Seeing Magic (The Queen of the Night Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

had pushed my backside and wild laughter came from the trees. I looked up but couldn’t make out who hid in there. It didn’t matter. They had a lot of explaining to do. Dragging myself off the muddy bank,  I headed toward the sound.
    At the dense tree line, a tall, slender man walked out. He still had a huge smile on his face. “Oh ach, Fiona, love, don’t be angry. I’m just playing with ya’, lass.”
    At first I didn’t register his words, but was compelled to look at his face. He dressed a little weird, I mean, even golfers don’t wear breeches anymore, and where did he get the little Robin Hood cap with the feather in it?  His white blond hair glinted and his deep green eyes were framed with thick, dark lashes. His smile was captivating. A small part of my brain was still functioning and thought; why am I drawn to this guy, he’s not my type…and why would he confuse me with Great-Aunt Fiona ?  Aunt Rose always commented on how much I looked like her. I couldn’t really see what she meant.
    Reflexively, I responded, “I’m Maggie.” 
    The man looked startled, but recovered quickly. He continued in his heavy brogue. “Maggie, is it?  And what brings you to the edge of the forest then, love?”
    I held up the mushrooms still clutched in my hand and spores floated toward my face. They were visible only because of the sun’s rays slashing through the tree canopy. Vaguely, I chided myself for gripping the mushrooms too tight.
    He looked straight into my eyes and said, “You should be careful where you wander, lass. There are dangers in the forest.”
    I wanted to respond, to take my basket of produce and my mushrooms and run back to the cabin, but something kept me rooted in place. I couldn’t look away from his mesmerizing eyes. Starting to get dizzy, I couldn’t remember why I stood there, dripping wet. A little part of me knew I should be uncomfortable standing around in muddy clothes, but I couldn’t feel much of anything. My thoughts were consumed by the green eyes.
    “Come here, love.”
    A war raged within me. Common sense and urban habits told me the guy was dangerous. In spite of my deeply ingrained city-girl distrust of strangers, my feet shuffled toward the tree cover of their own accord. When I was close enough, the man reached out to grab my arm. That’s when muscle memory and instinct overrode whatever his green eyes had done to me.
    I sidestepped him and automatically presented a smaller target to the man in the green cap by turning to my side. I lunged into bow steps and executed the ‘ Waves arms like clouds ’ move so he couldn’t get a grip on me, finishing my Tai Chi form with hands in ‘ Playing the guitar ’ form. My left hand came up to hold the imaginary neck of the Chinese guitar and protected my face from attack. The stranger wasn’t nearly as fast as me. His hand struck my wrist. The physical contact broke the last remnants of his spell. In full command of all of my faculties, I ran.
    I’m a good sprinter, but I’m used to running on even, paved ground. The forest was covered with at least four inches of detritus. Leaf cover hid broken branches and partially decayed fallen tree trunks. I tried to head toward the cabin. Eventually, it became obvious I’d gone the wrong direction. I circled back. The ground was moist from recent rainfall and several times I skidded, slipped and fell. One of those falls resulted in a twisted left ankle. Undoubtedly, it would be badly sprained. Adrenaline gave me the power to run on it anyway, but I had no idea of which direction to head. No discernible landmarks helped me get back to the cabin. No noises coaxed me toward civilization, and, if I wasn’t mistaken, Green Eyes caught up to me because he was flying.
    I shook my head to clear the cobwebs of his hypnosis, wondering if I’d grabbed the wrong mushrooms and released hallucinogenic spores into my airway. The guy floated alongside me at eye-level. Too shocked to process