Human for a Day (9781101552391) by Jennifer (EDT) Martin Harry (EDT); Brozek Greenberg Read Free Book Online Page A

I don’t understand the words. No one in me speaks that language.”
    â€œProbably Babylonian, or something dreary like that,” sighed Mina. “Well, then. In we go.”
    I pulled my hand away from the wall. “What? What about a plan?”
    â€œThat is the plan.” She held up her flask, smiling sardonically. “Last call. Place your orders and get out.” With that, she shoved the warehouse door open and strode inside. James shook his head and followed.
    â€œI won’t do it!” I called after them. “I’m going to stand right here until you come back here and have a better plan!” They didn’t come back. The itching in my feet was getting worse. Scowling, I motioned for the pigeons to come along, and ran after them.
    James and Mina were striding through the warehouse, making no effort to move stealthily. I caught up to them easily, my pigeons soaring overhead and roosting in the rafters. Neither James nor Mina said anything, and then I heard the sound of chanting, different now that I was hearing it with ears, but also what I’d heard before.
    â€œStop that rubbish right now, Stuart!” half-shouted James. “You’re being silly. Dropping the entire city into the ocean doesn’t make you clever, it makes you a bit of a bastard.” He paused. “Ah, apologies for my language, Miss the City.”
    â€œPeople are saying worse inside me right now,” I reassured him.
    That was when the first fireball hit the rafters, and things became too complicated for conversation.
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    The flaming woman charged out of the back, her hands filled with dirty orange fire. She flung it at us indiscriminately, rapidly filling the warehouse with the smell of singed pigeon feathers. Mina and I dove for cover while James raised his hands, heat like the sun baking off him until the flames were dwarfed by its power. “This, again?” he asked. Sunlight surged, and the flaming woman was blown backward, slamming into the wall with a bone-rattling thud.
    â€œCity, come on!” shouted Mina, skirting the burning patches of floor as she made for the back of the warehouse. “I need you!”
    With no better idea of what to do—and no real desire to be set aflame—I followed, pausing only to stomp out any embers I passed. I was too aware of how old and dry the wood around us was. My pigeons, rats, and cats came with me, and they, too, stopped to extinguish any flames small enough to be handled by their wings and paws.
    Behind us, the woman shouted something spiteful, and James answered with another burst of heat. It was like all of July was trying to happen at once. Then we passed a large stack of boxes, and I lost my concern for anything but the man kneeling in front of me, still chanting in that language I didn’t understand. It made my teeth ache, but not as much as the sight of the chalk circle around him. Something about it was wrong . I couldn’t look directly at it.
    â€œStop that!” I shouted, involuntarily.
    The man looked up and—to my dismay—laughed. At least that meant he wasn’t chanting anymore. “Oh, this is cute. You’ve brought me the city, Miss Norton? How did you even find her?”
    â€œI have my ways, Stuart,” snapped Mina. “Listen to your habitation when she tells you to do something, and stop that.”
    â€œThis is giving me a headache,” I complained. “I’m not used to having a head. I don’t like this.”
    â€œThe headache is probably from the rum, but we’ll have worse than a headache in a few minutes if Stuart doesn’t stop playing silly buggers with the laws of nature.” Mina started to uncap her flask.
    â€œI wouldn’t do that, Miss Norton.” Stuart stood, shouting something in a different language I didn’t recognize. This one made my eyes water and caused a gust of wind to sweep Mina off her feet and slam her into the