Wood Sprites by Wen Spencer

Author:Wen Spencer [Spencer, Wen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2014-09-02T04:00:00+00:00

Louise huddled in the back of the car, hugging Nikola tightly. She really wanted the whole night of bad to be over. The only good thing was meeting Nigel Reid, and Joy had totally screwed that up. It was one thing to hand over the whistle and tell him about Dufae’s box. It was another to show him Joy and forbid him from studying her closely. Now they had to worry that Nigel wouldn’t keep his word and pretend that he hadn’t seen the little dragon. That he wouldn’t follow his natural curiosity and try to find out their names and who they were and where they lived . . .

At least there was some comfort that he would be on Elfhome in less than thirty days and a universe removed from them for months after that. She wanted to believe that they’d done the right thing in trusting him so much.

Certainly if she didn’t trust someone, it was Anna Desmarais. The gala was supposed to signal the end of the war between her and their mother, but Louise got the distinct impression that it had been a false peace treaty. A new battle was about to break out, and it was going to be worse. Much worse. There was no word or look or action, however, that explained why Louise felt this so strongly. Anna had been polite, smiling, listening carefully to their mother’s conversation and nodding in response.

Ironically their mother had judged their interaction with Anna successful enough to warrant forgiveness for sneaking Nikola into the gala. “I’m still mad that she cornered me for hours, but at least I knew you were safe with Tesla. Were you able to see Nigel Reid?”

“Yes, we saw him,” they said.

“He was awesome,” Jillian added without explaining that the man had dropped everything to spend time in private with them.

Tell them everything. Louise felt as if disaster was about to crash down upon them. Nothing felt safe to say. She curled tighter into a ball and let Jillian answer questions about the face-painting and other things they’d supposedly done before their mother rejoined them. Before she knew it, they’d turned on to their street and were driving up to their house. They were one of the few houses with a basement garage instead of apartment. The big door sensed them approach and slid upward just as the car turned into the driveway. A light flashed on the dashboard.

“Huh,” their father said as the car slotted itself perfectly into the garage. “Security system just crashed. I hope it doesn’t call the police.”

The mother swore softly at her phone. “I can’t get it to respond.”

“I’ll reset it from the keypad in the kitchen.” Their father hopped out of the door and trotted up the steps.

“No!” The word slipped out of Louise. It tore something loose, and she was flooded with sudden certainty that if she didn’t stop him, she’d never see him again. She lunged between the front seats and slammed down on the horn.

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