Read Online Iron Cast by Destiny; Soria - Free Book Online Page B

expression, Gabriel tried to keep walking, but Corinne blocked him.
    â€œI know we just met last night,” she said. “So here’s the first thing you should know about me: I never back down from a challenge.”
    â€œI didn’t challenge you to anything.”
    â€œTwo minutes,” Corinne said. “That’s all I need, I swear.”
    Gabriel glanced around them at the passersby, who weren’t paying them any mind. He sighed his consent.
    â€œWhat are you holding?” Corinne asked.
    â€œMy hat.”
    â€œ ‘ ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre—’”
    â€œWhat the hell are—”
    Corinne pressed her finger against his lips. He let out a startled breath, warm even through her glove. She forged ahead. Her left hand was in her pocket, gloved fingers wrapped around the brass timepiece. Its familiarity helped her find focus.
    â€œ ‘Did gyre and gimble in the wabe. All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.’ That ought to do it.”
    Corinne stepped back and crossed her arms in satisfaction.
    â€œDo what?”
    â€œWhat are you holding?”
    â€œMy hat.”
    â€œAre you sure?”
    â€œOf course I—” Gabriel looked down and saw that he was holding a soft black rabbit.
    He cried out and dropped it, stumbling back a few steps into a hunched old lady in a Sunday hat who whacked him across the back with her walking stick.
    Corinne was laughing so hard, she gripped her stomach and doubled over. People were starting to stare now. Gabriel regained his dignity and approached the animal with the caution of a soldier approaching a land mine.
    â€œIt’s not real,” he said, but it came out as more of a question.
    â€œTouch it,” Corinne said. “It won’t bite. Probably.”
    Gabriel knelt down and prodded the fur hesitantly. The rabbit looked at him and twitched its nose.
    â€œI find Carroll especially potent for animals,” Corinne said. “There are some wordsmiths who swear by Blake, but Carroll captures the
motion
best, I think.”
    Gabriel shook his head, still prodding at the rabbit. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    â€œI’m just proving that you have no idea what
you’re
talking about, Mr. Stone. Now pick up your hat. You’re causing a scene.”
    Gabriel started to protest, but before he could make a sound, the rabbit had become his hat once again. He picked it up, carefully, and put it back on his head. He stood up, watching Corinne with a new look in his eyes. Fear with a smidgen of awe. Her favorite.
    â€œCome on,” she said. “Ada will be waiting.”
    Corinne tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow and tugged him gently along. The brick and stone businesses of the financialdistrict dominated the cityscape, casting vast shadows across the lines of sleek black Oldsmobiles and low-riding roadsters in the street. As they got closer to the heart of the district, the car horns and sputtering exhaust fumes drowned out all memory of the Cast Iron’s sleepy neighborhood.
    â€œI don’t get it,” Gabriel said after a few minutes, his hand drifting again to his hat. “I
knew
it was an illusion. How did it feel so real?”
    â€œYou’ve heard the phrase
mind over matter
?” she asked. “Well, that doesn’t apply here. When I recite, I give you whatever image I want, but I don’t have to convince you it’s real. Your own imagination does it for me. It’s a rare person who can overcome their own mind, and the better your brain works, the stronger the illusion.”
    â€œMaking the smartest person in the room the easiest one to fool.”
    â€œNow you’re on the trolley.”
    Gabriel just shook his head.
    â€œWhat?” Corinne looked up at him.
    â€œIt’s bizarre. Poetry of all things.”
    â€œWhy not poetry? Makes perfect sense to me,”