Deadly Curiosities Read Online Free PDF

good.”
    I stared at the old photo on the screen in silence for a moment. “What I want to know is why Trinket was able to see the images,” I said. “I didn’t get the feeling that she had any clairvoyant abilities. She seemed too freaked out for that.” I was quiet again, mulling things over.
    “The fire was certainly horrific,” I said slowly, working it out as I went. “That kind of trauma can leave a residue that even people without a ‘gift’ can sense – that’s why normal people see ghosts.”
    “The opera glasses have been passed down for several generations,” Teag said, turning his chair to look at me. “You’d think if they were so blatantly haunted, someone would have gotten rid of them by now.”
    I nodded, having had the same thought. “I think we need to talk to Trinket again. Maybe she’s heard stories about her ancestor and the fire. She might not have mentioned that the glasses had a tragic past if she thought that would hurt the sale. She really wanted to get rid of them.”
    Teag leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “Which makes me wonder – if they freaked out the people who owned them, why hang onto them?”
    “And if they didn’t cause a problem before, what changed?” I said, my thoughts racing. “Did something... activate them... somehow?”
    Teag met my gaze. “We’d better find out. It’s bad enough if the glasses were always that powerful.
    That makes them definite spookies and something Sorren will want to deal with.”
    “But if something charged up their hauntedness, then we’re dealing with more than just the opera glasses,” I said. “Because whatever – or whoever – it was could juice up something else.”
    “And in this city, with all its haunts, that would be a real problem.”

Chapter Three
    B Y THE NEXT morning, I had recovered from the trauma if not the embarrassment. Fortunately, being Sunday, we didn’t open until noon, which meant that I could spend the morning in the back going through some of the more benign pieces. Teag handled the mundanes. Right now, we didn’t have any spookies in stock except for the opera glasses, and I was grateful. Still, the tragedy of the fire stuck with me. I hadn’t slept well. My dreams had been dark, lit only by flames, and once I had woken with my heart pounding and my palms sweaty.
    I was mostly recovered by the time Monday morning rolled around, although I hoped that none of our customers had attended the play on Saturday.
    “You doing okay, Cassidy?” Teag stuck his head in the back room.
    “A little tired, but that’s all. The coffee is definitely helping. Thank you.” Teag had come in early and had the coffee pot in the shop’s small kitchen already chugging out liquid wakefulness before we opened for the day. It was exceptionally thoughtful of him, since he didn’t drink the stuff, but he probably figured I’d need it more than usual today. Teag had a large mug of tea, his beverage of choice.
    “I put in a call to Trinket,” Teag said, standing where he could keep an eye on the front of the store. “I got her voice mail, and I asked her to give me a call.”
    “Maybe she caught wind of what happened at the play and decided to high tail it out of town for a while,” I said with a lopsided grin.
    “Maybe,” Teag replied. “But she has to come home sometime, and I doubt she’s skipped town just because of you. In the meantime, I’ll check the Darke Web.”
    Teag’s gift with information makes most hackers look like newbies. If it’s anywhere online, no matter how well hidden, he’ll find it. That goes beyond the Dark Web, used by mortal criminals, and into the currents of information shared by the supernatural, magical, and immortal communities, the Darke Web. Law enforcement can’t break the enchantments, and Teag wanders those digital pathways like a native son. If it was out there, I knew he’d find it.
    I’d felt like skipping town after what happened, but I figured