Ch8-Return of the Eye

CHAPTER EIGHT Return of the Eve Jack and Annie walked through the front hall of the palace, past the ice columns, and into the wizard's throne room. The walls and floor glittered with the brilliant, cold light of dawn. "Uh-oh," said Jack. The wizard was waiting for them—and the two white wolves were sleeping on either side of his

throne. Jack was confused. Why are they here? he wondered. Do they belong to the wizard? The wolves lifted their heads and sniffed the air. Their ears pricked up. When they caught sight of Jack and Annie, they sprang to their feet. They stared at them with piercing yellow eyes. The Ice Wizard was staring intently at Jack and Annie, too. "Well?" he said. "Did you bring back my eye?" "Yes," said Jack. Annie took the hailstone out of her pocket and held it up to the wizard. Jack watched the wolves nervously as the hailstone passed from Annie's small hand into the wizard's large, rough hand.

The wizard stared down at the chunk of ice. Then he looked at Jack and Annie. "Indeed, you are heroes," he said breathlessly. "Not really," Jack murmured. The wizard looked again at his eye inside the hailstone. Then, with a quick movement, he slammed the ice chunk against the arm of his throne. Jack and Annie gasped and stepped back. The wizard slammed the hailstone against his throne again. This time, the ice cracked. The wizard gently pried his eye out of the heart of the hailstone. He lifted the frozen eyeball into the air and studied it in the light. Then, with an eager cry, he ripped off his eye patch.

Jack and Annie watched in amazement as the wizard fitted the eye into its dark, empty socket. Jack held his breath. He was horrified, yet fascinated. He couldn't imagine someone just shoving an eye back into his head. The wizard slowly lowered his hand. He seemed to be holding his breath. He had two eyes. But the new one didn't move. It looked as if it was still frozen. Jack grew worried. If the eye didn't work, the wizard might not help them. "We—we brought you your eye," he said. "So can you tell us where Merlin and Morgan are now?" The wizard jerked his head to look at Jack. He covered one eye with his hand. Then he covered

the other. In a frenzy, he went back and forth, covering and uncovering each eye. Finally the wizard dropped his hand and roared, "NO!" The wizard's howl shook the ice columns. "You have tricked me!"

"No we haven't," said Annie. "This eye is useless!" cried the wizard. "It has no life! No sight!" "But that's the eye you gave to the Norns," said Annie. "You promised if we brought it back, you'd give us Merlin and Morgan." The two white wolves threw back their heads and howled. "NO!" cried the wizard. "You tricked me! You tricked me!" "Let's get out of here," whispered Jack. He pulled Annie toward the ice columns.