Games Wizards Play by Duane Diane

Author:Duane, Diane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 2016-02-02T05:00:00+00:00

10

Javits Center: The Cull

DAIRINE AND MEHRNAZ and Spot popped out in the sheltered green space at the far end of the Callahans’ backyard and made their way up through the garden toward the house. At least it’s not raining, Dairine thought. The weather forecast had mentioned a chance of showers, but there didn’t seem to be any in the neighborhood right now. Nothing showed through the leaves of the trees but blue sky and sunshine.

Mehrnaz was staring at everything with absolute delight, and spun around once as they walked toward the back of the house, as if trying to take in everything at once. “Everything’s so small and pretty!” she said. “It’s like something out of a storybook!”

“Seriously?” Dairine said, and laughed at the thought of anyone considering a suburban New York tract house surrounded by chain-link fencing as being at all charming or cute. “Well, let’s get our butts into the storybook house, because I’ve got to change out of this.” She pulled her tunic away from her waist, making a face as she felt it peel away. “I thought I didn’t mind humidity. I mean, it gets humid here, but wow, in your part of the world it’s been raised to an art form. Five minutes outside and look at me!”

“Well, you were the one who wanted more bhajis!”

“Yeah, thanks for reminding me of that, and you are in so much trouble for getting me hooked on the ones with the chilies—”

“Oh, this is my fault, is it?”

“It is, and I’ll tell the world, so don’t play innocent.” They went out the side gate to the driveway, and Dairine led the way up the steps to the house and unlocked the back door. “Come on, I’ll just be a few minutes . . .”

Mehrnaz followed her through the kitchen and dining room, and looked around in wonder. “It’s all so snug! I could wear it like a coat.”

Dairine snickered as she headed up the stairs to her room, because sometimes when the house got full of people, or wizards, or both, it felt that tight. “You seriously don’t like having all that extra space?”

“Sometimes,” Mehrnaz said, following her up. “There are a lot of us, sometimes the place gets awfully full. But it’s so empty when everyone’s out doing things. I start feeling like a bean in a gourd, rattling around . . .”

They chatted while Dairine rifled through her closet for a tank top and a loose shirt to throw over it, now that she was out of an environment where she didn’t feel the need to cover up so completely. Mehrnaz bounced on her bed and gazed around at Dairine’s desk and books and posters, and Spot clambered up on the bed beside her and watched them both curiously. As she ducked out and down the hall to the bathroom to change, Dairine caught a glance from one of his spare eyes as it stalked around to follow her.

She likes you.

Possibly a good thing, Dairine said silently to Spot as she closed the bathroom door.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.