Pure Magic (Black Dog Book 3) Read Online Free PDF

callejero would have such a dense shadow.”
    “So there is at least one old black dog there, and this is his pack,” Keziah murmured. Her eyes glittered with anticipation. “I wonder how many black dogs he holds under his mastery? Enough that we will have a real fight after all, perhaps.”
    “A hunt,” whispered Amira unexpectedly. Her words were almost inaudible, but her tone was fierce. “A hunt and then fire, Keziah! We should burn the house down, after!”
    Keziah gave her little sister an affectionate glance. “A fire, yes. We should burn the house and let the towering flames blaze through the night as a warning to all those who would dream of defying Dimilioc.” She looked at Alejandro, tossing her head in challenge. “That should please Grayson, do you think so?”
    Alejandro grinned in answer, a fierce expression that was almost a snarl.
    Black dogs! Natividad thought. She knew she should have expected this attitude. She couldn’t say anything that might be taken as an attempt to be mandona —bossy. It was very important to let black dogs think they were making all the decisions about everything. So she said quickly, before everyone could get too carried away, “We don’t have to spring it, you know. We could just slip away. Come back later. With Ezekiel, maybe. With everyone. Think of springing this trap with Ezekiel and Thaddeus and everyone!” There, that idea should appeal to black dog ferocity.
    Both Keziah and Amira looked tempted, but Alejandro gave Natividad a long look, so that she saw at once he was trying to find a way to tell her something she wouldn’t like. He said at last, “There is your little palomita blanca . I saw her, too.” He glanced at Keziah. “The black dog there in the yard , he is outside the house to be seen. He is saying, Come attack me. ” He looked back at Natividad and went on with obvious reluctance, “He has a woman there, dead. A Pure woman. Her blood is thick there on the earth beneath the beech tree. So you see he wants to draw attack. But your little dove, she is the house. A bebé , only little, maybe three years old, maybe four. I think that woman was her mother. I think the little one is Pure, like her mamá. She seems to be alone in the room, but—” he shrugged. “All the house is dark except for that one bright room. Of course she is bait.”
    Natividad closed her eyes briefly in sorrow for that little girl, torn out of her safe childhood by monsters, her mother no doubt murdered in front of her eyes. It was horrible. It was the worst thing that could happen. She shuddered.
    Alejandro touched her cheek, a light, careful touch with the backs of two fingers. His hand was almost but not quite a human hand. His fingers were a little too blunt, the bones of his hand a little too broad, the fingernails a little too much like claws. His shadow was very close to the surface, too close for him to touch her easily. But he saw she was upset, and he tried . Natividad wanted to take his hand, but she knew he needed his shadow to be strong right now.
    She rubbed her palms across her face instead, and let her breath out. She could mourn for that little girl and her loss later , when everyone was safe. She said determinedly, “We have to get that girl out. But this trap—”
    “We will break it and take the girl safely,” Alejandro assured her. He went on, speaking now to Keziah, “The room I saw is bright, all the windows open to the night, anybody can look in and see the little one.” He shrugged, a scornful gesture. “They think we’re fools.”
    Keziah said coolly, “Or maybe they think we are a different kind of fool. Maybe they think we will say, This is a trap . And so we will know that there is an ambush, that there are more than a few strays. Only there is really something else also. Another layer to this trap that we will not see until it is too late.”
    Natividad blinked. She hadn’t thought of that, and she knew Alejandro hadn’t. She was