Timeless (Pandora Book 1) by Kali Argent Read Free Book Online Page A

that?”
    “Really?” Charli laughed and rolled her eyes. She’d seen more plausible scenarios in bad sci-fi movies. “Okay, then prove it, do something alien-from-the-future-y.”
    Both of his eyebrows shot toward his hairline as he snorted. “Excuse me?”
    “You know, pull out a ray gun or some fancy communicator thing.” She’d talked to enough five year olds who came through her shop with their parents to know how this game worked. “Better yet, let’s see that time rip. I mean, it’s still there, right?”
    “I’m not letting you go anywhere near that church. It’s too dangerous. As for alien stuff…” Lifting his right hand to his mouth, he blew on his palm, producing a single, purple flame. “Will this suffice?”
    “Holy shit!” Charli stumbled backward and collided painfully with the handle on the oven door. The pain radiated through her hip and down her leg, but it also cleared her head, allowing her to think more rationally. “Big deal. Any street magician can do that.”
    Vane twirled his wrist, sending the flames spiraling around his arm from fingertips to bicep, all without singeing his shirt. “Can your magician do this?”
    Though impressed, Charli shrugged. “Probably.”
    “Humans,” he grumbled as he curled his fingers against his palm extinguishing the fire. “So quick to judge, but unable to believe what’s right in front of you.”
    “For your information, I believe a whole world of magical and mysterious things exist that I can’t possibly understand or explain.” She spooned the powdered sugar into her measuring cup, leveled off the top, and dumped it into the bowl. “I’ve never seen a ghost, but that doesn’t mean they’re not real.”
    “Yet, aliens and time travel are a little beyond your scope of belief?”
    For someone who held such disdain for the prejudices of “humans,” Vane’s tone resonated with its share of judgment. The hypocrisy of it rankled, but Charli took a calming breath and answered evenly as she divided the butter into neat squares.
    “It’s a pretty big universe out there, and I’m not so arrogant as to believe we’re the only intelligent life in it.” Setting her knife down, she turned, leaning back against the counter and mirroring Vane’s pose with her arms folded across her chest. “So yeah, I believe you could be from another planet.” She still needed more proof than some pretty purple flames.
    A half smile curved one side of Vane’s lips. “Smart girl. Maybe you’re not as naïve as I thought.”
    “That almost sounded like a compliment.” Except the part where he’d insulted her first.
    “I only meant—”
    “Hush.” Charli held one hand up and pointed at the back door with the other. “Someone’s here,” she whispered.
    “I don’t hear anything.”
    “I saw a shadow pass by the window, definitely man-sized.”
    The first time she’d only caught a glimpse from the corner of her eye, and she’d wrote it off as a trick of the light. When the shadow had slunk past the window a second time, however, there had been no mistaking the distinct shape of a large man.
    All traces of his former smile vanished, replaced by the cold, hard alertness of a trained soldier. “Stay here.”
    Taking a more direct route to the door, he slid across the counter, landing with a dull thud on the other side, and crept toward the exit. Before he could reach for the knob this time, though, the back door flew open, banging into Vane and sending him crashing to the floor.
    When a mountainous man charged into the room with a dagger at the ready, Charli didn’t stop to think. Grabbing the baking pan from the island counter, she lunged forward and swung with all of her strength. A loud clang echoed around the room, and her bones vibrated from the impact when the heavy pan found its mark.
    The attacker yelled and stumbled, but he didn’t go down. So Charli hit him again.
    “Charlotte, stop.”
    A blind hysteria had overcome her, and Charli