Briar Queen Read Online Free PDF Page B

the Fatas, keep their nasty secrets, ease their way into the world, and, whenyou’re not interesting to them anymore—when you’re official grown-ups—they make you forget they exist?”
    Ijio smiled ruefully. “Pretty much.”
    â€œHuh. The whole ‘My parents sold my soul to ancient devils to get rich’ thing would really bother me.”
    Hester attempted to change the subject. “Where’s Aubrey?”
    â€œDid I hear my name?” Aubrey slid from the crowd. There was snow in his hair. He shook it out as he dropped into the booth beside Christie, shedding his jacket. “What are we talking about?”
    The silence was awkward.
    The trembling, sorrowing sound of a violin twined through the air and vanquished the canned music. Jack stepped from the shadows of the small stage, the violin cradled between his chin and shoulder, the bow a silvery twist as he drew several more mournful notes from the strings. The music, the beginning of “Greensleeves,” went through Finn like a solar flare.
    He winked at her before slashing into a mad rendition of a Pogues reel. The lights on the stage brightened as a drummer, a guitarist, and a bald and tattooed girl playing a fiddle appeared. Finn recognized them—they were Jack’s Fata friends, the vagabonds. The crowd was soon shouting and stomping their feet.
    â€œYou were talking about Halloween, weren’t you?” Aubrey looked at Finn. “There’s a lot we didn’t know. Not just the Teind. Phouka told me about how the Jacks and Jills were made, that they were”—he shuddered—“damn Frankensteins. I mean . . . what Reiko did to Jack . . .”
    Christie suddenly stood. “Hester. Do you Riverdance?”
    â€œA little.” She rose and followed him. Sylvie, a bracelet of silver owls and acorns glinting on one wrist, grabbed Aubrey’s hand and pulled him with her. She glanced back at Finn, her eyes dark.
    As they left, Ijio tilted his head and blinked lazily at Finn. He said, “I don’t dance. Wanna make out?”
    â€œI don’t think so. I’m going to get up now and watch Jack play. Don’t come with me.” She pushed up and moved through the crowd now enchanted by the quicksilver madness of Jack’s music.
    â€œFinn Sullivan?”
    Turning, she met the summer-blue gaze of Kevin Gilchriste. He said, “I didn’t recognize you with your hair up.”
    â€œKevin.” She smiled. Despite the movie star status, he was very nice and ordinary. “Hey.”
    They were practically yelling to be heard over the music, so he leaned close and said, in her ear, “He’ll destroy you. It’s what they do.”
    Then he was gone, leaving her stunned in the middle of the dancing crowd.
    As the Fata musicians took over, Jack stepped down and took Finn’s hand. On the stage, the bald Fata girl with the tattoos—Darling Ivy—was singing something pretty. Finn couldn’t even smile as she and Jack spun.
    He’ll destroy you. It’s what they do .
    Kevin Gilchriste knew. Somehow, Kevin Gilchriste knew what Jack had been, what the Fatas were. And, despite his fortune and film career, Kevin wasn’t one of the blessed. Which meant he was something else.
    â€œFinn,” Jack murmured into her ear after she told him about Kevin’s remark, “there’s no reason for anyone to come after us. And Caliban isn’t an idiot. He’s broken laws. If he returns to Fair Hollow, he’ll be put down. As for Lot . . . he would have made his presence known long before this. And how does Kevin Gilchriste know?”
    â€œYou ask him.” Finn didn’t want to tell Jack she believed Kevin had been referring to Jack with that remark, not Caliban or Seth Lot.
    Nothing out of the ordinary happened for the rest of the night. It was nice.
    As Finn decided to let Jack know about the Rooks, Christie edged up to them.