Read Online When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears: The Goblin Wars, Book Three by Kersten Hamilton - Free Book Online Page B

They were probably just curious.”
    And a little hungry. The female had taken a bite or two of Maggot Cat, even if carrion was not her first choice for food .
    “What does ‘nocturnal’ mean?” Aiden asked.
    “It means they sleep during the day and come out at night,” Seamus said. “They’ve probably gone off to sleep somewhere.”
    Aiden put his hands to his head and squeezed his eyes shut. It was his way of saying La, la, la , I can’t hear you to the music in his head.
    “Let’s discuss the Dump Dogs later, shall we?” Mr. Wylltson suggested.
    “So you sent Isabeau back to face Mab,” Thomas said, changing the subject. “I feel sorry for her. We used to get along. Isabeau was fun.”
    “ Isabeau? ” Roisin’s eyes flashed. That was one word at least she understood. “Isabeau?” She picked up a book from the arm of the couch and threw it at Thomas’s head.
    Teagan didn’t need any translation for that. She’d felt exactly the same way when Isabeau had snuggled up to Finn. The sídhe girl was clearly accustomed to bending men to her will. Roisin turned and fled up the stairs before Thomas had a chance to recover.
    The lhiannon-sídhe started to follow her, but Grendal stepped in the way.
    “She’ll be back. She didn’t believe that the Dump Dogs ate dead people,” the cat-sídhe said. “I smelled it in Mag Mell, but she didn’t believe. Roisin doesn’t like . . .” The cat-sídhe scratched his head, clearly searching for words.
    “To be wrong?” Thomas suggested. “I’m learning that.”
    “Yes,” Grendal agreed. “But she’ll get modified. Aileen got modified, yes?”
    Teagan wondered where he had picked up that word.
    “Grendal said Mom got modified.” Aiden looked at his father. “Is that true?”
    Mr. Wylltson looked from Aiden to the stairs, trying to figure out the context.
    “‘Modified’ as in she changed? Yes. My wife was amazing, but”—he glanced at Teagan—“she was fierce beyond belief if she felt she was right about something. It took her some time to learn that she wasn’t always as right as she thought she was.”
    Mamieo laughed. “You should have seen her when she first came from Mag Mell, pratie. She was determined to have her own way in everything. I was that certain the girl had been raised by wild beasts.”
    Grendal made a sound halfway between a cough and a growl.
    “What did you do?” Thomas asked when the cat-sídhe had recovered.
    “Loved her,” Mamieo and John Wylltson said at the same time.
    “Fiercely,” John Wylltson added softly. “I loved her fiercely from the first moment I saw her. It was the only thing to do.”
    “Yess,” Grendal agreed, then turned and started up the stairs. They were too high for him to climb like a human would, so he hopped from step to step like a thin-tailed kangaroo.
    “Did you know my wife well?” Mr. Wylltson asked the hat rack near where Grendal had been standing.
    “Dad,” Aiden said, “the cat-sídhe went upstairs.”
    “Of course he did.” Mr. Wylltson looked at Seamus. “You can see them, can’t you?”
    Seamus nodded.
    “Of course you can.” Mr. Wylltson’s face pinked.
    “Did the news mention any students taken to the hospital?” Teagan asked. Her dad wasn’t the only one who could redirect. She hated seeing him embarrassed in front of Seamus.
    “The news was reporting that they transported a student to the hospital,” Thomas said. “He was listed in critical condition.” Teagan felt a small wave of relief. At least Cade had made it that far.
    “How about Molly? Have they said anything about a girl named Molly?”
    “Nobody’s mentioned a Molly.”
    “All right,” Seamus said. “I’ve met a very strange family; seen a couple of Highborn with relationship issues, a cat-sídhe and a sprite; and heard that you are all in more trouble than can be dealt with. But no holy angel. You know what I think? I think a sane man would walk out that door, and keep