A Tale of Two Demon Slayers Read Online Free PDF

leaned my seat back and closed my eyes, satisfied. Pirate had adapted rather well to air travel. My job, at least in that department, was done.
    As far as the rest of it?
    There was nothing I could do at the moment about my mother’s invisible bar or the supernatural risk Dimitri had taken—or for that matter, my sunken battleships. Tomorrow. I needed to be fresh for tomorrow.
    It took me a while to fall asleep, and I doubted Pirate closed his eyes at all. From time to time, I’d wake and listen to him sniffing at the stale cabin air and feel him quiver as he watched the gremlin.
    We landed in Athens and then boarded a puddle jumper bound for the island of Santorini. The Aegean Sea swirledlike a rich blue cloud below us. White waves crested over the surface and streaked out from under the ferries and pleasure boats crisscrossing the Cyclades islands. All told, there were more than two hundred spots of land dotting the Aegean.
    As we passed over the lush green islands, I tried to guess which might be inhabited, and if there were homes, what kind of people lived in the middle of a small ocean. Most of all, I wanted to be down there, under the hot sun. I wanted to dip my fingers into the churning waters. I wanted, for once, to be free.
    I brushed my fingertips against the cold glass of the window and glanced back at Dimitri. We’d moved on to the polite stage, which was worse than being mad.
    The issue of the stolen magic hung in the air between us and would until we had the privacy to talk it out. Even then, things wouldn’t be completely resolved until we reached his study to learn once and for all if we had a problem on our hands.
    Pirate had curled up in his Port-A-Pooch once he was convinced the gremlin was no longer a threat—at least not to us. Shortly after we began our descent, the thing had given an explosive fart before it began squeezing into the overhead bins. I could hear it as it moved its way down the plane, shifting luggage.
    I ignored the banging and focused on the beauty outside my window. The islands looked so peaceful from twenty thousand feet.
    Maybe my life would finally make sense here in Greece.
    Things could be simple if I let them. First, we’d make sure the magic Dimitri used to find me was safe and thendestroyed. Then I’d put away my mother’s box. Grandma would be here soon enough with an instructor who understood that sort of thing. At long last I’d have the time and the guidance to learn about my new powers. In the meantime, I could relax.
    After the pilot turned off the “fasten seat belt” sign and bid us good-bye, Dimitri took the bag with my sleeping dog and wrapped his other hand in mine. I adjusted my sunglasses as we made our way down the staircase of the plane and onto the tarmac below.
    “I feel like a visiting dignitary,” I told him jokingly, giving a presidential wave for effect.
    He squeezed my hand. “You are,” he said, ushering me toward a pair of brunettes inside the glass terminal. They wore matching coral necklaces and expressions of excitement.
    They sprung upon us in a flurry of hugs, cheek kisses and olive blossoms.
    “For your hair.” A willowy sister with an upturned nose and a yellow sundress slipped a spray of tiny white flowers behind my ear. I inhaled the scent of unfolding buds and freshly cut grass. She admired her handiwork before throwing her arms around me. “Oh I am so glad to finally meet you!”
    “That’s Diana,” Dimitri said with obvious pleasure as he gripped his other sister and held her tight. He squeezed his eyes shut and I stopped to enjoy the moment vicariously.
    When Dimitri left Greece, he didn’t know whether he’d see his sisters again. Now he was home.
    I hugged Diana and marvelled at the fact that this wasthe woman who’d ridden a monstrous horse named Zeus through a raging thunderstorm and straight into the family dining room.
    “Diana.” Her square-jawed sister laughed, her bronze-coin earrings jingling. “Give