Beguiled by Maureen Child Read Free Book Online

waiting right here. In front of the principal’s office. Inside Maggie, guilt blended with a sudden sense of unease. What if some random Fae had shown up? What if an ordinary human bad guy had shown up? “I’m a rotten human being. A lousy aunt—and if anything happens to Eileen, I’m going to have to throw myself under a train.”
    But what could happen?
    Oh, only a few weeks ago, she would have been telling herself that Eileen was fine. That the chances of her niece being kidnapped or worse were pretty damn slim. Castle Bay was small, insulated, and everyone in town knew everybody else and a kidnapper would have been hard put to get away with snatching a kid without being surrounded by furious citizens.
    But that was back when Maggie had been just a little smug about the safety of the town she called home.
    These days, though, she knew the truth. That there were more than just human predators wandering around. There were demons and pixies and rogue Fae and God knew what else that could pop in, grab a cutie like Eileen and pop back out again before anyone even realized what was happening.
    “Shut up, brain,” she whispered as worry skittered up and down her spine like thousands of stings from tiny needles. “Eileen’s fine. She’s probably just making me pay for making her wait.”
    Good. That was good. And very Donovan of her, to exact a little payback. Maggie wouldn’t even be mad. Just grateful. As soon as she found her.
    Someone laughed and Maggie’s head whipped around, her gaze darting in the direction of that familiar sound. Eileen strolled out from between two of the buildings, a tall, thin girl with dark red hair and milk white skin who wasn’t alone. A boy walked beside her.
    “Oh God. This is all your fault, you know,” Maggie told herself in a muttered whisper. “You were late, so she had time to get friendly with a boy. Nora’s so going to kill you.”
    She reached into the car, tapped on her car horn and when Eileen glanced up, Maggie waved. “Let’s go, kiddo!”
    Her Donovan blue eyes rolled skyward as an expression of complete humiliation crossed Eileen’s face. Maggie recognized that look. She’d worn it often enough when she was a kid. Was there anything more mortifying than having other people find out you actually had a family ?
    The blond boy walking with Eileen took one look at Maggie before ducking back between the buildings. Maggie frowned a little at his secretive move. Who was this kid, anyway? Could this be the fabulous Grant Carter Eileen had been mooning over a couple of weeks ago? If it was, she told herself, the kid looked a lot older than thirteen.
    “At least fifteen,” Maggie said softly, watching Eileen smile and give the hidden boy a finger wave good-bye.
    Then the girl turned and hurried toward Maggie’s car with a mutinous expression on her normally pretty face. When she was close enough, she hissed, “Did you have to embarrass me like that?”
    “By saying hello?” Maggie countered.
    “I knew you wouldn’t understand.” Eileen opened the car door, climbed inside and dumped her backpack on the floor at her feet.
    Maggie got in, too, but not before she looked again at the spot where the boy had vanished. He hadn’t shown himself again, which just made Maggie that much more curious. She fired up the engine, buckled her seat belt and made sure Eileen had done the same before she drove out of the school parking lot.
    “Sorry I was late, kiddo.”
    “No problem,” Eileen muttered, staring through the windshield, apparently not having forgiven her aunt for existing just yet.
    “Your mom’s in Otherworld, but she’ll be back by tonight.”
    “Okay.”
    “Was that Grant Carter I saw you with?” An age-old technique for interrogating kids. Get them relaxed, then slide in the real questions.
    Eileen turned and faced her then. “No, his name’s Devon.”
    Devon. Hadn’t heard about him before, Maggie thought and quickly braced herself for coming worry.