Bound by Faerie: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Stolen Magic Book 1) by WB McKay Read Free Book Online Page B

waved her arm and the door to the back popped open. "This will take just a moment. Come along."
    "What will take just a moment?"
    But Ava didn't answer me, of course. She didn't need anything from me. This whole needing stuff from others thing was so not my gig. I vowed never to put myself in this situation again once this was all over.
    I followed her up to the doorframe but didn't step through. She looked back and gestured me forward. I'd been regularly visiting Ava for a year, and I'd never seen more than the front room. Of course, I'd never asked for a personal favor before, either. Stepping over the threshold had me newly aware that our relationship was expanding. Did this make us friends? Work friends? The fact that I felt so nervous brought whole new attention to my social ineptitude. I shook it off. I didn't have time for these revelations.
    The four walls were covered in one large fish tank, rivaling any professional aquarium. The lights inside bathed the room in a comfortable glow. Ava stood on a ladder; her hair brushed the ceiling. She pulled a small container from her pocket and sprinkled some of its contents into the tank along the back wall. A strange little creature darted out and gobbled up the bits of food. It was about eight inches in height, humanoid from the waist up, and a brightly colored crustacean from the waist down. He looked like a centaur's half mantis shrimp cousin. "This is Vincent," Ava said. "Vincent, meet Sophie."
    I waved. He nodded in acknowledgment before disappearing behind a large bit of coral.
    Ava climbed down with the ladder rail in one hand and the skirt of her dress in the other. She gestured for me to sit on a plush sofa. As I did so, I watched the graceful, gliding movement of the older fae woman swiftly give way as she hopped onto the opposing end of the sofa and roughly crossed her legs. She fought against the loose folds of her dress until she was comfortable. "Let's figure out what happened at the club, yes?"
    "Well, I got there at about—"
    "No, no. I'll need you to be quiet for a moment, Sophie." And then she focused on empty space above her coffee table and spoke with someone I couldn't see, even when I pulled up my second sight. The change in my vision illuminated life in the tanks I hadn't noticed, but I'd have to look at that later. Ava was telling this invisible person about me, asking them to contact someone I didn't know so she could ask them about my misadventure last night. She nodded after she'd finished talking and looked back at me. "There. I can't say for sure how long it will be, but she typically answers my calls without much fuss. So, while we're waiting, did you have any fun on your excursion?"
    "Fun? Fun ?" I rolled my lips tight and then told her, "It was all right."
    "Hmm," she said. "Do you go into Volarus much?"
    "No," I said, and then amended that with, "Just for work."
    "It's been a while since I've been, and then just for supplies. I speak with humans every day though. You, I'm curious about. You don't interact with humans." It wasn't a question. It always prickled when Ava told me things about myself. "Who do you spend time with?"
    "Epic and Haiku," I told her.
    "Do your swords speak? Are they sentient?" It wasn't sarcasm. I tried to imagine how my swords would be thinking beings. They couldn't—that I knew—at least not on their own, but there were all kinds of ways someone could be trapped in a sword. I found objects like that for work all the time. But to also be communicating ... "Sophie?"
    "What? Oh, yeah, no. My swords don't talk."
    "That's a nice necklace you're wearing," she observed."
    What necklace? My hand touched the stones. Oh, right. Did she want my necklace? "It's all right. Are we going to be waiting much longer?"
    "Has it occurred to you that the reason you 'don't people' is you don't have any practice?"
    "I interact with people plenty at work, as you've pointed out. And what is this, anyway? I feel like I'm being