Read Online Ever After by Kate Serine - Free Book Online

find such a place habitable. The stench of mildew made my nose itch, and I sneezed twice before I added, “Where did all this stuff come from?”
    She shrugged and strolled toward the steps leading up to the stage. “Here and there. Most of it was here already, but I’ve brought it out into the open to take an inventory.”
    I shook my head in confusion. “Inventory? Why do you care about cast-off props from a washed-up theater?”
    She paused when she reached the stage and spread her arms, gesturing toward the vast collection. “Because these aren’t all just props, Gideon. Many of them are relics. Tale relics. I’ve hidden them among the junk to avoid detection.”
    When I gaped at her, she snatched up an ancient-looking oil lamp and tossed it to me. The moment it hit my open palms, I could feel the magic infused in the metal. My nerve endings tingled and a barrage of images flashed through my thoughts, telling the entire story of the fabled lamp in three seconds flat. My gaze snapped up to hers. “This is Al Addin’s lamp. The one that held his genie.”
    She nodded and picked up a shepherd’s horn. “Little Boy Blue’s horn.” Next was a small red hooded cape. “Little Red’s riding hood from when she was a child.”
    Now understanding the import of the collection she’d amassed, I turned a slow circle, surveying all the items again. “Where the hell did you get all this?” I breathed. “I didn’t think anything came over with us. How’re all these relics in the Here and Now?”
    She jogged down the steps. “I have no idea. Someone has been either sending them here from Make Believe or drawing them in to the Here and Now. And they’re from the entire timeline of Tale history, Gideon. Some are ancient. Others are only decades old.”
    â€œHow did you even discover them?” I asked, dumbfounded.
    â€œThat morning at the falls, the item I liberated—”
    â€œStole.”
    Her mouth hitched up at one corner, giving me the saucy, mischievous smile that had first won my heart. “Semantics.”
    I grinned in spite of myself. “You were saying?”
    â€œI had in my possession an item that had been given to my mother to keep as a memento of my father after he died. It was one of several of his possessions that were returned to her after he was killed. Just days later, soldiers came and looted our home, taking the items, hiding them by dispersing them far and wide. Just a few weeks before that morning at the falls, I learned that at least one of the treasures—a magical helm—was held by the fairy king. And I decided to get it back.”
    â€œWhat happened to it when you fell?” I asked.
    She shook her head. “When I came to, it was gone, along with everything else I had. I was lying on a riverbank, completely naked, all my possessions gone.”
    A vision of her naked in the moonlight intruded upon my thoughts, a remembrance of our last night together. Heat flooded my body, and I turned away to hide certain other effects, hoping she didn’t notice when I covertly shifted to make myself a little more comfortable.
    â€œI searched everywhere in Make Believe,” she continued. “But there was no sign of it. Until I came here. I found the first relic by accident when I was doing a job in Rome—”
    This brought me back around. “Rome?”
    â€œWhich made me start looking for other things, just out of curiosity, mind, but the more I looked the more I found. And two weeks ago, my informant discovered the helm was right here in Chicago. I mean to get it back.”
    â€œWhat the hell were you doing in Rome?” I demanded, remembering I’d heard about a trip my ol’ pal Merlin had taken there just last year. With a lady friend.
    She shrugged out of her jacket and tossed it over the back of one of the seats. “Jewelry heist. There was