Grogoch [Bedtime Stories 2] by Joyee Flynn Read Free Book Online Page A

sense!”
    “You’re thousands of years old and never been in love. You live the life you want, no one else to ever really think about if you didn’t want to, and now you’re in the position to tie yourself down to one person. Of
course you got scared!”
    “Wow, I love him,” I whispered in awe as the news sank in. I plopped down on my butt, staring at Barry’s flourishing crops. “What do I do now? I can’t leave everyone hanging that I’ve been helping for years.”
    “You can make other deals than for sex and attention, Cuidi,” he said gently as he knelt down and patted my shoulder.
“I’m not sure I can give up my life for someone I’ve known three days, Barry,” I admitted, feeling horrible that the idea even crossed my mind. “What if I’m just built to need more than what one man can provide for me? I like my life of traveling about and helping people.”
“If that was true then wouldn’t you have missed it the three days you were with him?” I thought about his question and slowly nodded. “But you didn’t miss it, did you?”
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “I felt guilty that I had people to go help but I wasn’t desiring anyone else or the attention.”
“Then you have your answer, my dear Cuidi.” Barry stroked my face tenderly. I saw the sadness in his eyes that our time together had ended but there was more happiness for me than anything. Barry had a good heart like that.
“I’ll take care of your crops for this week until I talk to Finbar and figure out a way to start making new deals,” I said a few minutes later. Now I was excited to go back to Finbar and admit to him what I’d discovered.
“There is one thing that I think you need to take a look at. I’ve been hearing rumors from others at the market that it’s been happening to them too, but I wanted you to see this,” Barry hedged, vaguely. I nodded and got to my feet, intrigued at what was going on. He led me to the far side of his farm and I groaned in frustration. “So you know what did this?”
“Yeah, I know,” I sighed and rubbed my hands over my hair. Barry’s apple tree was glowing bright rainbow colors. “It’s still safe to eat from. Actually, it will be the best fruit you’ve ever tasted.”
“Okay then,” he drawled, letting me know he wanted to be filled in. “So what dug up the roots of other trees and made this one glow?”
“A cir sith,” I grumbled, realizing there was going to be a very large, furry hiccup in my day.
“And you say that like I should know what it is.” Barry gave me a funny look as if I was all around amusing him today. I acted nowhere near my age and stuck my tongue out at him.
“It’s a fairy dog,” I explained, rolling my eyes when he bit his lip to keep the laugh in. “Yes, yes, I know, hysterical. Fine, it’s a magical dog that shits pixie dust that makes the plants around it glow.”
Barry’s eyes went wide before he burst out laughing so hard that he grabbed his side and had to bend over. Right. Of course it was funny when someone hadn’t heard of them before and annoyance entered my definition… But they really did shit pixie dust. They were also twice the size of most normal dogs and dumb as a box of rocks. They craved nothing more than a master to tell them what to do and like all fairies, loved attention.
Cir sith also liked to start a lot of trouble to attract an owner. It took me several times of saying this all to Barry before he finally calmed down.
“Why have I never heard of them before?” he asked me when he had himself composed again.
“Because the last one to come into this area was right before your grandfather was born,” I answered with a shrug. “They’re rare and take a master for life. So either this one’s master died or he’s a pup which makes it that much worse. I have to go handle this.”
“Well, go talk to your man at least so he doesn’t worry about you,” Barry suggested gently. I nodded. He was right. I gave him