Fire Me Up Read Online Free PDF Page A

out.'"
    He shook his head. Jim snickered.
    I thinned my lips at them both. "Well, I'm sorry, my
pronunciation is probably a little off. I'm new to this learning foreign
languages thing, as you both very well know. What did I say wrong?"
    Jim licked its leg with strange absorption, A faint smile
tugged at the corners of Rene's lips. "This once, your pronunciation was good.
Not excellent, as is mine, but good enough to be understood."
    "Oh," I said, pleased by his praise. Rene had tried to teach
me some useful French a month ago (useful if you want to say things like "I have
frogs in my bidet") and previously had only scathing things to say about rny
pronunciation. Clearly French was not going to be iny forte, but Hungarian was
obviously another thing altogether. Maybe I'd turn out to be a linguist after
all. "So what was wrong with what I said?"
    He stopped fighting the smile as Jim put a paw over its eyes
and groaned. "To me, you say, 'I would like to see you naked.'"
    "No!" I gasped, mentally damning the man in the chat room.
"That poop! And I went to the trouble of learning all the stuff he gave me.
Dammit!"
    Rene shook his head as he laughed, giving my hand a
sympathetic squeeze. "You will be sure to call me? I do not want to think of you
walking around Budapest telling people you like to see them naked. You call if
you need a driver. Or if you need help with others. You remember I am much good
behind your back."
    I gave him a hug. "Yes, thank you, you are wonderful at
watching my back, and I very much appreciate all your help. It's getting too
late today to find the hermit, but what say we make an appointment for
tomorrow?"
    We agreed upon a time, and with a final grin, Rene toddled
off, his hands in his pockets as he whistled a jaunty tune, looking utterly
normal in a world that I was fast realizing was anything but.
    "Come on, you hairy hound from"—Jim raised an eyebrow at
me—"Abaddon. Let's go get ourselves spiffed up, and we'll see what's going on
with all the Diviners and Theurgists and Guardians."
    "You do that really well," Jim said as I dragged the suitcase
over to an elevator, checking the plastic key card for the room number.
    "Do what? Twelve-fifteen. Drat. I hate rooms above the third
floor."
    "Ignore the fact that the second you saw Drake, you stood en
points faster than an Irish setter spotting a pheasant."
    I glared at it. "I am not a dog, and I resent you comparing
me to one. You're the one with the dog fetish, not me. I'll thank you to
remember that I'm perfectly happy being a human."
    "No, you're not a dog, but you are changing the subject."
    "So observant, my little demon." I patted Jim on the head as
the elevator doors closed.
    "Do you really think you can just ignore him? It didn't work
when you were on the other side of the world, Aisling. Now you two are in the
same city—the same hotel. And the second you see him you're all but drooling on
the man."
    "Demon, I order thee to keep thy trap zipped until I tell
thee otherwise."
    Jim glared at me, unable to violate a direct order. I hated
having to resort to such harsh measures, but I was having a hard enough time
getting my brain to stop running around like a deranged Chihuahua to tolerate
Jim poking at something I just couldn't deal with at the moment.
    "I am a professional," I told the empty hallway as I dragged
my suitcase down the long, opulent passage, Jim walking silently behind me. "I
have seen the worst and triumphed over it. I can do this."
    I didn't release Jim from its bondage of silence until I had
taken a fast shower, changed into a gauze peasant skirt and matching blouse that
I thought looked exotically pretty, wrapped a colorful scarf around my hair in
an attempt to look totally and completely different from the crazed woman who
had fallen in the lobby, and gathered my new organizer.
    "You're to be on your best behavior," I warned Jim on the
ride down to the conference level of the hotel. "No