He looked around the empty room, his eyes coming to rest on the wand, which was tucked neatly into The Wandmaker’s Guidebook.

Someday he would get it to work.

Chapter Two

Almost as an afterthought, Henry decided to check his spelling by using the dictionary, and he was glad he did. Very carefully, he copied the note onto a fresh piece of paper, changing pane to pain. He had nearly made a fatal blunder—calling Brianna a piece of glass. With a mistake like that, Coralis might throw the letter away without answering it.

Henry stuffed the letter into a plain white envelope, addressed it simply to Coralis, Grand Wand Master, and sealed it shut. He felt very important sitting at his father’s desk in his home office, writing a note to the Grand Wand Master himself! And he didn’t think his father would mind that he used a sheet of his finest stationery for such an important occasion.

He stared at the envelope. Coralis had to be out there … somewhere. But all Henry had to go on was the guidebook that the Wand Master had written—and he hadn’t chosen to share many personal details. In addition to instructions on the care and keeping of wands, Coralis’s guidebook included fantastic information about the power of nature and exciting stories of the Wandbearers who had harnessed it. Yet there was virtually nothing about Coralis himself.

And despite Henry’s best efforts, he’d found no information anywhere else. First he’d tried the library, but there were no records there for any other books written by Coralis—and in fact, the guidebook itself was missing from the library’s database, as if it didn’t exist. Next he’d used his computer time in science class to search for Coralis using every keyword he could think of. It had gotten him nowhere and cost him dearly—a D on a pop quiz the following day. Since science was his strongest subject, his teacher had been “concerned and disappointed.” But Henry had kept his silence on his secret project and accepted the extra homework to make up for his poor grade.

It was almost as if Coralis didn’t want to be found. And how could he mail a letter to someone who couldn’t be found?

A slight breeze blew in through the open window, ruffling a few stray pieces of paper. Henry tucked a corner of the letter beneath a leather-bound book that lay on his father’s desk.

The book itself caught his eye then. The walls of his father’s office were lined with shelves full of books—impressive volumes of brown leather and gold lettering. But something about this one stood out. It appeared ancient, its cover and spine adorned with a mysterious symbol. There was no title or author name—at least, not in any language he’d ever seen before.