Diary, I am so excited!
Next week our class is going to do something called a field trip. When our teacher, Ms. Collier, first talked about it, I thought she meant we would take a trip to a field. We don’t have fields up here in the clouds, so I thought it sounded fun.
I was even more excited when my best friend, Claudia, explained things.
“A field trip is when you get to go somewhere outside school,” she said. “We all pack bag lunches, and the school bus will pick us up and take us somewhere cool.”
I gasped with excitement. “Like the post office?”
Claudia laughed. “Even cooler than that. This year, our class is visiting Oceanside Aquarium.”
An aquarium! I love watching animals that live underwater. Diary, I’m sure you remember the disaster that happened when I tried to set up an aquarium in my room.
Luckily, we hadn’t bought any fish yet. That was back when my winter magic used to slip out without my control. I know for sure nothing like that would happen again.
This field trip is going to be so cool. I wish we could go tomorrow. But tomorrow is Saturday, which means the only trip I’ll be taking is to Granddad’s castle.
Saturdays are for Winterheart practice.
I used to hate coming to Granddad’s castle on Saturday mornings. But that was before I learned I was a Winterheart. Mom and Granddad are both Windtamers, which means they can control the wind and weather. I always thought I was a Windtamer too, but it turns out there are different types of magic in our family.
Once I figured out that my magic is all about snow and ice, practice with Granddad got a lot more fun.
This morning, he led me out to the fountain in his castle courtyard. “ALL RIGHT, LINA, HAVE YOU BEEN PRACTICING?”
(My granddad is the North Wind, and he yells a lot. You get used to it.)
I nodded and pushed up my sleeves. I let my breath out slowly and spread my fingers wide. The spray of water froze in midair, making a sheet of ice that looked just like glass. I felt pretty proud of myself.
Granddad raised one bushy eyebrow.
“THE ASSIGNMENT WAS TO FREEZE A SINGLE SPRAY OF WATER DROPLETS. NOT THE ENTIRE FOUNTAIN.”
“Oh. But isn’t it better to do things big?”
“NOT NECESSARILY. IT’S IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO LEARN HOW TO USE YOUR MAGIC IN SUBTLE WAYS TOO.”
I frowned. This was coming from a guy who created the jet streams. Since when did Granddad ever do anything subtle?
Mom walked in with Gusty jumping at her feet.
“AH, GALE, THERE’S SOMETHING I WANTED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT. DID YOU KNOW THAT LITTLE JACK IS COMING UP FOR A VISIT FROM THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE?”
A half-sad, half-happy look flashed on Mom’s face. “Is he really? We haven’t seen him in years.”
My cousin Jack lives with my great-aunt Sunder way down at the bottom of the globe, near Antarctica. My great-aunt Sunder is Granddad’s sister, but she never comes to our family gatherings. I don’t think they get along.
“HE WAS SUPPOSED TO STAY WITH ME,” said Granddad. “BUT PERHAPS HE COULD STAY WITH YOU INSTEAD. HE COULD GIVE LINA SOME LESSONS, WINTERHEART TO WINTERHEART.”
CHRISTINA SOONTORNVAT grew up behind the counter of her parents’ Thai restaurant, reading stories. These days she loves to make up her own, especially if they involve magic. Christina also loves science and worked in a science museum for years before pursuing her dream of being an author. She still enjoys cooking up science experiments at home with her two young daughters. You can learn more about Christina and her books on her website at soontornvat.com.
Copyright © 2019 by Christina Soontornvat
Illustrations by Barbara Szepesi Szucs copyright © 2019 by Scholastic Inc.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
First printing 2019
Cover art by Barbara Szepesi Szucs, © 2019 Scholastic Inc.
e-ISBN 978-1-338-35398-3
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