Fly by Midnight by Lauren Quick Read Free Book Online Page B

collapsed back down in his chair. His foot jerked nervously back and forth. “Who do you think has been keeping the existence of the wall quiet for so long? It’s not like we don’t know it exists.”
    “I never understood why the wall was such a big secret. The council claims the secrecy is for security from the Otherworld.”
    “We aren’t the only ones, Honora. Dangerous creatures exist outside of the wall, and I don’t just mean humans.”
    Many fabled creatures existed outside of the witching world and lived in the Otherworld: fairies, nymphs, sprites, and creatures of night and shadows like vampires, ghouls, goblins, and werewolves, not to mention the magical beasts of the forest, desert, air, and sea. The magical species didn’t all get along, and not all of them liked witches or the fact that they lived in a separate world.
    It was becoming pretty clear that the missing wizard could be one of the most important wizards in Everland. The ramifications of his going missing were hard for Honora to process. Could it possibly have a simple explanation? Had Jonathan taken time out from his life? Had stress gotten to him, and he checked out for a few months? Maybe he needed a break? Or was he really having an affair like the police suspected? Honora doubted it, and knew better than to pin her hopes on a long shot.
    Sawyer glanced at her, his big brown eyes welling with concern. She wasn’t used to seeing his sensitive side. If there was another wizard out there less emotional than Honora, it was her intellectual assistant. That was why they got along so well—they were logical, methodical, tough, and didn’t let emotions get in the way of work.
    “I know one thing for sure,” Honora said. “We have to find Jonathan Rainer, and fast.”

5
     
    T he Rainers lived on an unassuming street in a quiet suburb of Stargazer City. Honora did a few flyovers to get the lay of the neighborhood, which was a basic grid of houses, a park, a shopping center, and a library. Dotting the tree-lined street, the houses were packed tightly together with small square lawns and just enough details to keep them from looking too cookie-cutter. It was pretty typical, nothing strange. In fact, a flyer circling the area was probably the strangest thing going.
    Honora was early for the meeting with Jane, so she positioned herself across the street from her house on a quaint stone bench under a tree bare of leaves, giving herself a chance to do a little recon. It would have been a nice, if it weren’t so freezing. Winter was not the best time to do surveillance, but stakeouts weren’t for the faint of heart. Honora whispered one of her favorite camouflage spells and melted completely from view.
    Jane Rainer’s hovercraft sat in the driveway, and Honora had seen her client walk past the window a few times, so she knew she was home. Both Jane and Harper thought they were being followed, and from Harper’s description, Honora suspected a Hexer was involved. She closed her eyes and reached out with her senses, hoping to identify any other magical signatures in the area. Perhaps she wasn’t the only cloaked observer of Jane Rainer. But she got nothing, no magical vibrations at all.
    From her initial review, she was the only one doing any surveillance of Jane, unless she counted the dog walker or the stroller-pushing nanny. No suspicious hovercrafts drifted by, no obvious signs of a Hexer. After about ten minutes, she checked her watch. Time to get a look inside the Rainer house and have a chat with Jane. She whispered the counter spell, becoming visible once again, crossed the street, and knocked on the door.
    Through the glass window flanking the door, a hyperactive terrier jumped up and down, yammering to get outside. Honora tapped lightly on the glass with her fingernail. “Hey there, boy.” She smiled.
    The door flung open and a slightly disheveled Jane stood in the doorway, trying to hold the dog back with her foot. “Good to see you