The Kingdom of Kevin Malone by Suzy McKee Charnas Read Free Book Online Page A

identifiable time of day. I had forgotten my watch.
    Now I realized that I hadn’t thought about how to find Kevin in his blasted magic land when I got back into it! Suppose he was in the Prison City, or even farther away? Was I crazy, as well as a stupid idiot, to come galumphing back here like this?
    â€œCome on up, I’ve been waiting for you.” Kevin stood on one of the tilted stairs about twenty yards up the hill. In his dark clothes, he was almost invisible.
    I climbed, trying not to rip my jeans. A person in the normal world only has so many changes of clean clothing, let alone so many excuses to give her parents about what has happened to them all.
    Kevin looked tired, though his hair gleamed beneath his cap and his black shirt and pants and dark green vest looked fresh and clean. No sweats today. I was glad I had worn a really nice turtleneck, and a clasp to hold my hair back. My hair tends to frizz in damp weather, and the air of the Fayre Farre was damp. If there’s anything I hate it’s having my hair bunch up like old upholstery stuffing.
    â€œHow did you know where to meet me today?” I asked. “You gave me the rose pin.”
    He dug out his handkerchief and untied the corner. “The seedstone drew me,” he said. The little crystal in his palm looked like a stone from a jewelry setting.
    Quickly I unpinned the rhinestone rose and examined it closely. Sure enough, at the very center of the cluster of petals one tiny metal cup was empty.
    â€œYou kept one of the stones from my pin? They’re just paste, Kevin, they’re not worth anything.”
    The red strips glowed brightly in his cheeks, as if somebody had smacked his face twice with a ruler. He said, “They’re magic here. This one shines toward the other ones. That way I can tell where I’m likely to run into you. Hey, relax—you’ll get it back.”
    I held out my hand. He shook his head. “Later.”
    â€œI’ll remind you,” I said. “Did that little stone help you get away from the Bone Men at the Dairy?”
    â€œSshh,” he said, scowling and glancing around. “Come on, this way. Sure, the seedstone helped. Things here always help me, when they’re not trying to wipe me out. I’m the protagonist so I’m mostly safe, except for, you know, ordeals and things, until the end. Don’t worry, you don’t have to hang around that long. How come you picked this arch to come through?”
    I shrugged.
    â€œGood thing you didn’t use the Gapstow, over by Wollman Rink,” he said cheerfully.
    â€œWhy, what’s wrong with the Gapstow?” I asked.
    â€œNothing,” Kevin said, “except with the arches that cross water, you never know. I put a family of trolls under one of them, and they tend to kind of wander from one water bridge to another.”
    â€œTrolls! Kevin, for crying out loud!”
    â€œWater trolls,” he elaborated for my benefit. “All ugly and slimy. Though a troll family looks out for its own, which is more than you can say for some people.”
    â€œTrolls are Norwegian,” I said. “I thought you were Irish.”
    â€œYou never heard of the global village?” he said in a superior tone.
    â€œSure I have,” I shot back. “I read in my spare time, Kevin, instead of mugging people for their pocket money.”
    â€œThat was a long time ago,” he said, glaring down from the inch or so he had on me these days. “You’re not back on your old street now, telling off a brat from the poor end of the block. The Fayre Farre is my place, not yours.”
    â€œI wouldn’t talk so tough to someone I was asking for favors,” I said.
    â€œMaybe I won’t need any favors,” he said. “I won’t know for sure until I’ve got the prophecy.”
    â€œYou still don’t have it?” I said. “Kevin, how long have you known about this