Bookworm award

I was tagged by Mel at The Twisted Path with this Bookworm Award:

Grab the book closest to you
Turn to page 56
Go to the fifth line
Type it and the following couple of lines

The closest book to me is Gray Magic by Andre Norton (alternate title Steel Magic).

I found it on the "free" table at work. It is a young-adult fantasy novel by the late "Grande Dame". I've enjoyed her novels my whole life (she wrote for adults as well) . I already read it as a kid but couldn't resist picking this copy up. It is stamped to originally retail for 50 cents in 1965.

Sara shivered. She was not quite sure what Merlin meant. But she remembered all the talk back on the other side of the gate, the things she had heard Mother and Father say.

"No" -- that was Greg answering -- "there is always talk about another war and the Bomb."

"Avalon still holds fast, though how long we may continue to do so" -- Merlin's eyes were so bright it hurt to look at them, Sara thought -- "no man, mortal or elf kind, can say. It is your choice to aid us or no."

Thank you for the tag, Mel!