Uprising by Imogen Rose

Author:Imogen Rose
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-10-07T00:00:00+00:00

Etiquette sniffs at unannounced visits. Not giving your hosts the courtesy of time to prepare—allowing them to put forth their chosen façade—is simply not tolerable. That’s what my mom would say, anyway.

Yet, there I stood, on a stranger’s porch, while Bruno knocked on the door. He’d wandered me right to it from outside Alexandra’s apartment in New York. We were in a place called Mountain View in California. From where I stood, I couldn’t see any mountains.

The door opened, and a tall, slender, older woman broke into a smile. “Bruno!” She hugged him and turned to me.

Bruno returned her smile. “Constance, this is Faustine. She is the demon sovereign of London. Faustine, this is Constance, the leader of the local Wanderers.”

Constance raised her brows, and waved us into her living room. “Welcome, Your Highness. Please sit. Can I bring you some refreshments?”

“We just ate, but I’d love some water,” I replied, and Bruno nodded.

“I’ll be right back.”

“So? Why are we here?” I asked Bruno. “I thought we were going straight to see Mom.”

“It’s protocol to inform the local Wanderer leader of my arrival. Amadea will stop here first too. It’ll take her a bit longer to get here since she is wandering two people. She should be here soon. It’s not proper in Wanderer etiquette to pry, so Constance won’t ask questions, but I’ll tell her as much as she needs to know.”

Constance came out of the kitchen holding up a tray with tall glasses of water, fancy sandwiches, and macaroons. “I know you said you weren’t hungry, but I had these nibbles and thought I would bring them out.” She put the tray down on the coffee table.

“Thanks.” I took a sip of the ice-cold water and picked up one of the delicate-looking chicken panini.

“Thanks,” Bruno repeated. “Sorry to show up like this, Constance. Amadea is on her way over with Harry and another guest—Faustine’s mother.”

“Harry?” Constance looked surprised. “Olivia and the others arrived back a few hours ago. I thought Harry was going to stay with Rupert.”

I ate my sandwich while Bruno brought Constance up to date.

She nodded gravely. “It’s been frightening turning on the TV. There’s anarchy everywhere. Luckily, we’ve not seen any local disturbances, but the mayhem in San Francisco is bound to eventually reach us. I am glad Amadea is stopping by. We need to formulate a local plan. I assume Spencer will be in touch eventually to let us know what we should do.” She turned to me. “Is the rest of your family safe, Faustine?”

“My dad’s missing.”

“I am so sorry to hear that.” She paused.

I could tell that she wanted to ask more questions, but her rules clearly prevented her.

Constance cocked her head at me. “You’re the demon sovereign of London? I’ve never met a demon before—I think. I’m not sure if I should be scared.”

“Gosh, no! Don’t be, not of me, anyway. I’m not even a full demon. I’m a human-demon hybrid. My mom’s a human.”

As soon the words were out of my mouth, Mom emerged into view with Amadea and Harry by her side.

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