Read Online Fly by Midnight by Lauren Quick - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Lauren Quick
Ads: Link
drain,” she said. “I think I found blood.”
He picked up the bag, which had a red smear on the inside. “I’ll put in a rush order. Find out anything about her husband?”
“One minute I think Jane’s naïve, and the next I think she’s a pretty smart witch. I get the feeling I’m on a need-to-know basis, like she wants me to do the legwork and mind my own business.”
“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but I got nothing from the archives. Where do we go from here?”
“I know a witch who might be able to help us. I’m going to visit an old friend to do some serious digging.”
6
F rom an early age, Honora realized that her sisters were the creative and sensitive ones in the family. They made beautiful and enchanting things like potions and stories. On the other hand, when she made anything, she usually burnt it, broke it, or shattered it into a million pieces. But she had other traits. Honora liked to think of herself as a collector of evidence, piecing together bits of information of other people’s lives to solve a puzzle, and the harder the puzzle was to solve, the better she liked it. Her current mission was to solve the puzzle of Jonathan Rainer, and she wasn’t too proud to admit she needed help. She was on a flight path to one of the more interesting areas of Stargazer City: the magic district.
The magic district consisted of a six-block area filled with eccentric shops and businesses, some of them a little seedy, but all of them weirdly fascinating, containing the most unusual magical paraphernalia and supplies, and attracting detectives, bounty hunters, and mystics. Most respectable witches and wizards steered clear. In the early years of her career as a private investigator, Honora was too desperate for work to be respectable. Back then, her cases were tracking down skips for a local bounty hunter who took pity on her and threw her some of his overload. She would haunt the magic district, trying to learn as much as she could about the city, the police, the law, and the undercurrent of witches and wizards who worked in the shadows. If she wanted to be an investigator, she’d have to explore the good and the bad side of the witching world.
One of her favorite shops was a dingy little place called Curious Magic, Rare Artifacts. A bloom of nostalgia formed in her heart when she pushed open the door. An enchanted saxophone and standup base played magically from a corner. The scent of sandalwood floated in the air. A magical security ward went off when she entered the shop. She had a short staff strapped to her back, but nothing alarm-worthy. The baton was much thicker than a wand, but not as unwieldy as a full-sized staff. It channeled energy and spells or, in a worst-case scenario, doubled as a club. The ward tingled as it flowed over her body, and Honora couldn’t help but giggle, drawing a disgusted glare from a wizard shopping nearby. Chill out, she thought. Sometimes magic tickles.
At first glance, the shop looked like a dusty antique store. Wooden shelves stretched from floor to ceiling, packed with old grimoires, used wands, knobby wizard staffs, cracked crystal balls, and magical orbs of all shapes and sizes. A long, wooden table was littered with found objects like enchanted mirrors, shabby bags of chipped runes, and bowlfuls of crystals. A huge map of Everland hung on a far wall, and globes of illuma lights cast haunting shadows over the cramped shop.
Perched on a very tall stool behind a very tall counter was a petite witch with a mane of curly gray hair. She wore a long green velvet robe and pointy, black leather high-heeled boots. January Carter had been a fixture of the magic district for at least three centuries, and her age was rumored at four hundred and thirty-seven, many of those years spent in this very shop, sifting over magical artifacts. If it happened in Everland, there was a good chance January knew all about it.
When Honora was a newbie private investigator,
He picked up the bag, which had a red smear on the inside. “I’ll put in a rush order. Find out anything about her husband?”
“One minute I think Jane’s naïve, and the next I think she’s a pretty smart witch. I get the feeling I’m on a need-to-know basis, like she wants me to do the legwork and mind my own business.”
“I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but I got nothing from the archives. Where do we go from here?”
“I know a witch who might be able to help us. I’m going to visit an old friend to do some serious digging.”
6
F rom an early age, Honora realized that her sisters were the creative and sensitive ones in the family. They made beautiful and enchanting things like potions and stories. On the other hand, when she made anything, she usually burnt it, broke it, or shattered it into a million pieces. But she had other traits. Honora liked to think of herself as a collector of evidence, piecing together bits of information of other people’s lives to solve a puzzle, and the harder the puzzle was to solve, the better she liked it. Her current mission was to solve the puzzle of Jonathan Rainer, and she wasn’t too proud to admit she needed help. She was on a flight path to one of the more interesting areas of Stargazer City: the magic district.
The magic district consisted of a six-block area filled with eccentric shops and businesses, some of them a little seedy, but all of them weirdly fascinating, containing the most unusual magical paraphernalia and supplies, and attracting detectives, bounty hunters, and mystics. Most respectable witches and wizards steered clear. In the early years of her career as a private investigator, Honora was too desperate for work to be respectable. Back then, her cases were tracking down skips for a local bounty hunter who took pity on her and threw her some of his overload. She would haunt the magic district, trying to learn as much as she could about the city, the police, the law, and the undercurrent of witches and wizards who worked in the shadows. If she wanted to be an investigator, she’d have to explore the good and the bad side of the witching world.
One of her favorite shops was a dingy little place called Curious Magic, Rare Artifacts. A bloom of nostalgia formed in her heart when she pushed open the door. An enchanted saxophone and standup base played magically from a corner. The scent of sandalwood floated in the air. A magical security ward went off when she entered the shop. She had a short staff strapped to her back, but nothing alarm-worthy. The baton was much thicker than a wand, but not as unwieldy as a full-sized staff. It channeled energy and spells or, in a worst-case scenario, doubled as a club. The ward tingled as it flowed over her body, and Honora couldn’t help but giggle, drawing a disgusted glare from a wizard shopping nearby. Chill out, she thought. Sometimes magic tickles.
At first glance, the shop looked like a dusty antique store. Wooden shelves stretched from floor to ceiling, packed with old grimoires, used wands, knobby wizard staffs, cracked crystal balls, and magical orbs of all shapes and sizes. A long, wooden table was littered with found objects like enchanted mirrors, shabby bags of chipped runes, and bowlfuls of crystals. A huge map of Everland hung on a far wall, and globes of illuma lights cast haunting shadows over the cramped shop.
Perched on a very tall stool behind a very tall counter was a petite witch with a mane of curly gray hair. She wore a long green velvet robe and pointy, black leather high-heeled boots. January Carter had been a fixture of the magic district for at least three centuries, and her age was rumored at four hundred and thirty-seven, many of those years spent in this very shop, sifting over magical artifacts. If it happened in Everland, there was a good chance January knew all about it.
When Honora was a newbie private investigator,
Similar Books
