Magic's Child by Justine Larbalestier Read Free Book Online Page A

for coming to visit? I really need to be with her, you know?"
     
     
"She'll be happy. You can stay at Esmeralda's. It's a really big house."
     
     
"Right," he said. "Shit. I totally forgot about that. What's the address? Hang on a second." He dashed into his bedroom and returned with paper and a pen.
     
     
I told him and he wrote it down. "Great," he said. "Glad I got that sorted out. Coulda been awkward on the other end. And you understand about us, then? That's cool with you?"
     
     
I blinked. Danny wasn't there. And then he was, looking at me, waiting for me to say yes. "What's cool?" I asked. The small voice had come back, was pretending it was mine. "You coming to stay with us?"
     
     
"Well, yeah, that, but also, you know, the other thing, the you-and-me thing."
     
     
I stared at him, trying to make sense of what he was saying, but he was as elliptical as Raul Cansino. I hadn't told him about the baby yet; he couldn't be saying what it sounded like he was saying.
     
     
"It's too awkward, Reason, what with you being Julieta's best friend, you so young and all. We can still be friends, you know? You can think of me as a big brother." He winced. "Well, maybe not. But forget about the other thing, okay?"
     
     
"The other thing? You mean sex?" I stared at him, openmouthed, then closed it in case he thought I wanted to kiss him.
     
     
"Anyway, I'm not really into the girlfriend thing, Reason."
     
     
The girlfriend thing? Danny was saying he didn't want to kiss me again, or touch me, or have sex with me. I blushed. Furious with myself for not being able to control the blood underneath my skin.
     
     
Had he ever wanted me? How could I have kissed him in the first place when he didn't want me to? But he had kissed me. He had touched me all over! He had helped make the baby inside me. I hadn't even told him about the baby and he was rejecting me.
     
     
Danny's big brown eyes were staring back at mine. He was a very handsome man. A very handsome man who didn't want me or our baby.
     
     
Was that what had happened to Sarafina? She'd slept with a man once and then he'd told her to go away? She always said that she hadn't told him about getting pregnant, that it had been her choice to never see him again. But what if she had? And he said no and that was why I didn't have a father? My dad hadn't wanted my mother; why would he have wanted me? I didn't have a father, and now my child wouldn't have one either.
     
     
There was a buzzing sound. Danny picked up the phone next to the lift. "Car's here," he told me. "Can I give you a ride somewhere?"
     
     
I nodded and gripped the ammonite in my pocket to keep my voice steady. "Back to the door would be good."
     
     
"Sure," he said, picking up his suitcase.
     
     
He didn't want me.
     
     
The pain inside me was sharp, but it burned too. My eyes stung.
     
     
I closed them, let Cansino's world surround me. The pain went away. Everywhere was the light of magic. It was beautiful here, and safe. I could hear Danny talking to me from the other world, but his voice didn't hurt me at all.
     
     
I could see the sixteenth Fibonacci that was the door to Sydney. I saw other sets of magic light wound together with filaments. I wondered if they were doors too. And if they were, where they would go.
     
     
I would stay in Cansino's world, I decided. But first I would endure the short ride with Danny, and then I would finally rescue Sarafina and bring her into Cansino's safe haven of mathematics and lights. She was a Cansino, after all.
     
     
All I had to do was give her some of the old man's magic.
     
    7
Telling the Truth
Tom listened calmly to Cathy reaming him out for not returning her call earlier or answering her emails. Da had finally said he could tell Cathy about magic, and he was wondering how to break it to her. What could he say? "Um, yes, Cathy, sorry 'bout that. So, you know how me and Da have kind of been holding out on you? Well, that's because it turns