Strangeness and Charm: The Courts of the Feyre Read Online Free PDF Page A

cheat."
      "I'll talk to Fellstamp."
      "Don't bother. He won't play with me, and I don't play with cheats."
      "All right, I'll ask Slimgrin if he'll play with you."
      "He's on assignment. Garvin told Fionh. He won't be back until next week."
      "Fionh, then."
      "Fionh's too stuck up. Besides, I don't like tennis anyway."
      It was my turn to sigh. "Well, what would you like to do?"
      "I want to see Mum."
      "Alex… it isn't that easy."
      "Why? What could be simpler? How hard could it be? We go and see Mum… that's it," she shrugged.
      "You can't go back to living with your mother."
      "Why not? You just don't want to admit that you lied to her. Again."
      "I didn't lie to her."
      "You told her I was dead!"
      "You were dead… or at least we thought you were. That's what we were told."
      Alex straightened her legs and lay with her arms crossed over her chest, eyes closed in a parody of death.
      "You're not dead, Alex. I can see you breathing."
      She twisted over suddenly. "No! I'm not dead! So why do I have to live in this morgue? Nothing happens here. It's like a home for the elderly. There's nothing to do and no one to do it with. I might as well be dead."
      "Don't say that. It's not true."
      "I want to see Mum. I want to see Kayleigh and I want my room back." She was shouting and as her voice rose the rumbling in the pipes rose with it. "I want my music, and my things. I want to be in my own room, in my own house, doing my own thing. What's so hard about that?"
      I kept my voice quiet, trying to soothe her. "I do understand, but it's more complicated than that. Your mum… It's going to be a huge shock. She needs to be prepared."
      "So prepare her! Write her a letter. Get on the phone. Do something! Anything!" The pipes rattled and banged.
      "It's not just your mum, Alex. Everyone thinks you're dead. Your teachers, neighbours, friends… you can't just walk into school and say, 'Hi – I'm back'."
      "Why not? What do they care? They'll get over it."
      "You killed three girls, Alex. You drowned them, remember?"
      "They don't know that. They think it was an accident."
      "It wasn't an accident, though was it?"
      "Is that what you think? You think I killed them on purpose? You think I filled that place up with drain-water and shit just to get even with that slag and her council-flat coven?"
      "I didn't mean it like that."
      "Well how did you mean it? Huh?"
      "I meant that it wasn't an accident. The drains didn't explode, did they Alex? There was no build up of gas. It was you."
      She rolled over again, staring at the ceiling. "They should've left me alone. I tried to warn them. Kayleigh did too. Fionh says they got what they deserve."
      "I find it hard to believe that Fionh said that."
      "She said that if you are challenged and you win, then that's fair. It's blood price. You don't challenge someone if you're not prepared to fight – to the death if necessary."
      "She means among the Feyre, Alex. She's not talking about human people."
      "I'm fey now, though, aren't I? Them rules don't apply to me."
      "Those rules, and they apply to you if you want to be part of human society. I don't think you can go back, sweetheart, not once you've broken them."
      "You broke them," she accused.
      "Yes, I suppose I did. But I can't go back either."
      "Mum's got Barry now."
      "That's not what I meant."
      "But you're not stuck in here. You can go out whenever you like. You don't have to be cooped up in your room all the time like a freaking prisoner!"
      "You're not a prisoner. You can go out. There are all the grounds, you have the freedom of the house for the most part."
      "It's just a bigger prison, Dad," she said.
      "Look, everyone says you're doing really well, but to be able to go out you have to do better than that. You can't just lose your temper and blow the drain covers off because someone looks at you