Read Online Tiny Glitches: A Magical Contemporary Romance by Rebecca Chastain - Free Book Online Page A

terrier had been real, it would have been bowled over.
    “Hi, baby girl,” Sofie said. She enfolded me in a hug. I breathed in the aroma of paint and perfume, and a tightness in my shoulders eased. Sometime in my teens, I had surpassed Sofie in height, but not by much. Our shared genetics were impossible to miss. We both had the family curves, though hers were more lush than mine. Our hair was nearly the same shade—Sofie’s with a little help from a bottle these days. We shared mannerisms and our laugh was almost identical. But the subtle cleft in my chin, my blue eyes, and my long slender fingers were my mother’s. My full, almost square lips must have come from my father’s side.
    “I didn’t expect you to arrive in such style,” Sofie said, pulling back. Her eyes held a hundred questions.
    “Neither did I.” I wanted to blurt out everything, but Hudson finally extricated himself from Dali’s exuberant welcome. “I’d like you to meet Hudson Keyes. Hudson, this is my aunt Sofie. Hudson works for the company Gabriel hired to improve his security.”
    Hudson shook Sofie’s hand.
    “It’s a pleasure to meet the famous S. Sterling,” Hudson said. “I’m sorry your paintings were stolen. We’ll do everything possible to make sure it never happens again.”
    “Why ever would you do that?” Sofie asked. “I think this is wonderful.”
    I gaped at her. Of all the reactions I’d expected, glowing cheer hadn’t even made the list. “You’re happy?” I asked.
    “Best thing that’s happened to me in my whole career. Only the greats get stolen. I thought I’d have to wait until I was dead to see it happen. But we can talk about that later. You two look hungry”—her eyes dipped to the stains on my skirt and the dirt on Hudson’s clothes—“and like you have a story to share. Why don’t you—”
    We all jumped when something hit the Suburban’s back window with a loud pop. The SUV creaked on its shocks.
    “Do you have something in there?” Sofie asked, squinting at the tinted windows.
    “As a matter of fact, I do,” I said. “It’s, uh, well . . .”
    Sofie pressed her face to the side window, shading her eyes with her hand. Her jaw dropped open and she eased back a few steps.
    “An elephant?” she breathed. Wide brown eyes leapt from me to Hudson and back again. “Where? How?”
    Muted pounding came from inside the vehicle. The oval tip of Kyoko’s trunk flattened against the window closest to us.
    “Explanations later, Sofie, I promise. We need to get her out of there before she does more damage,” I said.
    Sofie wasn’t listening. She yanked open the back passenger door and popped her head into the vehicle. Dali, beside himself with curiosity, wriggled at her feet, barking excitedly. I saw the dim outline of Kyoko raising her head, and I clamped my hands over my ears in time to muffle her bugle. Sofie fell back, dazed, and shut the door.
    “That explains the smell,” Sofie said.
    I snapped my fingers at Dali. “Hush. Sit,” I ordered. The Lab swung his head to look at Sofie, then me. I took a step toward him. He sat, mouth closed.
    “Where was that authority in the trailer with Kyoko?” Hudson asked.
    “Stunted by the handcuffs.”
    “Handcuffs?” Sofie echoed. The wolf at Sofie’s side bared its teeth. A locket around its neck bristled like a blowfish.
    I shook my head. “Later. Right now, we need a ramp, because the three of us aren’t lifting that beast out by ourselves.”
    Sofie nodded and strode toward the house. Surviving my childhood had fine-tuned Sofie’s ability to prioritize in the face of unusual adversity. Or maybe she’d always been skilled at adapting, and that’s why she’d been able to raise me while my mother hadn’t.
    My aunt had nothing strong enough to serve as a ramp, but we found two wide tables—one a worktable, the other a coffee table built to withstand a nuclear bomb—and we set them behind the Suburban to serve as steps.
    “She