The Accidental Apprentice by Amanda Foody

Author:Amanda Foody [Foody, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: 2021-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

A half hour later Barclay pressed his back into a tree trunk and held out the squirrel meat. “Take it! Just take it!”

The Lufthund sniffed it suspiciously. With its black fur, the Beast was nearly impossible to see in the darkness. It was reckless, Barclay knew, to spend time alone with it. There was no one around, no sounds but the hoots of owls. No one to witness if Barclay got eaten.

But Barclay didn’t want a backup plan, like Ethel had suggested. In order to win the next exam, he’d have to take risks. To do whatever it took.

With the Beast’s fangs dangerously close to his hand, Barclay once again tossed the meat into the snow. This time the Lufthund didn’t even eat it. It sniffed it, then wrinkled its snout like it was actually picky about what food it ate.

“You will obey me,” Barclay told it. “Because you are a Beast and I’m your Keeper. And I need you to. I don’t care what they say—I can’t be a Lore Keeper forever.”

While the Lufthund was distracted with inspecting the squirrel meat, Barclay tried once again to summon wind. He’d placed a pine cone on the remains of a rotted tree stump, and he aimed to topple it over. A wind appeared, though far above Barclay’s head, rattling the branches. The cone remained in place.

Barclay collapsed onto the stump and stared at his Beast. The Beast let out a loud huff from its nostrils, and its tail twitched. Like it was laughing at him.

“I’m no good at this,” Barclay grumbled. “Even if I did stay here, I’d make a terrible Lore Keeper.”

The Beast huffed again, as though agreeing with him.

“Think I’m funny, do you?” Barclay asked. When the Lufthund padded closer, Barclay reached into his pocket for his Beast-warding charm. The Lufthund eyed it curiously, even when he should have been shrinking away.

“Viola was right. This doesn’t work, does it?”

The Beast sniffed it and made a disgusted face. Then it scrunched its nose and licked it.

“Was the taste worth it? Just to make me look stupid?”

The Lufthund lifted its chin up, snobbylike, as if to say it had been. On top of being dangerous, Barclay’s Beast seemed a snide sort of know-it-all.

Barclay sighed and tossed the charm into the snow. He should’ve known Dullshire’s charms didn’t really work, like Viola had told him.

“You know what I don’t understand?” he asked. “How did I even bond with you? Because it doesn’t sound like anyone can bond with a Beast by accident.”

The Lufthund’s dark eyes met his, and Barclay got the sense that it was trying to tell him something. But, of course, he didn’t get a response.

“This place is turning me bonkers,” he muttered. “It’s not like you can talk to me.”

The Beast’s face wrinkled, as though affronted.

Barclay put his hands on his hips. “Don’t look at me like that. I didn’t ask to be bonded with you.”

It sat down and lifted its front paws, mimicking Barclay.

“Don’t do that.” Barclay dropped his hands.

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