Long Hot Summoning Read Online Free PDF

hair. “I have a sudden need for profanity.”
    “Yeah. That was my reaction. That mall’s got to cover at least four acres.
    Maybe as much as six.”
    “Segue?” Dean asked, dragging his chair around far enough to see Claire’s face.
    “A metaphysical overlap intended to displace reality.” He switched his attention to Diana.
    She scratched thoughtfully at her left elbow and tried to come up with an explanation he could understand. “You know how the Otherside is neither here nor there? That everyone-good guys, bad guys, the Swiss-can all get in but can only get back out into their own reality, the one they left from? Well, in a segue, someone, or something, matches up a piece of the Otherside to this reality and blends them together until enough of the copy occupies the space of the original whereupon the copy takes over. That puts a piece of the Otherside inside this reality so that anyone can enter it from their reality and exit here. The Erlking Emporium is anchoring the biggest segue I’ve ever heard of.”
    “The biggest?”
    “Well, you can’t count Las Vegas, that’s a metaphysical heritage site. All that bad taste in one place put a real strain on reality.” It took Dean about half a heartbeat to decide that was one of those comments he didn’t need to understand. “But how did the segue in the mall get so big without you guys noticing?”
    “Hell,” Austin answered before either Keeper could.
    He put his front paws up on Claire’s knee and she lifted him onto her lap.
    “They hid a smaller bad inside the noise of the biggest bad. They probably set the anchor last fall while we were closing the hole and after that, it was just a matter of keeping things moving ahead, slow and steady.”
    “And they are?”
    “Your guess is as good as mine. Oh, wait. No it isn’t.” He paused and licked at the quarter-sized bit of black fur on his front leg. “For simplicity’s sake, let’s just call them the bad guys.”
    “But the Otherside isn’t necessarily bad.”
    “Doesn’t matter; with a segue anything can cross over. Bad, good . . .”
    “Hey!” Sam protested, coming out of the kitchen. “This world could use a little more good in it. I ought to know.”
    Austin sighed. “Yeah, yeah. Light. Angel. Cat. Yadda. We all know the story and you’re missing the point. A little good is fine. A lot of good isn’t.”
    “Keepers maintain the balance, Sam. A functional segue could tip it in either direction, and if they’re using trolls, well, I’m guessing we’re not heading for hugs and cheesecake.” Claire rubbed her thumb gently over the velvet fur between Austin’s ears. “Shutting them down is a tricky business,” she added thoughtfully. “It can’t be done from this side; I’ll have to cross over and go to the source.” Diana rolled her eyes. “You’ll have to? Try we’ll have to. If I can’t close something this big on my own, you certainly can’t-Basic Folklore 101, the younger sibling is always more powerful. I have the power, you have the experience. United we stand, divided we fall, yadda yadda. So I suggest you get over yourself, drop the whole I’m-the-only-one-who-can-save-the-world crap, and recognize that we’ve got trouble.“
    “Right here in River City,” Sam added.
    “Show tunes?” Austin glared down at the orange cat. “You have got to be kidding.”
    “I have three words for you, Austin.” Diana leaned a little closer to Claire’s lap and flicked up a finger for each word. “Andrew Lloyd Webber. But that’s so not what we’re talking about. We need to get back into that mall and close that segue. It’s going to take some time, so I suggest we start tonight.”
    “Ignoring your less than flattering opinion of my character,” Claire muttered darkly, “I agree.”
    “I don’t.”
    “Listen much, Dean? Segue bad. Keepers good. And I don’t know where I was going with that, but the sooner we get the sucker closed down the better.”
    “Not