Brightly (Flicker #2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

seventeen. Whenever Filo looked that way, he noticed the other boy watching him with a different intensity than the rest of the listeners. He had dark hair and green eyes—green like deep water, or light falling through a canopy of trees—and, strangest, no inhuman traits that Filo could see.
    Impossible. Only faeries and other creatures came here, and the rare Sighted human. To his knowledge, Filo and his friends were the only Sighted humans in at least two hundred miles.
    Glancing from the corner of his eye, Filo furtively searched the boy for some evidence of a faery nature; every faery had something to mark it as inhuman. But there was nothing. All Filo saw was a decidedly human-looking boy. All he saw were those eyes.
    Eventually, Filo looked directly at the boy, and their eyes met. The boy’s mouth lifted into a smile, making his eyes shine a little brighter—and for a heartbeat, Filo forgot what he was doing. The crowd faded into his peripheral vision. Then his magic reined him back in, and he launched back into his description of the palace of the Dragon King of the Sea.
    “When Urashima lifted the lid of the precious box,” Filo concluded, some minutes later, “a strange purple mist rose from it, and swirled all around him before drifting out across the water. In that moment, his three hundred years of living came upon him all at once—his back hunched, his hair turned white, and deep wrinkles creased his face. Then Urashima Taro fell down dead on the beach, where he lay until the waves claimed him and returned him to the sea.”
    For a moment—silence. Then the audience burst into spirited applause and chatter. Thinking quickly, Jason began edging his way through the group with a handkerchief he’d pulled from his pocket, accepting tips on Filo’s behalf, while Alice approached the storyteller.
    Filo took several slow breaths, concentrating on putting his magic away. Then he stood and stretched, feeling something pop in his back. He could feel the faery storyteller glaring at him, but he didn’t bother to look.
    Sidling up beside him, Jason clapped him on the shoulder. “I thought you’d have to tell two or three stories to make any decent money, but with the tips and the bet—look at this!” Grinning, he shook the handkerchief, and the coins inside jangled merrily. “Good job. Let’s go buy something we don’t need.”
    Alice snatched the handkerchief from Jason. In her other hand, she held a little pouch, no doubt filled with the storyteller’s money. “Shouldn’t you be looking for a knife to replace the one you broke last week?” she asked dryly. “And besides, it’s Filo’s money. He decides what we’ll do with it. Right, Filo?”
    “Right,” Filo agreed absently, without really hearing her. He had been scanning the dispersing crowd, searching for a pair of green eyes, but the boy was gone.
     
     
     

Chapter Three:
Struck
     
    After leaving the Market, they didn’t get back to Flicker until almost two o’clock in the morning, but Filo didn’t really believe in sleeping in. He’d rapped impatiently on the bedroom door around eight-thirty this morning, having already been awake long enough to shower, dress and fix breakfast.
    Lee’s eyelids didn’t seem to want to stay open, and her legs ached from a night of dancing, but she’d still rather make some business visits around Bridgestone than sit around in the apartment by herself. Besides, it was already too hot to sleep.
    It was barely ten o’clock, but an incredible heat was already baking the city as Filo and Lee headed toward Hennessy’s Uncommon Books, owned by Gabriel Hennessy. Like most magical establishments in Bridgestone City, Hennessy’s looked perfectly ordinary from the outside, just a small, unassuming bookshop with a hand-painted sign hung in the window. A layer of illusory magic deterred normal humans from noticing or entering the shop.
    Filo ducked inside, Lee a step behind. Hennessy’s was a veritable