Demons Forever (Peachville High Demons #6) Read Online Free PDF

when she smiled. "Thank you," she said. "I would love that."
    She sat down, crossing her legs neatly under her chair and placing her hands in her lap.
    "Feel free to eat any of this food too. I'll never able to eat all this," I said. I pushed the basket toward her.
    She studied my face for a moment to make sure I was serious, then carefully put her hand in the basket. She removed a small loaf of white bread and set it on a napkin on the table.
    "What would you like to talk about?" she asked. She folded her hands back in her lap, not even taking a bite of her bread.
    I considered her question. I desperately wanted to ask her about my father, but I decided it was probably more polite to ask her something about herself.
    "Do you have family here in the city?" I asked.
    Her face darkened. "No," she said. "Many in my family chose to stay in our small village in the outerlands instead of coming here to the domed city."
    "How come you came here, then?" I asked, hoping it wasn't too personal of a question.
    "I came here for you," she said. "The king was visiting our village years ago when I was just a young girl of fifty. He stayed overnight in the inn my father and mother owned. I used to serve him the same soup and homemade bread every night. We would sometimes exchange pleasant words. When his visit was over, he told me he had a young daughter who may someday come to live in his castle. He said if I was willing, he would like for me to come to the castle to serve as your handmaiden. This is a great honor to my people, and I could not refuse."
    I listened to her story in awe. She'd lived such a different life. I couldn't imagine growing up surrounded by a family I loved, then leaving them for a princess I'd never met.
    "Do you go back to visit your family often?" I asked.
    She shook her head. "My mother is no longer with us," she said, "and I have not been back to see my father and the rest of our people in many years. It is too dangerous to leave the city and travel such a long way."
    The sadness in her voice nearly broke my heart.
    "It must be very hard to be so far from the people you love," I said.
    "Yes, but at the same time they are the ones who stubbornly refuse to come to the dome," she said. "I believe it is foolish to take such risks."
    Her speech patterns reminded me of Essex, Mary Anne's boyfriend in the Underground. He came from a small village in the far north while Tulianne came from the south, yet they sounded so similar. The thought of Mary Anne in love brought a smile to my face.
    "What makes you smile, Princess?"
    "Your English reminds me of a friend," I said. Thinking of him made me realize I should contact Mary Anne now that we were settled somewhere. When we left the Underground, we'd exchanged communication stones that were supposed to work kind of like cell phones. They only had so many uses in them before they wouldn't work anymore, so I hadn't thought it was important enough to call her yet. Now, though, I really wanted to fill her in on everything that had happened.
    She'd probably never let me live this demon princess thing down. Maybe I would skip that part for now.
    "A good friend, I hope," Tulianne said.
    "Yes, a very dear friend," I said. I turned my attention back to this small demon girl who had left everything behind to come here for me. "Thank you for coming here."
    "You do not need to thank me," she said. "It is truly my pleasure, and I am very happy that you have finally come home."
    Home. The word seemed strange in association with this foreign place. Would this ever feel like home?
    I didn't plan on staying here long enough to find out. All I really wanted to do was get back to Peachville. For the first time, there was a real chance of closing the gate and setting both me and Aerden free. We needed to get to work collecting the ritual items so we could perform the binding spell in reverse.
    Maybe once we'd succeeded, Jackson and I both could come back here to spend more time with my