Fire Raiser Read Online Free PDF

experience that soft, furry prey held infinitely more promise of amusement—not to mention flavor—than cold, hard plastic.
    It had come to Evan’s attention rather slowly—because nobody talked about it in the open, and he’d had to piece it together from hints and casual remarks—that Lulah was one of the most gifted Witches of her generation. She hadn’t turned her back on it, and indeed enjoyed using her talents, but the power she might have had outside Pocahontas County was considerable and she had never pursued it. Principally because of Holly. After Tom and Margaret McClure died, Lulah had been happy to raise their only child. Evan—and not a few others—wondered sometimes if Holly hadn’t provided her with the perfect reason not to take a more prominent place within the community.
    As for Holly—it must have been like growing up the slight, bookish son of a five-Superbowl NFL-Hall-of-Fame linebacker father. No matter how much you were loved, no matter how much you were valued for your own abilities, no matter how proud you knew your dad was of you, there was always the knowledge that you could never compete in the eyes of the rest of the world. Lulah’s prodigious magic was treated quite matter-of-factly within the family; Holly never seemed intimidated by it; but the awareness of it was always there.
    Evan grinned suddenly as Kirby scrambled across the rug to pluck a wayward dinosaur from the predatory reach of something with a lot of white plastic teeth. The linebacker-and-son scenario was not one he’d ever worry about: not only was Evan not exactly the intimidating type in any area of endeavor, but if a vote had been held, Kirby would be unanimously elected Least Likely To Be Intimidated In This Or Any Other Lifetime. Certainly not by his parents, and not even by his formidable great-aunt.
    At the moment she was admonishing him to pick up the stegosaurus by her bony spine plates and spiked tail, please—otherwise the tail would lash out and the spikes would do what they’d been meant to do, and they’d do it to his hand. There was some sort of esoteric follow-up about useful evolutionary adaptations and medieval weapons. Lachlan tuned it out. He’d learned how to do that. Holly on her own was pedantic; put her together with Lulah, and a man could be up to his neck in trivia and swimming for his life before he knew it.
    “We’ll be back by midnight or so,” Holly told her aunt. When Lachlan turned a look of outraged betrayal on her, she added, “There’ll be a lot of hands to shake, and you know very well that Mr. Warren will want to talk about putting in a traffic light over in Flynton, and—”
    “I thought that was the kind of conversation you’re supposed to rescue me from. Don’t political wives do that?”
    “Nah, we just let the major donors cop a feel.” She knelt and finished wiping off Bella’s chocolaty fingers with her skirt. “No, sweetie, I don’t think the Diplodocus wants a peanut butter cup. She might get a tummy ache.”
    “But, Mommy—”
    “Maybe some of that nice oregano. Go see if she likes it.” As Bella set off to investigate, Holly straightened up and surveyed her skirt. “I have to go back to the house and change. You take the SUV, I’ll follow in the Beemer.”
    “It’s gonna take you more than five minutes to put something else on?” When she gave him a look, he shrugged. “Yeah, stupid question.”
    “Yow!”
    “Bella!” Lulah admonished. “Did you hear what I told Kirby about the tails on these animals?”
    Evan bent to inspect the scratch. “You’ll live, Bella mia.” His daughter looked up at him with an expression that clearly said, Thank you, Daddy, but I figured that one out for myself , reclaimed her hand, and carefully set the steg down. Then she went about coaxing the flying whatsis out from behind a palm frond to perch on Lulah’s third-best willow wand.
    “Speaking of donors,” Lulah said, “Alec and Nicky sent a check. Not a