Golden Girl Read Online Free PDF

right?”
    “It’s a little late for you to worry about that now, isn’t it, Ruth? It’s time to make up your mind,” said Sparkling Woman. “If you’re just brave for one tiny minute, you’ll have everything you’ve wished for.”
    Her voice was so sweet and sure, you knew in your bones that whatever she said just had to be right. That voice could make you face monsters. If I hadn’t already known Sparkling Woman was a fairy, that would have clinched it.
    I let out a deep breath and opened the part of me thatcontrolled both my magic and my awareness of other people’s magic. The strength of Miss Markham’s wish slapped me hard. She wanted fame, power, and money—everything Ivy Bright had. Everyone would love her and need her, and for once she’d be calling the shots. The power of that wish reached out to the driving hunger inside Rougarou and lit the greed inside Sparkling Woman. But there was something else too. It was way far in the background and I couldn’t quite wrap myself around it.
    “Can you magic them?” Jack breathed.
    “They’ll feel it as soon as I try.” They’d be after us in a hot minute too, throwing their magic around, and I had no idea how strong they were.
    Outside, Ruth took one trembling step toward that dripping wet, hairy, naked monster. She didn’t even glance back at Ivy. The monster grinned and spread his arms wide. “Bring your kiss to Rougarou.”
    “You’ll have everything you wish for, and a little bit more.” Sparkling Woman smiled underneath her veil. She kept one hand on Ivy’s head. Ivy leaned against her like a tired girl against her mother, except her mouth dangled loose and open. “Just one kiss and it’s all done.”
    Jack Holland can be a pain sometimes, and he’s way too good at twisting people around his thumb, but he’s nobody’s coward. He set his jaw and scooped up a fistful of nails from the nearest keg. There’s one thing fairy magic can’t get around, and that’s iron. Even a little piece, like a nail, could put the kibosh on a whole lot of power.
    Jack sucked in a deep breath and kicked open the plywood door.
    “Hey! Ugly!” Jack charged onto the bridge like he had the whole U.S. cavalry behind him.
    Rougarou whirled around, scattering drops of water and clumps of hair. “Who—?”
    “Wasn’t talkin’ to you!” Jack reared back and pitched a handful of nails like he was on the mound for the Yankees. They hit Sparkling Woman square between the eyes. She reeled backward, clutching her forehead. Without her to lean against, Ivy crumpled to the ground.
    By the time Sparkling Woman stopped moving, she wasn’t pretty anymore. Or a woman. Or even human. Her smooth skin and sparkly black dress turned rough and lumpy like crocodile hide. The silver veil turned to lanky gray hair hanging in twisted knots across her face. Her feet splayed out into webbed claws, and when she opened her mouth to scream, it was full of needle-sharp teeth and a really nasty long gray tongue.
    Rougarou waved his hairy arms and bellowed like a disappointed freight train. Jack pitched another load of nails at Sparkling Woman, hitting her square in her crocodile face. He turned on his heel and took off running back toward me and the house, tossing nails behind him like iron bread crumbs. Ruth screamed and screamed some more. She was wishing she was gone, but she couldn’t make her feet move. That was okay, because she was wishing, and that was what I needed. I got behind that wish and put my shoulder to it.It was heavy and I had to lean in. Something was dragging on it, and on me. I clenched my fists.
    Be home in bed. Be home in bed. Be having a bad dream
.
    For a split second, Ruth Markham was there screaming. Then she was gone. Something inside me snapped shut. It had worked. I’d done it. I could feel it. This very moment, Ruth Markham was waking up screaming her head off in a dingy one-room apartment she shared with a girl named Gertrude who worked the perfume