Bound by Faerie: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Stolen Magic Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

going to Smoke and Mirrors," I reluctantly told her.
    "Ooooh," she said. "Good. You need to have some fun."
    I didn't know what she wanted me to say to that. I wasn't going to explain to her that this wasn't my idea of fun. "Do I look right?"
    Phoebe snatched a pair of scissors off the counter and clipped them through the air. "May I?"
    The dryad didn't wear clothes, and there I was, taking fashion advice from her. Lack of confidence left me walking blind, and I held my arms out in resignation. "Do your worst."
    She made quick work of my shirt, cropping it so a significant portion of my belly was exposed. I wasn't modest. I was a shifter, and I lived with Phoebe. My problem wasn't the bare skin, it was my whole plan depending on other people thinking well of me and my bare skin. Not caring what other people thought was the crutch I rudely stomped through their homes on.
    Phoebe disappeared again—not before slapping my ass—and gave a catcall of approval from wherever she invisibly perched. She'd gone too easy on me. I was sure to have a fresh prank to deal with when I got home.
    With a short skirt and a pair of low heels, I made my way to the waiting cab and glanced longingly at my motorcycle. She was the best thing humans had ever done for me, and I don't discount indoor plumbing or surfboards. We didn't get out together nearly enough, but I had to keep my hair in good shape if I was going to pull this thing off; between the helmet and the drizzling rain, Bliss wouldn't help me do that.
    As the human cab driver pulled up to the abandoned house, he looked almost as suspicious as when he'd stopped at what he saw as a stretch of lonely forest where The Arbor hid, concealed from human eyes with glamour. The Arbor was a small community for fae uninterested in the city or a life spent blending in with humans. Dressed differently, I could have told the driver I was hiking. As I was, I said nothing, and he hadn't asked. The abandoned house must have pushed his curiosity too far, because his brow creased when he asked, "You sure this is the place?"
    "I'm sure." I paid him and left the car behind, avoiding the wide puddles. He politely waited until I was out of splashing range before driving away .
    The air was cool and the rain had taken a brief break. The urge to shift prickled my skin; I wanted to feel the breeze ruffle my feathers. Tonight though, I had other plans.
    The surrounding open field was ugly if stared at for too long, but mostly it appeared plain, barren, boring. Not something anyone would want to look at twice. I certainly wasn't going to. Closing my eyes, I pulled my magic up behind my lids. It wasn't really how the second sight worked, but it was how I thought of it. When I opened my eyes, the world had changed. My second sight broke through the glamour that kept humans from seeing a fae city wedged into a space too small to hold it. Volarus was at least ten miles across as the crow flies. The human map said the unused land was five miles at its widest. The city dwelled in other Earth locations, some even smaller. Volarus wasn't explained so much as it just was.
    If humans could see the city, they wouldn't think too much of it as far as architecture was concerned. It was a bustling metropolis that didn't fit in with the small towns surrounding it, but there weren't castles floating in the sky or anything. What there were though, is a boatload of fae, no earthbound glamours required.
    While many fae lived in the city, for most it was a waypoint. Portals were plentiful in Volarus, you just had to find them, if you were so inclined. Open a janitor's closet, push on the right wall, find yourself in a bathroom in New York City, or smack dab in the middle of Faerie. Volarus served as a place of business, a place for fae on Earth, a piece of Earth for those in Faerie. Every fae, at some point or another, found themselves in Volarus.
    Of course, it had taken me a long time to get there. Banshees lived at Wailing Lakes, a