Demon Day by Penelope Fletcher (best novels in english .TXT) 📕

pebbles then abruptly murky water. It seemedto go on forever, a big puddle in the middle of nowhere surroundedby ferns and other plant life that liked the wet. I squinted. Werethose dark, darting shadows under the placid surface schools offish? At the edges I could see the pebbles continued down, curvinginto a steep slope that disappeared into a sapphire mirrorovershadowed by fog.

I took a conscious step back. The lasttime I had looked into water, I had seen my reflection. I was usedto my fairy form now. I had no choice. No amount of hard thoughtwas going to make the end of my spine drop off, or my wings shrivelup. Maybe I would not feel so different, so alien if I could seeothers who looked more like me. Breandan said there were manyvariations in fairy coloring and form. Maeve was one extreme and Iwas the other. I guess I should be glad I was not green.

I swallowed, still not wanting to seemyself and said, “It looks cold.”

He looked at me oddly before hisexpression creased with amusement. “You have magic.” He said thisas if it was some big thing I had forgotten.

He kicked off his boots and unbuckledthe leather strap across his chest.

“And….”

“You have the power to tearthe sky asunder and shake the earth into a tumult yet you arebested by some chilly water?”

He threw his head back and laughed. Itwas not the usual chuckle or mirthless snort of delight that heusually reserved for me, but a loud boisterous hoot of glee. I wastoo ensnared by the sound to be upset that he was laughing at merather than with me. Wanting to share in the joke, I giggled, butit soon became a strangled squawk as he undid his pant laces andpulled them down. He chucked the garment onto his boots. I lookedaway; blushing furiously.

My fingers curled under into fists asI fought the urge to jump him. I would not shame myself bysuccumbing to such a base instinct.

“Would you look atme?”

I choked on my own breath. “Ican’t.”

He grasped my chin and deliberatelyturned my face to his. “Look at me.”

My eyes wandered down, over his broadshoulders, hard pectorals, and well defined abdominals. Lower, overhis hip and hovering at his navel. I wavered, enjoying how much thestrong strip of muscle that tapered inward from his outer hip togroin … my eyes bugled. Ah, yes, he was naked. My breath quickenedand my hands trembled. Gods help me I could not help but stare. Wasit meant to be so alluring? Should I not be frightened, feel allshy and retiring?

Swallowing loudly, I made a point ofstudying an interesting moss covered rock that rested on the edgeof the riverbank by his foot. Moss, what an interesting …plant-like-thing?

Chuckling softly, he let me go and hisfoot slipped from view. I heard him enter the water. Rubbing myhands on my hips, I struggled to bring my ferocious lust undercontrol. He seemed to be managing just fine, and so wouldI.

In a dream world, I would have beenfiercely proud of my body. Reveled in how perfect my limbs wereshaped and how they affected him. I would have swept the dress ofin one smooth, leisurely move, slowly shaking out my hair as I did,watching him with slumberous eyes. Then I would gracefully stepinto the pool, running my fingers through the water that warmed tomy touch until I was immersed waist deep, confidently and proudlywaiting for him.

With that completely unrealistic andunachievable scenario firmly in place, sucking it up, I whipped thedress off in one toss, chucking it somewhere behind me. I stompedover to the pool edge, the lapping water sliding over my toesconfirming the temperature was a few degrees shy of freezing. Mycontrol over magic was so temperamental I was afraid if I tried towarm it up, I would turn the pool into a bubbling cauldron. Acutelyaware Breandan was seated comfortably in the centre I decided therisk was not worth it.

Cursing my foolish pride, I splashedmy way into the frigid water, shrieking mentally as each movecaused the icy water to lap higher over my naked skin beforedunking down till only my neck, head, and wing tips showed. My tailcoiled into a tight ball at the base of my spine, trying toconserve heat.

Shivering, sending large ripplesacross the pool, I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at himdefiantly.

“I am not prudish norafraid,” I said through chattering teeth, lifting mychin.

“No,” he replied. “You havecourage.” He was quiet. “We could stay a while.”

I turned my head, tilted it up towatch him. His jaw was relaxed and from this angle, I could onlysee a glimmer from his silver eyes as he watched me. Though theturn in conversation was abrupt, I knew exactly what hemeant.

I clutched my arms tighter around me.“But … what about Devlin and the grimoire?”

We watched each other in the water.Somehow, a huge distance had sprung up between us though we stood afew paces away. Something broke the water’s surface drawing mygaze. I missed what it was, but watched the ripples fan out anddisturb the placid water. It was just jumping fish, right? Itwouldn’t be anything slimy or a small beast with manyteeth….

A sloshing noise had me swallowingloudly. Breandan stood waited for me to look at him. I did, and heshrugged. “It can wait,” he said simply. He motioned to me thenhimself. “This is more important.”

“Uh, I don’t think Conallwill agree with you.”

He stroked my hair, wound a thick lockaround his palm, and rubbed it absentmindedly. “We need to think ofa plan to retrieve the Alpha’s daughters from the Temple withoutbeing seen, without creating uproar. This needs to be handled withcare. Should the humans catch us they would use it as an excuse todeclare war.”

“We can do it easilyenough. You know we can.”

“Oh?”

I counted off the reasons why thiswould be straightforward on my fingers. Awkward, since I was stillkeeping my chest covered. “We can pass the Wall without detection.We can move fast enough that they wouldn’t see us; I’ve seen thatfreaky ‘blending into the shadows’ thing Conall pulls, and I knowyou could do it too, even with