Waylaid by Kim Harrison Read Free Book Online Page A

aborigines in Australia. It had straw-blond hair and contained the memories of a wonderful night she’d spent with Jack under foreign constellations. “You. Pixy,” she demanded, to make Rachel laugh. “Sit your butt down and keep your dust off my things.”
    Spinning on the bar stool, Rachel said, “Candle wax is inert. We need something for the base that embodies energy.”
    “Make me,” Jenks said, flying a looping path within inches of Peri’s nose. “Like you could catch me, lunker.”
    Peri reached out to snatch him, and the pixy darted away, laughing at her.
    She’d had enough. Reaching out with her mind, Peri yanked time back two seconds. The world flashed blue, and she stared at Jenks, who was once more almost touching her nose.
    “Make me,” he said again, oblivious that they were replaying time. “Like you could catch me, lunker.”
    Again, Peri reached for him, aiming for where he was going to go. Jenks moved, wings clattering, and her fingers pinched his foot, catching him.
    “Hey! Le’go!” he shrilled, shocked.
    Peri stared at the frantic little man as she gripped his boot. From the kitchen’s bar, Rachel gasped. “You will sit your butt down and stay away from my talismans,” Peri intoned .
    “Yes, ma’am,” Jenks said, cowed.
    But then the world flashed red and settled, and she forgot everything she rewrote.
    Peri stared at Jenks, his foot pinched between her careful fingers. Bright red dust spilled from him, coating her hand in pinpricks. The last thing she remembered was him touching her doll. Clearly she’d drafted to stop him, and it bugged her she didn’t remember it.
    “You going to let go now?” Jenks said, clearly uncomfortable.
    “What did I tell you to do?” Peri prompted, hoping her intuition and his words would piece this together. She hated jumping without an anchor to fill in the blanks, but Jack was five miles away in Opti Health.
    Jenks’s dust shifted blue. “Keep my dust off your talismans and sit down.”
    “Then do it,” she said, letting him go.
    Jenks darted up to the ceiling, making a high flight to the window, where he sat on one of her plants and sulked.
    Peri primly fixed her doll, blowing the last of the dust off it and turning to find Rachel behind her. One of Peri’s small copper mixing bowls was in her hand. The woman was stealthy, she’d give her that.
    “I don’t know which is more impressive,” Rachel said softly. “That you caught Jenks, or that you tricked him into telling you what you forgot.”
    Warming, Peri glanced at Jenks and back again. “Was it that obvious?”
    Rachel shook her head, lips pressed. “No. Peri, you are the most powerful, vulnerable human I know outside of Ford. I’m glad this happened. You deserve to know the truth.”
    “I do know the truth,” Peri said indignantly.
    “Holy troll turds, Rache!” Jenks exclaimed, hovering before the window with his hands on his hips. “Those lights are flying machines. I thought they were fairies!”
    Rachel was looking at an orb of crystal Peri had picked up in Arizona. It held the memory of one of her earlier tasks, before she’d met Jack, even. “Can I use that?” Rachel asked.
    Crystals , Peri thought derisively as she nodded, but it was the tripod the crystal was sitting on that Rachel took, carefully setting the chunk of quartz down so it wouldn’t roll off the shelf.
    “And this?” Rachel asked, pointing at one of Peri’s candles on the coffee table as she took off Jack’s coat and set up the tripod and mixing bowl.
    “Sure.” Peri came closer, sitting across from her. “Don’t you need a spell book?”
    Rachel smiled with half her face. “Usually, but I’ve gotten good at adapting spells.” She sat down, arranging the candle under the cradled pot like a little campfire.
    “Yeah,” Jenks said as he came away from the window. “Remember that time you tried to adapt a charm to straighten your hair and it turned into wire?” The little man laughed,