Read Online Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner - Free Book Online Page A

arms and lowered her to the ground while Alan looked on anxiously. The girl's eyes were squeezed shut, and she'd drawn her arms around herself as if for warmth. Caleb slowly moved his hands from her head to her toes, his own expression unreadable.
    “I tried to heal her,” Allie said, kneeling beside him.
    Panic edged her words. “I tried, but I couldn't find what was wrong!”
    “That's because this isn't a matter of skin or blood or bone,” Caleb said soberly. “It's on the level of essence. Soul, you might say.”
    Allie swallowed. “That sounds bad.”
    “Not so bad as it could be. Just… tricky to find. Here, I'll show you.” He laid one hand over Kimi's head, the other over her heart. Allie placed her small hands on top of his large ones. They both closed their eyes. Silver light bloomed beneath Caleb's palms.
    “Oh!” Allie said. “But that's easy! Why didn't I see?”
    The light sank down and disappeared. Kimi stopped shivering and opened her eyes. Alan knelt beside her; she threw her arms around his neck, clinging hard, as if seeking warmth still.
    “Stay with her tonight,” Caleb said. “Keep her warm. Send for me if anything happens. I don't care how late. You know that.”
    “I know, and—thank you.” Alan glanced at me. “And thank you, too, for bringing her home.” He carried his daughter away, holding her as if she were a much younger child.
    Caleb looked at Allie and me. He drew his handstogether and rested his forehead on them. “You'd best tell me exactly what happened.”
    I looked down, ashamed, leaving Allie to tell the story.
    “I didn't know what to do,” she said at last. “If Liza hadn't come …” The words trailed off.
    “You did well,” Caleb assured her. He turned to Samuel. “Take her home. She's had a long couple of days.”
    Allie started to protest, but at a glance from Samuel merely sighed. “Are you coming, too, Liza?”
    “Liza will be along shortly.” The ice in Caleb's voice startled me.
    Allie didn't seem to notice. “Well, hurry up. I'm still Liza's healer, you know. And she needs rest.”
    Caleb watched Allie follow her father away. “Kimberly was lucky. Allison, too. If either of them had touched the shadow for longer, it could have done them real harm. I'll allow many things, Liza, but I will not allow you to endanger the children of this town.” His eyes reminded me of frost before dawn. I backed away a little. “There are many shadows left over from the War,” Caleb said. “Tell me the nature of your magic and how this shadow came to be bound to you.”
    “I don't know.”
    “You will tell me.
Now.”
Caleb grabbed my arm, drew a small mirror from his pocket, and held it before me. I tried to turn away, but moonlight shone through the clouds and reflected off the glass. The light
burned,
cold as a healer's touch. I screamed, and as I screamed I saw—
    A huge metal arch stretching from river to sky and back again. A dark-haired young woman, her face streaked with tears, walking toward the arch's base, closer and closer until it towered above her like a giant curving mirror. She walked on, stepped through the mirror's bright surface, and disappeared.
    I heard an indrawn breath and knew I wasn't alone. Somehow Caleb had followed me into this vision. I fled from him, and as I fled I saw—
    Towering oaks and maples stretching branches down toward the earth. Shadows bridged the gaps between leaf and land, and the earth shuddered at their touch. Trenches gaped open, filled with metal and bone.
    I flinched away, but Caleb grabbed my shoulder, forcing me to look—to see the dark fluid that stained the bones, to taste the metallic tang at the back of my throat.
    I shut my eyes, and behind closed lids I saw—
    Darkness. Cool, silent darkness, save for the tread of footsteps on a wooden floor. A shadowy figure carried a bundle in his arms. My father. The bundle began to cry, and from down the hall my mother whimpered in her sleep, but I only watched,