Read Online Cold Burn of Magic by Jennifer Estep - Free Book Online Page A

pay for my daily dinners of cheeseburgers and fries. I didn’t spend any of the money Mo had given me for stealing the ruby necklace. Not a single dollar.
    There was too much blood on it for that.
    So here I was, at school again, wondering which greasy dive I could lurk in this afternoon and checking my phone every five minutes in case Mo texted me. This was the last week of classes, and all that was left were a few lame, end-of-year activities, which I totally could have skipped. But I always came to school every day right up until the bitter end to hit the breakfast and lunch lines, where I swiped extra cookies and apples that I didn’t pay for and stuffed into my backpack to eat later.
    The last bell of the day rang, and I was heading out the front door when my phone finally chirped with a message from Mo. I stopped in the hallway and looked at the screen.
    Â 
    Everything’s going to be okay. Don’t start a fight. *Please*
    Â 
    I sighed. Another cryptic message that told me absolutely nothing. I wondered who he thought I was going to start a fight with. Certainly not the rubes at school. I knew better than that. Oh, I could kick the ass of anyone stupid enough to mess with me. My mom had taught me to take care of myself—and then some. But a fight would mean a talk with my parents, and since I didn’t have any, that would lead to all sorts of awkward questions about why I wasn’t in foster care, where I lived, and other things that were best left to the imagination.
    I waited, but Mo didn’t text me again. So I put the phone back into my pocket, pushed through the doors, and stepped outside into the bright sunshine.
    I didn’t notice the SUV until I was almost at the sidewalk.
    It crouched at the curb like an oversize beetle. Everything about it was black—black paint, black windows, black tires. The sort of car you see in action movies where government spooks use the vehicle to help them disappear people—forever.
    But it was much, much worse than the government because a crest blazed on the front passenger door—a hand holding a sword aloft, all of it outlined in white. I might not have anything to do with them, but I still recognized the Sinclair Family crest.
    I’d had my suspicions before, but I still bit back a groan. Of course it would be that Family. The only thing worse would have been if the Draconis had come for me.
    A guy was leaning against the side of the SUV, his arms crossed over his muscled chest. His hair was a rich, golden blond and slicked back into a cool style, while his tan skin brought out his pale blue eyes. He was easily one of the most gorgeous guys I’d ever seen, and I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed him. All of the girls walking by paused to give him a hungry once-over, especially since he didn’t look all that much older than the students, maybe twenty or so.
    Too bad he wasn’t alone.
    He was flanked by Felix and an older man with snow-white hair who was wearing a three-piece black tweed suit. Silver cuffs flashed on all their wrists, and golden boy had a sword strapped to his waist. Felix straightened up the second he saw me and nudged golden boy with his elbow. Oh no.
    It would look more suspicious if I bolted, so I kept going, falling in behind a group of football players. I reached the sidewalk and turned left, away from the SUV. I ducked my head and started walking in the other direction, not really running, but seriously thinking about it—
    A pair of boots planted themselves on the sidewalk, and I had to pull up to keep from slamming into the guy in front of me.
    â€œIn a hurry?” golden boy asked, smiling and revealing a dimple in his left cheek.
    â€œYou might say that.”
    I started to step around him, but he blocked my path. I moved the other way, and so did he, cutting me off again. We did our dance a third time before he reached out, as though he were going to grab my arm. Handsome or