what it means, OK?
    I read it in a book about the Inuit once. Lorel is the Teller of Ways. He has all the legends of the Arctic in his head.
    David gulped.
An Eskimo?
he typed.
    It seemed an age before the answer came back. When it did, David almost wished he’d never asked the question. A cold breeze circled his neck and shoulders as Zanna’s explanation flickered up in blue.
No, dummy. Where’s your sense of romance? Lorel’s not a
man.
He’s a polar bear.

7
B ONNINGTON’S T REASURE
     
    W thin minutes of Zanna’s strange revelation, David said he would talk to her some more on Sunday and broke the e-mail connection. He closed the computer down and flopped out on his bed, staring at the ceiling with his hands behind his head. He needed a time-out. Space to think. There was definitely something strange going on. First Lucy, with her wishing dragon, bringing the snow; then Bergstrom wanting to talk about dragons; then Bonnington being upset by the snow bear; and last but not least, Liz being spooked by the name Lorel. What was it about the bear that had rippled her nerves and made her drop the