Fragile Destiny (The Aether Chronicles) Read Online Free PDF

mouth.
    “I’m going to freshen up the guest room for V.” Since Jeff and Vix were staying at the house, V couldn’t sleep in her room. They might be more liberal than her mother, but Jeff was still, first and foremost, her elder brother.

    After she finished, Noli returned to her room. The light was still on at V’s house. Had he found out anything?
    With a sigh, she took the piece of the artifact out of her valise—the fragment she’d hidden from Kevighn and refused to give to Brogan. It was one of the pieces Jeff had stolen from the museum in Denver. Sitting on her bed, she traced the partial design on it: five interlocking rings, the high queen’s symbol.
    Noli. A voice brushed her ears, soft as feathers.
    She looked around. There was no one in here but her, and it wasn’t the sprite. The same thing had happened when they’d gone to the earth court palace that morning to find Brogan.
    Perhaps she was going mad. Also, what was she supposed to remember?
    I think it’s the shinies , the sprite said. They’re talking to you. There were lots of shinies in the palace today. Next time we go there, we should take them. They’re not for him.
    Shinies? Noli looked at the piece in her hand. These are the shinies? It made sense that Brogan would have some in the earth palace, since he’d been collecting them. How many pieces did he have? How close was he to assembling the artifact? You’re right. Brogan shouldn’t have them. We have to keep them safe.
    The last thing she wanted was for Brogan to assemble it … whatever it was.
    It came back to whatever it was she needed to remember.
    Squinting in the lamplight, she held the piece tight. What are you, little piece?
    The force of the images playing across her mind knocked her backward onto the bed. Magic and memories pulsed under her skin—including a glimpse of what the legendary artifact looked like. Fully assembled, it was a staff.
    Noli’s chest shook as she exhaled. “James, James!” She pulled herself into a sitting position, urgency coursing through her.
    Footsteps echoed down the hall and James appeared in her doorway, a concerned look on his face. “What’s wrong, Noli?”
    She held up the piece of the artifact. “Will you come with me to find V? I think I know what Brogan is trying to do.”

Two
    Into the Otherworld
    Elise opened her eyes. An ominous wood straight out of a scary story surrounded her, and she was leaning against a dead-looking tree. Her stomach lurched. This wasn’t Noli’s tree house—or any place she recognized.
    “Where are we?” she asked the green wood faery, who still perched on her shoulder. “You said this would take me to the tree with the tree house.”
    The wood faery left her shoulder and flew ahead, urging her on.
    She didn’t have any choice other than to follow. Carefully, she picked her way through the gloomy wood, branches grabbing at her dress and stockings. Suddenly, the air sizzled. When it stopped, they came to a grove of magnificent trees. A tantalizing scent made her nose twitch and she could make out a dusky pink and purple sky through the treetops as they entered a grove.
    “Now that’s a tree house,” she breathed. In the center of the grove stood a tree and in its branches sat a house formed of the tree itself. Pink and blue star-shaped flowers surrounded the base of the tree. Little balls of light flitted around her.
    A purple wood faery flew over and sat on her other shoulder, pulling her hair.
    Elise giggled. “Hey.”
    Another, this one blue, landed on her nose, and she went cross-eyed. The faery flew off and hovered near the green one.
    “I’m very lost,” Elise told them. “I was trying to get to a different tree house. The one in my friend Noli’s backyard.” She sent them a mental picture of the tree and Noli. “This one’s quite nice, but it’s not next to my home, like hers. The other tree must have misunderstood me.”
    They spoke all at once. Wood faeries weren’t very