Eventide (Meratis Trilogy Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

dangerous.
    “So,” said Cassie, rolling on the balls of her feet as the room fell into a somewhat awkward silence. “Why did you guys come?”
    Jayden frowned, and before he could repeat everything they’d already said, Cassie added, “I mean specifically you two. Why didn’t Jasmine come?”
    His brow cleared. “Oh! Well that’s easy. I want to kill Raul, and Brady wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to explore your world. He would have been furious if we couldn’t remember every last detail.”
    From the bathroom they heard the toilet flush three times in a row, and the taps turn on and off. Jayden stretched a hand to the closed door as if Brady had just proved his point.
    “You mention killing Raul as if it were just a regular Sunday chore,” said Cassie. Jeff watched closely for signs that this disturbed her, but her face was blank, clinical. As if she wanted to use Jayden’s experiences for her thesis paper. Social Work for the Fictionally Oriented.
    “I’ve been planning how I’ll do it every day for almost six years,” Jayden replied, without venom, as a matter of fact.
    “How satisfied do you think you’ll be if you succeed?”
    Before he had a chance to answer, Brady came out of the bathroom, awe on his face.
    Jeff stared at him with a similar expression. In his clothes, Brady looked no different than anyone else off the street. He didn’t know why this surprised him. Brady was still human despite being from another world, but Jeff would have expected a lingering sense of otherness .
    Then the scholar spoke.
    “Water inside! Light that doesn’t run on oil! You said you didn’t have magic in your world.”
    Cassie hid a smile behind her hand, and Jayden focused his stare on the ceiling, possibly mumbling something about promises to stay calm.
    Brady flipped the nearest light switch and frowned when nothing happened. He flicked it on and off a few more times, poking his head into the kitchen and bathroom to see if anything changed there. “Why does this one do nothing?”
    Jeff patted the wall. “Because for all the genius we have in this world, there’s always that one guy who leads his wires nowhere.”
    Brady’s face fell, and Jeff regretted he’d had to disappoint him.
    “Hey,” he rested his hand on his friend’s shoulder, feeling the need to re-establish his enthusiasm. “My building’s old and falling apart. I guarantee you’ll see some true examples of genius. Including something we call poutine, gift of the gods.”
    Unappeased, Brady rapped on the wall, following the possible path of wiring from the useless light switch into the kitchen. He reached the refrigerator door and opened it with a gasp of excitement.
    “Oh gods,” Jayden mumbled. He shoved away from the wall he’d been leaning against. He rolled his eyes and removed the sword, resting it gently against the wall next to the door. His dagger remained at his hip. “If we’re all ready, maybe we should get going?”
    Cassie led the way to the elevator, Brady in raptures as the buttons lit up, the door slid open, and the metal box fell slowly towards the ground floor. Jeff watched him with amusement, right until they stepped outside. Then the whole of Montreal stretched out like a very large haystack, and Raul just one small needle.

Chapter Three
     
    J eff released a dejected breath. “This is going to be impossible.”
    Turning left, he started towards Old Port, preferring to start where he was most familiar. He recognised it as a cop-out, a way to avoid the full daunting task ahead of them. Just like the sad man feeding the pigeons, he spent at least an hour on the quay every day trying to brainstorm a good story idea, and never in all that time had he seen Raul. Unless he was the sad man feeding the pigeons. Jeff considered and dismissed the idea. Raul would have been catching and eating the pigeons. But Brady had requested a nice view, so Jeff would take them to one of the best.
    He kept half an eye open for