Drop Dead Cold by Karin Kaufman

Author:Karin Kaufman [Kaufman, Karin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-02-27T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Back home, I changed into my pajamas, made myself a cup of chamomile tea, and got into bed. Since Minette wanted to know what Ray had written in his secret journal and it was her last night in the house for a time, I invited her to sit with me while I read. Rather than fly to the pillow I’d arranged for her at my left elbow, she dropped to the end of my bed and then made her way over the hills and valleys of my quilted comforter until she reached a point just below my knees. It was her peculiar way, and I’d come to believe she enjoyed her trek across what must have been for her mountainous layers of bedding.

“When I met you, on that first night,” I said, “I almost locked my bedroom door. Remember? I was afraid you’d sneak in while I was sleeping.”

“I would not,” Minette said. “It’s your private sleeping place.”

“Yes, and your private sleeping place is in that teacup, and I forgot to put new cotton balls in it.”

“It’s all right.” She looked away quickly. “I can sleep on your bed tonight. Then you don’t have to get the cotton.”

“Yes, you can.” I opened Ray’s journal on my lap. At the sound of it, she looked back, and I smiled at her and tried to reassure her with a little banter. “But don’t sleep too close or I’ll roll over on you. You don’t know it, but I’m very fidgety when I sleep. I’ll leave this pillow between us and you can stay on the other side of it.”

“Yes, Kate, I will.”

“What would the Dearborns think to hear me talk now?” I wondered aloud. “What if they have this house bugged? I wouldn’t put it past Gavin. You have to be careful of Gavin Dearborn, too, Minette. He thinks fairies exist.”

“But they do.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not totally convinced, but all that means is he’s out for proof. Let’s see what Ray told him without meaning to.”

“I think I saw that book before, when Ray of the Forest wrote in it.”

“Maybe you did. Come here.” I held up my hand, palm out. She flicked her wings once to rise and a second time to float onto my hand. “If you get on my shoulder, you can see his handwriting as I read it to you.”

Minette squeaked with joy and flew to my left shoulder. Her innocence was such that the simplest things delighted her. Moss, maple syrup, listening to me read while she sat on my shoulder. In one sense she was demanding—without knowing it—because I constantly feared for her safety and tried to keep her existence secret from everyone but Emily, but in reality, she was pure joy to be around. She took pleasure in countless things and did so without guile. Even in the midst of her, well, peppier moments, when she would buzz about my face and insist we do something or talk about something, I enjoyed being around her.

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