The Darkest Midnight. R. A. Finley

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ of the loop.

      But, she had been relieved to learn, not everyone in Granite Springs practiced magic or understood that things like leyline travel and glamouring and warding and turning oneself into a raven (should one be descended from mythical beings) were possible. There were still people who thought as Thia had before her world got turned upside down and inside out. And, since she had yet to decide whether she’d have preferred that obliviousness, she hadn’t pushed hard on the issue of destroying Zoe’s.

      “It was stupid,” that young woman said.

      “No,” Thia argued, “it was kind. Transiency, if that’s what is going on here, is a complicated issue. Especially here.”

      In a town where it could be so profitable.

      “You’ll be sure to let me know tomorrow,” Abby said and in a rare gesture set her hand on Zoe’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay.”

      “I will. Thank you.” She hugged Abby, gave Thia a smile before stepping away to begin backwards-walking down the alley. “And I am sorry to miss out on dinner. I’ll be sure to make the next one.”

      Thia shook her keys to untangle them. “Wouldn’t you like a ride?

      “No, no. I’m not far.” Zoe gestured toward the next block up. “A friend on Pike lets me park in his driveway.”

      “You’re sure?” Abby pointed to their two cars, her white and black Mini Cooper beside the brown Datsun. “It’s dark and cold and we’re both right here.”

      Continuing to walk backward, Zoe grinned. “I’m two minutes away, tops. See you tomorrow!” She waved as she went around the corner, out of sight behind the B&B.

      Something in Abby’s expression gave Thia pause. “Are you sensing something? Should we go after her?”

      With a small shake of her head, Abby turned toward the cars. “It’s the same feeling I’ve had all day. Just a vague sense of potential, I guess is the word. Like a gathering storm.”

      That didn’t sound good.

      Thia unlocked the Datsun’s driver’s side door and, after getting in, leaned over to pull up the stiff passenger-side lock. “We can drive along Pike before going to the bank,” she told Abby, opening the door.

      “Sure.”

      Thia started the engine, adjusted the choke. “She’ll be fine, though.”

      Abby got in. “Just two minutes away, she said.”

      Even so, Thia worried. She took the turn out of the alley too fast and then accelerated up the steep slope to Pike.

      “Which way, do you think?” she asked, braking sharply at the stop. To the left was dark. Lights on the residential streets tended to be few and far between.

      “There.”

      Thia looked right. Zoe was halfway down, heading up a steep drive to a single-story house. Thanks to the parking garage opposite—shared between the theater, hotel, and anyone willing to pay the hourly rate—the lighting was much better that direction. Thia turned the car.

      When they drove past, Zoe had her car door open, and a glance in the side mirror a few moments later showed her getting inside. Thia felt tension leave her shoulders. Beside her, Abby blew out a quiet breath.

      “To the bank,” Thia said, and took a right toward Main. A staircase down to the Park lay behind and to the left while the Festival straddled the street. It was odd to see the buildings dark and obviously empty after being packed with people and events for so many months, but its season had finally came to a close in November. The next would start soon enough in February.

      “Kendra was hoping we could eat at the hotel,” Abby said as they passed the building in question yet again. The front of it this time. “Something about needing to sample the proposed Solstice menu. Her treat—probably because it won’t cost her anything.”

      Thia laughed. The Landmark’s restaurant was world-class; being a guinea pig wouldn’t be any kind of hardship. “I’d be more than happy. But what about you?”

      “Kendra promised he won’t be there.”

      When Abby used that tone, there was no question as to whom she referred: Murphy, the somewhat mysterious owner of the Landmark Hotel and thus Kendra’s boss. For reasons never explained, she and Murphy did not get along (often with disastrous results). Out of loyalty to her friend, Thia was inclined to lay the blame on Murphy, but since he had come to the rescue on Orkney, she was also inclined to cut him some slack.

      

      Pike Street, Granite Springs

      Zoe should have been more concerned that the interior light hadn’t come on after she had opened the door. She should have at least glanced in the back seat before she had gotten behind the wheel. But she hadn’t, and a hand came around to hold a sickly-sweet cloth over her mouth.

      She tried to scream but couldn’t. And then something—rope—dropped down from behind to wrap around her arms and chest, holding her in place. Shock and terror reached up to swallow her whole. She couldn’t get enough air.

      The passenger door opened and another arm shot past her to pull the key from the ignition.

      She felt weird. Distant. Something was making her pass out. She fought it. If she lost consciousness, she knew, she might die. But it was so hard. Her vision wavered.

      “Do we take the car?” The voice of the man holding her.

      “No. Better to leave it.” The woman at the passenger-side leaned down. Looked in. “We’ll take her.”

      Everything was out of focus and swimming, everything except the white of the woman’s smile.

      Her eyes closing, Zoe again tried to scream.

      

      Landmark Hotel

      With the whole of the rooftop garden behind him, Cormac leaned his arms on the top of the wall and contemplated the downtown strip below. The heavy, thermal-lined coat of his current disguise was protection enough against the cold of the plaster-covered brick, but it was the warming spells cleverly cast from numerous patio “heaters” placed throughout that kept the frigid night air at bay.

      Granite Springs, he had to admit, didn’t lack for charm. With yuletide greenery hung on the streetlamps and lights strung across buildings and draped on otherwise bare branches, with shop windows filled to bursting with colorful, well-intended offerings, it would be easy to fall under the its spell.

      He considered his choice of words: charm, spell. Was that sort of magic at work here? Aside from the obvious draws (entertainment, scenery, dining) and the СКАЧАТЬ