Unruly Magic Read Online Free PDF

shoulder before I shut the door, the same feeling of being watched as I’d felt earlier teasing me. I shook off my paranoia, pushed thoughts of Chyler to the back of my mind and shut the door.
    A game was already underway with six players sat in solid concentration around the circular dining table. For tonight, it had been covered in green baize and there were several stacks of cards as well as a bunch of coloured poker chips. I hadn’t the faintest idea what was a good hand or not so I hung back to talk to Annalise as she introduced me to faces I didn’t yet know. I nodded politely, said my hellos and had my hand pumped enthusiastically a couple of times. It seemed people didn’t move to Wilding often and, small towns being what they are, everyone knew who I was already and that I’d taken the house across the road. I guessed no amount of wards would have staved off the locals from knowing that. However, I wondered if I should do something about containing that information and made the decision to think on it some more later. I didn’t know if I ever wanted it getting out where I lived especially as I’d spent months trying to live as anonymously as possible in a small town where everyone knew everybody and my English voice stuck out like a sore thumb.
    “Can you play?” asked Annalise and when I shook my head, she carried on, nodding at the table as she spoke. “Gage learned to play when he was real little and he’s pretty damn good. He keeps trying to teach me but it’s really not getting in here.” She tapped her head and rolled her eyes vacantly.
    “You’ve known each other a long time, huh?”
    Annalise looked at me quizzically and nodded. “All our lives, hon’.”
    “How long have you lived together?” I asked her to be conversational as she took the wine bottle and motioned that I should follow her to the kitchen.
    Annalise looked at me like I had gone a little mad as she uncorked the bottle and poured a glass for me, then for her. “Well, except for a few years here and there, all our lives too. Our parents left the house to both of us when they passed.”
    “I thought you were...” I started then choked back the words as I followed her back out to the living room. Realisation hit Annalise at the same time and she hooted so loudly with laughter that the players broke concentration to turn and look at us.
    “Stella, oh Stella,” she howled and tears started to run down her face as she bent almost double, holding her wine glass steady in the air so she wouldn’t spill any liquid.
    “What’s up with you?” asked Gage looking up from his cards, then from her to me, a frown pitting his forehead. Some of his hair had spilled forward and he brushed it back with his free hand, then reached for the beer bottle, touching it to his lips.
    “Oh my,” Annalise snorted, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands. “Stella, here, thinks we’re ... you know ... hah!”
    “You know ... what?” Gage flicked his eyes to his hand then back to us. I knew he understood when he choked on his beer, earning himself a thump on the back from the player next to him.
    I felt myself redden as eyes turned on me when Annalise finally breathed, “Stella seems to be under the impression that we’re married, or living together, or something.”
    His coughing fit over, Gage grimaced. “Gross,” he muttered and looked at me like he couldn’t fathom why I would think such a thing. Finally he rolled his eyes and busied himself looking at his cards with more attention than they could possibly deserve.
    “Why would you think that, honey? Gage is my big brother.” Apparently it was the funniest thing Annalise had ever heard.
    “Well...,” I started. Then, I wondered, why had I thought that? I’d gotten their post in my mailbox once or twice and they had the same surname, Garoul, so when I added to the equation in that they shared a house and didn’t look much like each other – though when I thought about it now