Читать онлайн «The Wizard's Dilemma»

The Wizard's Dilemma

DIANE DUANE

Book 5 of the Young Wizard series

The revelation of some uneasy secrets would move most anything, even pigs and fishes, to lift their heads and speak: and at such times it furthers one to cross the great dark water and learn the truth its silent shadows hide.

In the wet, reedy evening, birdsong echoes, old calling young, eventually answered; while another stands in the dark and calls its fellow, hearing for answer only the ancient silence in which tears fall, under a moon near-full. The lead horse breaks the traces and goes astray to cry its clarion challenge harsh at heaven. Understandably. But can it understand in time the danger that dogs immoderate success?... —hexagram 61

"a, wind troubles the waters"

If Time has a heart, it is because other hearts stop. —Book of Night with Moon 9. V. IX

Friday Afternoon

"HONEY, HAVE YOU SEEN your sister?" "She's on Jupiter, Mom. "

There was no immediate response to this piece of news. Sitting at a dining-room table covered with notebooks, a few schoolbooks, and one book that had less to do with school than the others, Nita Callahan glanced over her shoulder just in time to catch sight of her mother looking at the ceiling with an expression that said, What have I done to deserve this?

Nita turned her head back to what looked like her homework, so that her mother wouldn't see her smile. "Well, yeah, not on Jupiter; it's hard to do that... She's on Europa. "

Her mother came around and sat down in the chair opposite Nita at the table, looking faintly concerned. "She's not trying to create life again or something, is she?"

Friday Afternoon

"Huh? Oh, no. It was there already. But there was some kind of problem. " The look on her mother's face was difficult to decipher. "What kind?"

"I'm not sure," Nita said, and this was true. She had read the mission statement, which had appeared in her copy of the wizard's manual shortly after Dairine left, but the fine print had made little sense to her— probably the reason why she or some other wizard had not been sent to deal with the trouble, and

Dairine had. "It's kind of hard to understand what single-celled organisms consider a problem.

"All right. " Her mom leaned back in the chair and stretched. "When will she be back?"

"She didn't say. But there's a limit to how much air you can carry with you on one of these jaunts if you're also going to have energy to spare to actually get anything done," Nita said. "Probably a couple of hours. "

"Okay... We don't have to have a formal dinner tonight. Everyone can fend for themselves. Your dad won't mind; he's up to his elbows in shrubs right now, anyway. " The buzz of the hedge trimmer could still be heard as Nita's dad worked his way around the house. "We can take care of the food shopping later... There's no rush. Is Kit coming over?"

Nita carefully turned the notebook page she'd been working on. "Uh, no. I have to go out and see him in a little while, though... Someone's meeting us to finish up a project. Probably it'll take us an hour or two, so