I followed Merlin and Morgana into the study every morning after that and tried to understand all the strange things they said.

“I’m ready for Winter magic now, Master Merlin. Summer spells are behind me.”

“An illusion spell can render a wizard invisible, or call forth the image of a monstrous beast!”

“I feel my Certainty faltering. How can I make it more powerful?”

I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about, but I knew he was teaching her more tricks. Morgana brought fire and light out of the glowing stones. She made a small silver fox appear at the table. I barked at it, and it dissolved into a wisp of smoke. She mixed the things from the shelves together in pots and made smells I’d never sensed before.

Whenever she did something new, Merlin praised her. He clapped his hands and did little dances with her across the floor.

All the amazing things Merlin taught Morgana to do were making me jealous. Sure, Merlin eventually taught me to Shake! and Lie down!, and I got treats and praise when I did them. But Merlin was only impressed for so long.

I’d follow him around the house, Sit!ting on my backside, raising my paw to Shake!, and Lie down!ing again and again. But Merlin stopped being impressed. “Very good, Nosewise,” he’d say, giving me a quick pat on the head before heading to the study to teach Morgana something amazing. And how could I impress him? She made fire and ghostly animals, disappeared objects, and, most of all, opened doors!

At night I’d try the tricks I’d seen Merlin teach Morgana. Once, I tried to shoot lightning from my paws. How different was that from Shake!?

“Is something wrong?” Morgana said, watching me raise my paw again and again. I turned to her and grumbled; she was spoiling my concentration. “Maybe you want a treat,” she said, fetching a bone from the mantel.

You’re not supposed to get a treat until you do the trick! I thought. But I was never going to turn down a bone. I’ll definitely earn this next time!

I tried to make leaves float, turn my food dish invisible, and open the front door with my nose. Nothing worked. It made me bark and whine.

Why could Morgana do those tricks while I couldn’t? We both spent all day watching Merlin. We both were loyal pets. Morgana had hands for picking things up, which helped, but I was nearly as good with my mouth.

—

“May I see your Asteria?” Merlin said one day as he tutored Morgana. She opened her palm and offered him the glowing stone. It shone brighter when she dropped it into Merlin’s hand.

“You shouldn’t make direct contact,” Merlin said. “I know it makes it easier to access the power, but it’s harder to focus. That’s why I keep mine in the handle of a staff.”

“Your Asteria is more powerful,” Morgana answered. “I need to hold it close to do what you do.”

“The power does not reside in the stone,” Merlin answered. He held the silver chain and let the stone dangle. It pulsed with light, like a heartbeat. “It merely brings into the world what lives inside you.” Merlin pointed at the space between Morgana’s eyebrows. “Cultivate what lives in your mind and the Asteria will bring it out.”

The Asteria? I thought. Is that what lets Morgana do the tricks I can’t? I hadn’t paid much attention to the glowing stones, but there was something strange about them. In the first place, they glowed, which I didn’t think stones normally did. But they also had a very special scent—one that made me feel all tingly on the back of my neck. Something special was happening there.

I jumped up onto a wooden chair and vaulted to the table in front of Morgana. She raised her eyebrows at me. “Hello, Nosewise,” she said.

“Get him down from there,” Merlin said over his shoulder as he walked to the shelves on the far side of the room. “I have a salve somewhere that should help you concentrate.”

He turned away from us and went about his business. I padded to the edge of the table, my nails clicking on the wood, and reached my nose toward Morgana’s closed hands. I sniffed and noticed (besides the scents of her skin and remnants of lunch) that tingly scent again. What is that? I wondered. It smelled like nothing I’d ever known.

“I don’t understand this thing either,” Morgana said to me quietly. She opened her hands and revealed the glimmering stone. As I sniffed, I felt a strange lightness in the corners of my mind. Something like a thought—but one I didn’t recognize.

“Fancy it, do you?” Morgana asked. My ears perked up, and I glanced at her, whiskers twitching. Something odd was coming over me. Am I hungry? Do I need to go outside?

There was a yearning I couldn’t explain. I sniffed the Asteria stone deeper, trying to understand what I felt.

“Think it would make a pretty collar?” Morgana said, chuckling to herself. “I wonder if you could make it work.”

“What’s that?” Merlin mumbled softly at the other end of the room.

My nostrils flared, and I whined. I wanted something very badly.

Morgana raised the silver chain and spread it between her hands. She let the glowing stone hang low beneath, and I felt my nostrils widen. Hairs stood up all over my body. She passed the chain over my snout, and sparks of light buzzed between my ears.

My mane glowed bright as the stone slid beneath my chin. “Very pretty,” Morgana cooed, and her words were clear to me in a way I’d never felt before. The sounds were the same, the tone of voice not out of place, but something else came with them.

“This makes me feel strange,” I said. My tongue felt tight, and air moved through my throat in an unfamiliar way.

Morgana’s eyes bulged.

“Something’s off about this stone, I think,” I said in an odd voice. “Does the room seem brighter to you? Or no, not brighter. But something about it makes more sense!”

“Master Merlin!” Morgana cried, backing away from me—her hands outstretched.

“What is it?”

“I feel funny!” I said to Merlin, wagging my tail from side to side.

“Oh no!” he shouted, dropping a bottle of bubbling oil. My master ran toward me like my mane was on fire. He crashed into me, and I nearly fell off the table. His bony hands grasped around my neck.

“Be careful!” I said, but then my tongue thickened in my jaws. “Woof! Woof!”

The Asteria was off my neck.

“Master Merlin, he spoke!” Morgana said, her hands shaking and her face pale white.

“What were you thinking?” Merlin turned to her, clasping the chain.

“He spoke!” she said, her hands against her cheeks. “How did that happen?”

“I’ve heard stories,” Merlin said, out of breath. “Animals finding them in the wild.” He blinked hard and pressed a hand to his brow.

“It made him speak, Master,” Morgana jabbered wildly. “He spoke to me just like a person.”

Both stared at me, wide-eyed and amazed.

I glanced between them, racking my brain. Speak! I thought. I’ve heard that word before. Merlin had been saying it recently. It was some trick he wanted me to perform. He’d close his fingers and thumb and then…“Speak!” he’d say, and open his hand.

I hadn’t known what he wanted before, but now I understood. And by the looks on their faces, I’d wowed them!

I readied myself to Speak! again. But all I could manage was “Woof!” Something wasn’t quite the same. Still, Merlin and Morgana stared at me in silent awe.

Speak! was fun!