Read Online Shadowglass by Erica Hayes - Free Book Online

way to dirty office buildings and car parks, the university, my suburb with its bluestone gutters and cracked pavements and broken-down student houses. I drifted off the tram and flitted the last few blocks in a daze, blinking in the sunlight, my bare feet stinging on rough concrete.
    I tumbled the squidgy over in my hands as I dawdled. Sunlight glinted on scratches in the rust, and underneath it showed all silvery and nice. I stroked it, and the thing inside purred. “So, squidgy, what exactly are you?”
    —I’m you. We’re us. You’re me.— The voice chimed pleasantly, like bells or rushing water.
    “Okay, so that didn’t make sense. Who’s in there? Are you a boy or a girl? How come you’re telling me all these weird things to say? I mean, it’s brave and cool and awesome of you. But—”
    —I want us to be happy.— The squidgy rolled anxiously, caressing my fingers.— Be my friend. Please. Don’t break my heart.—
    “Okay, okay. Don’t twist your knickers. Here’s home. You like it?”
    Our squat, a moldy white weatherboard, dirt where the lawn should be, a broken veranda with a dusty couch and a few dead potted plants, front window broken and boarded, magpies squawking on the rusty gutters.
    We’re not proud. We like it here. Why spend money on rent when you can party? Besides, we owe most of what we make to the Valenti clan. In the middle of an ongoing gang war, protection doesn’t come cheap, even for a two-bit con like ours. Should’ve asked Kane to put in a good word for me with Sonny V.
    Sure. Kane had probably already forgotten I existed. Probably did a different girl every night, trying to forget about his weird-ass girlfriend.
    I flapped up onto the creaking porch, slipping the not-mirror back in my bag. Stale heat dried my lungs as I staggered into the lounge. No air-conditioning, and we swung from the ceiling fans and broke them long ago. Jewelry, crumpled cash, and broken glass littered the thin carpet, yesterday’s spoils. Crusty yellow custard splashed the peeling green wallpaper and the TV screen, and our big orange beanbag was speckled with mashed jelly beans and popcorn. We’d had a bit of a party before we went out. No doubt Blaze would cheat at paper, scissors, rock and I’d end up cleaning again.
    The mirror snorted.— Tell him to clean up his own custard. Just ’cause you’re a girl doesn’t mean you do housework, right?—
    Yeah. Try telling Blaze that. He tries to be a New Age guy—he cleans his teeth and wears eye shadow and everything—but he’s got that convenient boy gene that just doesn’t see the mess, even when he put it there.
    Ladylike snoring rattled from Azure’s doorway, and I stuck my head in to see her tucked happily in bed, green hair brushed, wings clean and neatly folded under the quilt.
    Affection warmed me. No doubt she’d made sweet, safe, sober love to a clean, respectable fae boy in his nice clean house, slipped out of bed ( yeah, Ice, bed —not over the couch or up against the door ) despite his protests and showered before she came home. Before daylight. With all her clothes intact. By taxi, because she hadn’t spent all her cash getting plastered. Without making a dickhead of herself, insulting some random guy on the way.
    I looked down at my stained clothes, the blue bruises blotting my arms from harsh demon fingers, the stinky shimmer wafting from my skin. Weary envy tugged at my blood. Some girls have class, Ice. You’re not one of them.
    I tossed my bag into my doorway and passed Blaze’s match-scented room without looking in. He wouldn’t be there. If he got home before lunchtime, it’d be a first. So many besotted girls, so little time.
    I stumbled into the stuffy gray bathroom and peeled off my clothes. Blaze had squirted shampoo all over the tiles again, and scarlet hair clogged the drain. I fumbled the tap on and leaned my head on my forearm, letting lukewarm water slide over me until I drifted asleep and woke up with a