Glittering Shadows Read Online Free

quickly across each of them. “That’s why we need to try and find a safe place to hide,” she said. “To protect ourselves—especially
Freddy—from the Chancellor’s forces and Irminau’s, and even the revolutionaries.”
    “Maybe with my father?” Sigi ventured. “He wasn’t involved with the revolutionaries. He hasn’t lived with my mother for years. And his apartment’s
swank—it’s over on Parc. We’d have to sleep on the floor, but at least there’s a good pantry to raid.”
    “I’m worried someone might find us there,” Nan said.
    “I bet he could find us a place with some friends,” Sigi said. “He and I do get along better than Mother and I did. He’s a bit of a lout, but I think he can keep a
secret.”
    “It’s better than staying here. We need to get on the move immediately.”
    Mother’s hands were clenched around her mug of coffee, but she hadn’t taken a single sip. “You should do what you need to do,” she said softly, touching the back of the
chair like it was an anchor. “I know you’ll return safely.”
    “You don’t know,” Thea said, hesitant. She wanted to go with her friends, but she wanted just as much to stay with Mother, who had been sick for so long. Now she was sharp and
well, bringing a sense of comfort Thea hadn’t felt in years.
    “You’d go crazy with worry if you stayed here,” Mother said.
    Thea squeezed her hand. Mother was her old self, except that the old Mother wouldn’t have let Thea leave. Mother had just lost the man she loved, the man she had been bound to by magic.
Thea met her eyes with the fears she wouldn’t voice. “Just swear to me you’ll be here safe and sound when I get back, too.”
    “I promise,” Mother said. “I might get a few more supplies.” Outside the window, people were hauling bags of food. “The smart ones are getting provisions now,
before they’re gone.”
    “Maybe you should pack some clothes,” Nan told Thea, “quickly.”
    Thea didn’t have that many clothes to begin with, so it wasn’t hard to sweep the contents of her wardrobe and vanity into a bag. Winter was coming, and she had abandoned her coat as
a shroud for Father’s body. At the time, it had not seemed important. Coats could be replaced. Now she wondered if that would be true. Having packed the clothes, Thea threw in her book of old
fairy tales from Father Gruneman, then snapped her bag shut.
    Her mother hugged her so tight that Thea let out a tiny croak of pain.
    “Be safe,” Mother said, her voice breaking.
    “If worse comes to worse, I still have Father Gruneman’s gun.” Thea picked up her purse, feeling the weight.
    “That poor man,” Mother said. “Though I’m not surprised he was in deep.” On top of everything else, last night Thea had to break the news to Mother that their
beloved priest had been killed for his involvement with the revolution.
    Then the four of them ran out into the street, leaving Thea’s mother behind.
    “Let’s take the back way down Arch Street,” Thea said.
    In front of Thea’s apartment, it might have been any other day. The sidewalks were flush with the pure, golden light of morning. It seemed wrong to have such a beautiful, cloudless sky
when the city was full of the bodies of lost loved ones.
    Several long paces behind them, a man was hunched into a gray coat, the brim of his cap pulled down over his face. Nan looked back at him suspiciously.
    “Thea, maybe I should carry the gun,” Nan said in a low voice.
    Thea wouldn’t argue with that idea. She didn’t like having responsibility for the weapon; even in self-defense, she wasn’t sure she had the guts to shoot someone. As she handed
over the purse, the man walking behind them glanced up.

L ast night Freddy had escaped his prison. No guards had followed him underground. For the first time in his life, every turn of the path, every
decision was his own.
    He didn’t want to let that freedom go. He had to fight an urge to