Neon Blue E Frost (speld decodable readers .TXT) 📖

“Making sure I come?” I ask as I wrap the key in a napkin and tuck it in my handbag, but it’s with amusement, not derision, at her head-games. They’re much less distressing than the demon’s.

“I have good feeling about you and that key.” She shrugs her shoulders elegantly. Finishes her last bite of muffin. “As soon as I made up my mind to call on you, I knew exactly what to bring. I’ve been dying to show it to you.”

I smile back at her. Her grin really is infectious.

“Now, could I induce you to stroll back up School Street with me before we go our separate ways?”

Knowing a graceful exit when I see one, I nod and gather my things. Timmi takes my arm again as we walk past the bookstore and a cold, cold shudder runs up my spine. I pause and Timmi looks up at me quizzically.

I shake my head. “Sorry, someone just walked over my grave.”

Timmi’s white brows draw together. Her pale blue eyes flick over my face several times, quizzically. I shrug; this sort of shit happens sometimes. It’s that little flicker of precognition I get from my Dala. It’s useless. If Ro was here, she’d have been able to say what and when it was going to happen to the minute. I just get a fuzzy sense that shit is about to fall on me from a great height. But then, Ro didn’t foresee me setting free the demon she’d summoned, or the demon eating her soul. So I guess her precognition didn’t serve her all that well after all.

Timmi looks around, takes a deep breath, and urges me on again. “I’m sorry, my dear, I don’t feel anything.”

“Don’t worry about it. I never see enough to be useful.”

“Do any of your family?”

Enough to stay ahead of the gavver. Not enough to keep from fucking up their lives on the same epic scale as everyone else. I’m guessing that if Uncle Billigoat had seen that his fourth wife would take a hatchet to his privates after finding him cavorting with his umpteenth mistress, he wouldn’t have married her. Or that Dala wouldn’t have taken me to a school on the edge of the Artic Circle if she’d known she’d die there of pneumonia. Then again, maybe she would. I didn’t understand half the things my Dala did.

I shrug. “Most of them get flashes from time to time. I don’t think any of them would claim to be able to see the future.” Maybe Uncle Walther would. He’s arrogant enough.

“I’ve never met a true precognitive,” Timmi says as we start walking again.

I have, and look where that led. I shrug and let her take that any way she wants.

Timmi and I part ways at the corner of School and Tremont. With a rueful smile, she hails a cab. Her feet must really be bothering her. I wave after her and cross against the light to walk up Tremont Street, following the fall sunshine. I glance down often enough to keep from tripping and face-planting, but the rest of time I keep my face tilted up to the sun. Golden days like this should be treasured. I can feel the sunlight soaking into my skin. My cells percolating. And deep in me, where my magic resides, tingly warmth flowers.

A gentle breeze tugs at my hair. If I spread my arms, I might lift onto the soft updraft and soar over the towers of Government Center. In the open court of City Hall Plaza, I spread my arms, close my eyes, and twirl.

The breeze hums in my ears. My heels lift off the pale paving stones. I enjoy the wonderful, weightless sensation for a moment, let it tickle my tummy until I giggle, before I settle back onto the kitten heels with a teeter. After I right myself, I glance around. The few dark-suited lawyers hurrying across the courtyard to the law library and the courthouse aren’t staring at me. I guess they’re too preoccupied by their Very Important Business to notice me levitating. Most people don’t notice the magic right under their noses. I smile to myself and make my way to the steps beside One Beacon, confident that if my feet don’t quite touch the ground as I walk, no one will notice.

Chapter 30

The demon’s early. I glance up at the clock on my wall when I hear the door buzz and his deep tones answering Lin. Five-forty. I sigh and set aside the file I’ve been working on. Raise my eyes to the door, expecting him to walk through.

When he doesn’t, and I can still hear the murmur of voices, I rise and hurriedly make my way out front. The last thing I need is the demon having long heart-to-hearts with my friends.

Which is exactly what he’s doing. He’s leaning against Evonne’s desk, braced on his hands so his chest and shoulders swell. I swear, he poses unconsciously. Lin’s standing a few feet away, looking star-struck.

“Hi,” I say, putting a little power into the word, a little bite, to break whatever spell he’s weaving around Lin.

He turns his head and smiles at me and the full force of his will hits me like a shockwave. He wasn’t even trying with Lin. But as soon as I walk into the room, he turns on the charm. Just his smile, the bedroom glow in his eyes, makes my body tighten and a warm pressure grow low in my belly.

Stop it. You don’t need to do that with me anymore.

That’s for me to decide. We’re havin’ dinner with Lin and her boyfriend on Friday night, by the way.

No, we’re not!

He shifts and holds out his hand to me. “C’mere.”

Before I can even decide whether I’m going to obey or resist, I’m tugged forward. The invisible bonds on my wrists drag me towards him. Shit.

When I reach him, he puts his arm around my shoulders and leans forward to kiss me. I stiffen, not wanting him