city of dragons 03 - fire magic Read Online Free Page A

me there. She was sitting on one of the benches next to the brochure rack, flipping through one of the brochures.
    Becky, who was working the front desk, looked up when I came in. “Ms. Caspian, this lady wants to see you. She says it’s about magical stuff.”
    The woman stood up. “Penelope Caspian, I presume?” She had a British accent, and she was wearing a pants suit and dangly silver earrings. She strode over to me, holding out a hand. “I’m Darla Tell.”
    I shook her hand. “Uh, nice to meet you.”
    “I work for the Order of Rasmossen and Wolffe, which you have undoubtedly never heard of.”
    “I’m afraid not,” I said, feeling confused.
    “Is there a place where we could speak privately?” she asked.
    “Uh, sure, I guess we could go to my office, but what is this about?”
    “I have a proposition for you. Your reputation precedes you, and I’m quite badly in need of assistance, and I think you’re the person for the job.”
    “Job?” I said. “I have a job. I own this hotel.” I gestured around at the lobby.
    She laughed. “No, of course. I misspoke. Not a job then, not exactly. But I need your help.”
    I looked her over, thinking about it. “All right, come back to my office.”
    “Thank you.”
    I left the lobby and led her down the hallway to my office.
    Once inside, I had her sit down on the couch that faced my desk, and I sat down at my desk. It was kind of a mess, covered in a bunch of papers and things I needed to get to at some point. This Darla person seemed so proper and together. I was a little embarrassed. And I couldn’t figure what a person like her needed a person like me for.
    She clasped her hands and rested them on her knee. “Well, I suppose I should explain a bit.”
    “Okay, yeah,” I said.
    “All right, the Order, as we call ourselves, is a magical organization of mages, vampires, drakes and dragons who work to neutralize magical dangers to the populace. We were founded in the 1600s, and we are the organization responsible for the end of several wars and the end of magical tyranny on multiple continents.”
    “What?” I said.
    “You’ve never heard of us because we prefer to work in secret,” she said. “If powerful magical creatures knew of our existence, they’d concentrate their power on getting rid of us. It’s better if we are unknown—the knife that strikes in the darkness.”
    “The what?”
    She laughed. “Well, at any rate, we imprison dangerous magical creatures, and we siphon away their power. We use that power to keep them imprisoned. In that way, even the most powerful of evil creatures is no match for us, because we are capable of keeping them in check.”
    My mind was reeling. “Okay.” I scrunched up my face, trying to get my brain around this. “So, if you’re so powerful, what do you need me for?”
    She unclasped her hands, looking a little confused. “Well… you have special skills against magical creatures, Penelope. May I call you Penelope?”
    “Penny,” I said. “And I don’t have special skills, not really.”
    “Penny,” said Darla, seeming to almost savor the name as she spoke it aloud.
    Okay, this lady was starting to creep me out a little bit. “Maybe you should cut to the chase.”
    “Of course,” she said. “We know that you have taken on several groups of powerful vampires in the city, and that you’ve neutralized them. We have a drake problem. We were hoping that you could help.”
    “A drake problem?”
    “If payment is an issue, we’d be happy to—”
    “I don’t need money,” I said. “What do you mean, a drake problem?”
    “Well, last year, we relocated to the United States because of some issues in Europe with a family claiming we were located on their ancestral lands and—”
    “The point, Ms. Tell,” I interrupted.
    “Yes, well, our new location is just outside of Sea City, and it contains a number of tunnels beneath the building, tunnels that fill with water during high tide and