Dance By Midnight Read Online Free Page A

hands into my pockets as I walked to the counter. "I had to get away. Things in Atlanta…."
    "Hard not remembering?"
    "Yeah…being around everyone and not understanding sometimes the way they looked at me. They all knew things about the past year that I didn't. So I headed south."
    "And they all know about the book?"
    "Yes."
    "So…is it like Sam said? It's a Book of Shadows?"
    "I don't know if I'd call it that, but I think the principle's the same. Nona—she was the woman who knew the most about it—told me it was a compendium, a collection of spells dating back over a millennium."
    "That's one old book."
    "I don't think the physical book is that old, but the spells are. They were written down by an Abysmal Planar." I wasn't sure how much Mike really understood. I noticed an odd exchange in terms since waking up. Instead of Ethereal and Abysmal, Sam had a tendency to call those planes the Light World and Dark worlds. They used angel and demon more than I ever had. Given Sam's personality and the fact it appeared she held nothing back—I assumed he knew everything if not more than me. "She was an Abysmal First Born. Do you know what that is?"
    "A vampire?"
    Again, impressed. "So you know about their origin?"
    "Yeah. They're called Revenants or something. They were born as demons and inhabit the bodies of humans and drink blood. But they're more of a symbiotic relationship, not one of master and slave. Doesn't mean I like it." He pursed his lips. "So the book in your soul was written by a vamp. You know how Hollywood movie that sounds?"
    "Yeah I do. But, it's the truth. She didn't write all of it. There's centuries of spells in it."
    He leaned forward on the counter and rested his elbows on the surface. "You think maybe—given what I've overheard you and Sam talk about—you're a part of the book now? Or is the book a part of you? I mean, if it's keeping you alive, is it possible you're keeping it alive?"
    That was a damn good question—and just a bit too quantum physics for me. "I don't know Mike."
    "Well let's say you're part of each other." He shrugged. "Then shouldn't you be able to see what's in the book?"
    "I don't know." I realized my tone was harsh so I softened it. "Nona said I should be able to access the book's spells. But I don't know how. And I didn't stay long enough to find out."
    "So…you could be like Sam?"
    "A Sentinel?"
    "I guess. You could do magic?"
    I hated sounding like a parrot. "I don't know." I should have stayed in Atlanta. I should have learned everything I could. But not when an Ethereal threatened everyone's lives.
    "But why Savannah?"
    I hadn't considered that part of the question, which was Mike's original. "I don't know."
    "You really don't know much, dude."
    I dismissed his comment. He was right. Why argue? "I just felt like it was a good place to start over. Find me. See about regaining that year."
    Mike shrugged. "Sounds cool. So you could help Sam and I."
    "Not sure how. I can't fire a gun and I can't hit the left side of a building with a sword. Knives terrify me. So I'm not sure how that helps."
    "You were always good with research, Dags. Remember? If I ever had a question about something that came into my shop, I could always trust you to find out what it was. I mean…who else would know what the hell a Cozen was?"
    Without knowing it, Mike struck to the very heart of what had been eating me since leaving Atlanta. I'd been in Savannah nearly a month, walked everywhere, probably taken every tourist train the city had, and when it came right down to it—I'd had no idea what to do. I had money. A lot of it. And I'd made sure it could only be accessed by me so the people I left couldn't take it back.
    I put my hands on the back of a chair at the counter. "So…what is it you want me to research?"
    He straightened up and fixed me with an intense stare. "Changelings."

    * * *

    My only knowledge of a changeling came from old fairy tales I'd read as a child, back when I believed in