Book Excerpt: W.i.t.c.h.: The Last Tear - Book #5

The following is an excerpt from the book W.i.t.c.h.: The Last Tear - Book
#5 adapted by Elizabeth Lenhard. I thought readers of this newsgroup might
find it of some interest.



One

Irma Lair gaped at her mother.

As usual, Mrs. Lair had her fists planted on her hips, and she was glaring
at her daughter.

Also as usual, Irma was responding with a glare of her own. Irma didn't have
to look at a mirror to know which expression she was wearing. It was her
tried-and-true Mask of Horror, with added touches of incredulity and scorn.
It was tailor-made for Mom.

It was also the only expression Irma could muster at that particularly
terrible moment.

My mother, Irma thought desperately, has just ordered me to do the
unthinkable. She is making me leave my cozy, quiet bedroom . . .

Here, Irma paused and looked around her bedroom. Okay, so it wasn't exactly
quiet, what with the stereo blaring and her pet turtle, Leafy, loudly
gnawing on a carrot in his bowl. And cozy? Well, if you call a heap of
somewhat fragrant laundry on the floor and a vanity table piled high with
unfinished homework cozy, then cozy was exactly what Irma's room was.

The point, Irma thought with a shrug, is that my mother is throwing me out
of the sanctuary of our home. She's making me go . . . on a date!

Irma realized immediately that this sounded odd. After all, she was a normal
teenage girl. She went to school. She loved shopping, body-surfing at the
beach, talking to her girlfriends on the phone, and dating. I like dating
boys -- cute, sporty, stylish ones, Irma thought. This date is with a total
nerd! He is, in fact, the most unbearable dweeb at the Sheffield
Institute -- the skinny, bespectacled Martin Tubbs!

"Irma," Mom scolded. She stepped through Irma's bedroom door threateningly.
"You promised!"

"Promised?" Irma squeaked. "When would I have promised anything like that?"

"Irma!" Mom repeated. Her blue eyes narrowed to slits and her forehead
scrunched into a field of angry furrows. "If you don't leave this bedroom
immediately, I will get very, very angry."

Irma looked around her bedroom desperately. Her eyes fell on the stack of
schoolbooks lying on top of her vanity table. Homework! Homework trumped
everything! Irma dived toward the desk and scooped up a couple of textbooks.

"I want to do my homework!" she wailed. "I have to study. Send Leafy instead
of me!" Irma pointed to her pet turtle.

"Your turtle is not going on a date with Martin Tubbs!" Mom sputtered. "You
are! Now come on! You're acting like a little girl!"

Mom grabbed Irma by the wrist and began dragging her into the hallway.

This is child abuse! Irma thought. But she knew not to play that card with
her mom, who, after all, was usually quite the softie. She was always baking
cookies and helping Irma and her brother, Christopher, with their homework
and stuff like that.

That's it! Irma thought suddenly. I'll appeal to Mom's soft side.

"A mother cannot do this to her favorite daughter," she cried, grabbing on
to the door as Mom tried to yank her down the stairs.

"You're my only daughter," Mom pointed out, through gritted teeth.

"Don't you have a heart?" Irma wailed. In a tragic gesture, Irma lifted her
own hand to her chest. She gazed beseechingly at her Mom and let her lower
lip tremble, just a bit.

"Please," Mom said, rolling her eyes.

Hey! Irma thought indignantly. That eye roll is my move! No fair!

"Don't make such a stink," Mom continued. "You made the date. And now,
you'll keep it."

Mom grabbed Irma by both shoulders and began to march her down the stairs
toward the living room. Irma sighed heavily. She was beaten. There was no
getting out of it. And the worst part of this grievous miscarriage of
justice? Irma really hadn't made the date.

It was my stupid astral drop who said yes when Martin asked her out, Irma
thought with a groan.

Ah, the good old astral drop, she mused grumpily. She's been the most
inconvenient part of being a Guardian of the Veil. Well, that and being
attacked by slimy, scaly monsters every time I turn around . . .

Lately, Irma's normal, teenage life had been . . . not so normal after all.

Things had first started getting weird while Irma was soaking in a long, hot
bath one day. She'd been lazily trailing her fingers through the steamy
bathwater as she daydreamed about her fave TV show, Boy Comet. Then,
suddenly, Irma had noticed something bizarre! In her fingers' wake, the
bathwater had begun to do more than simply ripple and undulate. It had
started floating! Big blobs of water had risen from the water and danced
before Irma's incredulous eyes.

Then, with a flick of her finger, Irma had sent the water soaring around the
bathroom like a fleet of flying saucers!

Over the next few days, Irma had discovered that she could coax ocean waves
to crash where she wanted; convince great geysers to rise out of the earth;
even redirect rain!

And that wasn't all. Irma had also found she could predict pop-quiz
questions, simply by making a wish.

Meanwhile, her best friends at school -- Cornelia, Hay Lin, Taranee, and
Will -- had all started experiencing supernatural and bizarre moments of
their own.

Copyright © 2004 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

(Excerpted from the book W.i.t.c.h.: The Last Tear - Book #5; Adapted by
Elizabeth Lenhard; Published by Volo; May 2004; $4.99US/$6.99CAN;
0-7868-1732-1)

For more information, please visit the W.i.t.c.h. Web site,
www.clubwitch.com or www.writtenvoices.com.