The Green's Hill Novellas Read Online Free PDF Page A

irritation.
    “Tell him what you’re doing, brother. Words aren’t just for hurling insults, yes?”
    Bracken growled. “Sorry, Green.” This time, when he bent down, he was much gentler. “Whim, I’m going to use my power to make it bleed. That way, when Green heals it, there will be no poison left in the wound. You feel me?”
    Whim nodded and trusted, because Green was his leader and wouldn’t do him harm. And because Bracken was bigger than he was, and his power was terrifying.
    But the wound didn’t hurt at all when it bled, and Green’s countertouch on his wrist made the skin grow back in gentle layers. Whim gave a sigh of relief and leaned his head on the car seat, and Green scooted in next to him to offer an arm and a shoulder.
    “All better, brother. So, are you going to tell me what you were doing out of the hill?”
    “Adrian said I could,” Whim told him. “I met a mortal.”
    “And you stayed long enough for him to hurt you?” Bracken snapped, alarmed, and Whim pushed his head out of the car to retaliate.
    “It wasn’t like that! He stole a kiss!”
    And now Green was alarmed. “He stole a what?”
    Whim had never heard that sort of panic in Green’s voice. “I stole it back,” he defended. He tried not to pout. “And that’s when things got out of control.”
    “Is that when he pulled the gun?” Green asked, his voice tender.
    “What gun?” Whim asked guilelessly, and Green pinched the bridge of his nose as though his head hurt.
    “Whim, how did you burn your arm?”
    “On Charlie’s pocket,” Whim said obediently.
    “Is Charlie the man who stole a kiss?” Green asked again, trying to make things simple.
    “No. Charlie is the boy I didn’t want to kiss,” Whim said. Then he humphed. “But he stole the kiss, and he tasted soooo good.”
    Green took another deep, even breath. “Whim, please tell me you at least had your glamour on when you were out seducing mortal children.”
    “No,” Whim said, missing Green’s frustration entirely. “But that’s not why he kissed me.” Whim knew Green and Bracken were exchanging glances over his head, but he couldn’t help it. They were his thoughts. He knew where they were going.
    “I’ll bite,” Bracken said after a moment. “Why did he kiss you?”
    Whim looked at his grumpy younger brother—at least as the sidhe reckoned relationships—and smiled giddily. “He kissed me because he liked me. We talked all night. He must have liked me for me.”
    Bracken shook his head, as though blinded by something, and he and Green met eyes again. “Well, good, brother,” Green praised. “Are you going to see him again?”
    Whim nodded enthusiastically. “Yes—yes. We will see each other next Litha.”
    Bracken made an odd choke-gurgle, and Whim looked at him as he started coughing so hard, Green had to reach out of the car and thump him on the back.
    “Goddess, Whim, do you think you’ll remember his name by then?” Bracken asked, and Whim was surprised.
    “Of course I will,” he said. It was Charlie, after all.
    “I’ll believe that when I see it etched in wood,” Green muttered, and then he gave Whim a gentle, one-armed hug. “Come, brother. Brack will drive you back, and I’ll take the bike. Let’s get you back to the hill before June tries to fry you like an onion, yes?”
    The sun was already a skin-sizzling glare, and Whim nodded distractedly. “Yes. Yes, let’s get back to the hill.” A picture was forming behind his eyes, and he was trying to make sure the sugar-drunk butterfly that was his mind would land in this place and stay. It would be the perfect thing, he thought, barely hearing Bracken and Green talking around him, to make sure he never forgot Charlie’s name.

Charlie—Covenants
     
     
    UNTIL CHARLIE saw the blisters on Whim’s arm, he’d never thought that the gun in his pocket would hurt anybody but himself.
    But Charlie looked up and Whim was gone. Charlie was there, with come sticking on his