Discord’s Apple by Carrie Vaughn Read Free Book Online Page B

wear a collar. Evie didn’t think she could hold her back if she decided to attack.
    “One wonders if you know what you’re talking about.”
    One does, indeed.
Evie bit her lip and glared.
    “Might I have a look? You keep things in the basement, don’t you?” The woman stepped forward, like she was going to push open the door and invite herself inside.
    Evie grabbed Mab in a bear hug just as the dog launched herself at the woman, barking fiercely enough to rattle windows.
    “Ma’am, trust me,” Evie said, hugging Mab’s shoulders, leaning with her whole weight to keep the dog back. “We don’t have anything for you.”
    The woman didn’t seem to notice the chaos happening in front of her. She held up a gloved hand, palm facing the door.Turning her hand, she brushed with her fingers like she was stirring the air.
    “I can’t cross the threshold,” she said. She glanced at Evie, almost as an afterthought. “But you could invite me in. Would you do that, Evie Walker?”
    Evie shook her head. She hugged Mab harder; it made her feel safer. As much as she didn’t know about this, she knew she didn’t want this woman entering the house.
    The woman’s voice was patient, calm, like she would stand there all day, politely asking to be let inside, until Evie could do nothing but relent.
    Mab was still barking, fearless. Mab would protect her. But the woman didn’t spare a glance for the dog, and seemed unflustered by the barking.
    A figure ran onto the porch and slid to a stop before banging into the wall of the house. He was young, determined, and wore a pea coat—Alex, from the grocery store. The woman turned, stepping away from him.
    He lowered himself to his knees. Clasping his hands, reaching them toward her, he spoke to the woman in a language Evie didn’t recognize, much less understand.
    “Ho hupsalos—aurain kataballe, seh enoiksomai. Ouk anagignoskei hos essi.”
    The woman hesitated a moment, then approached him. Alex squeezed his eyes shut with something that looked like fear.
    “Se exoida—Apollou aysta.”
She touched his cheek, and Alex bore it as if she were a lioness breathing down his neck—silent and trembling. Her finger brushed his throat and hooked on his necklace, a bronze chain with thick links in a band around the base of his neck.
    Mab had returned to growling. She stood between Evie and the door, so massive that Evie almost couldn’t see outside. She couldn’t remember sitting, but she was on the floor.
    The stranger glanced at her, then at Alex again, then marched down the porch and across the gravel drive in her high heels without wobbling once.
    Falling silent at last, Mab turned and licked Evie’s face.
    “I’m fine,” she mumbled absently, ineffectively trying to push Mab away.
    “Are you?” It was Alex, leaning against the wall on the other side of the door. They looked at each other across the threshold.
    “Yeah.” Mab eyed him warily, but didn’t growl. Evie thought that a point in his favor. “Who was that? Who are you?”
    They had known each other. She hadn’t understood them, but their words had held a tone of ritual and familiarity.
    He shook his head absently, more a gesture of denial than of ignorance. “I thought she was dead. Years ago. She should be dead.”
    “Who
is
she? What’s she doing here?”
    “Same as me, evidently. Looking for something.”
    “For what?”
    “Don’t know. Could be anything.” He let out a tired sigh. A sheen of sweat dampened his brow.
    “Who are you?”
    Smiling, he looked away. “A traveler.”
    She didn’t know whether to invite him in for coffee to coax the whole story out of him, or slap him for being so cryptic. “Why are you spying on us? You were watching the house, weren’t you?”
    A car pulled into the driveway, kicking up gravel. It wasn’t her father’s pickup, but the passenger door opened and Frank started to climb out. The driver—one of Frank’s friends, Pete Losasso from the hardware