Elemental Flame Read Online Free

loris, and it rubbed its cheeks with its meaty fingers, three on each hand, before it looked under the table and through the chair legs at me. I waited for it to say something, but it didn't.
    I straightened up and walked around the other side of the table until I was standing opposite Kyle, with the Boggart between us. Ivan peered over Kyle's shoulder and made another face.
    "Say something," Kyle finally blurted out.
    But the Boggart shook his head, crossed his short arms over his chest and squatted down.
    "You think he's waiting for an attorney?" Ivan said.
    "No. He's just doing what Boggarts do. So," I grinned at him and then chuckled. "I'll do what I do." I chuckled again, taking in his appearance, comparing him to an oversized toadstool.
    Kyle and Ivan caught on and laughed. Boggarts hate to be made fun of. They hate laughter, humor, anything that puts a smile on someone's face. And it can't be a fake laugh. It has to be a hearty, solid laugh. Something that comes from that place of joy that Boggarts just didn't seem to possess.
    Even if one of us wasn't feeling it, there was enough happy in the sound of our laughter to cause the little creep pain. It put its hands to its ears and moaned before it rolled over on its side and started yelling out. "Stop that infernal noise! I'll talk!"
    I stopped laughing, but it was a little harder for Kyle and Ivan. Ivan pointed at the little monster as it kicked its elephant legs in the air. It was kind of amusing. Too bad I was the one that wasn't feeling the happy. Happy was a foreign emotion to me. Happy left town. And took joy and excitement with him.
    I poked the Boggart with my boot. "Spill it. Why are you in my shop? How did you get past our wards? And how the hell did you get to this world?" I assumed he came through a Cairn somewhere, a halfway place between our world and that of Alfheim . Cairns were traditionally built out of simple objects, like a ring of toadstools or stacked stones, but I'd seen one in the shape of a sewer grate, as well as a door at the bottom of a pond.
    It righted itself again and lowered its arms as it wobbled like a Weeble to face me. It had to throw its head way back to look up at me. To my surprise, it bowed. "My dear Sorceress, this humble Boggart is Cordelia Happenstance, resident of the realm of the Summer Queen."
    Cordelia?
    This is a girl ?
    And…from Tzariene's court?
    And then, crap…more Faeries .
    I looked at Ivan and Kyle who shared my surprise. Well okay. Go with it. Looking back down, I nodded. "Okay. That's nice, Cordy, but you haven't answered my questions."
    She came out of her bow and opened her mouth, then closed it. Then, "I'm afraid I forgot them."
    That was another thing about Boggarts. Not a lot of RAM memory on board. They had memories like sieves, except when it came to a purpose. If you give a Boggart a job to do, they do it. It might take them a hundred years, but they wouldn't forget that purpose. I put my hands on my hips. "Why are you in my shop?"
    Cordy looked thoughtful, then she snapped her thick fingers. The sound they made was like a deep thud. "Because I smelled the magic of home. So I followed it here. And you," she said as she took a step closer and inhaled. "You smell just like the Queen."
    Oh. Great. She was talking about the reek of Arcane. Apparently it smells good to denizens of Alfheim ? "Okay Cordy. Keep going. You smelled home."
    "Yes, yes. And I was hoping to find home. But there is no Cairn here."
    "So you just fell into old patterns?" Kyle said and Cordy wobbled back and forth as she turned to face him. "You saw three victims to feed off their nightmares?"
    "Oh no, no. Not so much like that. It's a defense," she pulled on her fingers. "You scared Cordelia."
    "Hey, eyes back to me," I said and waited for her to wobble back around. "You want to go back home. Why did you come through a Cairn in the first place?" I narrowed my eyes. "You did come through a Cairn, right?"
    "Yes, yes I did. It was some time