Kindling Flames: Granting Wishes (The Ancient Fire Series Book 5) Read Online Free

walls were lined with shelves and racks filled with what seemed like random items. The floor area was divided into two separate work spaces. One station held scraps of material, wire, and random tools. Hats in all stages of completion were randomly placed around the area. The overhead lights on this side of the room were off, casting it in shadow. The other work area was cleared of tools. The large table was filled with dice, cards, and an array of other small objects Cathren didn’t understand. This area was brightly lit with several high stools placed around the table.
    Patrick brought her over to one of the stools and sat her down. “Can I get you something to drink?” He waved towards a pair of glasses that were already setting on the table. One looked like it held coffee while the other had some amber liquid in it.
    “Just water, please,” Cathren answered. She didn’t think it would be wise to accept anything alcoholic, and coffee would keep her up for the rest of the night.
    Smiling, Patrick went to a small refrigerator in the corner. “As you wish.” Pulling out a bottle of water, he grabbed a glass. “Your water, my lady.” Setting the glass on the table, he cracked the top on the water before placing it next to the glass and claiming the stool closest to her.
    Cathren picked up the bottle. “Thank you.”
    Patrick’s eyes flashed with amusement as she took a swig straight from the bottle, ignoring the glass. His fingers found the glass of amber liquid and pulled it over to him. “So…” He broke the silence that was falling around them. “What brings you out on this fine night?” He took a sip of his drink.
    Cathren crinkled the plastic bottle as she thought. “Are you really a leprechaun?” she asked.
    Patrick choked on his drink as it went down wrong.
    “Sorry.” She patted him on the back as he coughed.
    “Yes, cailín, I really am a leprechaun,” he wheezed when his coughing fit subsided. “I already told you that.”
    Cathren turned to face the table. “I know.” Reaching out, she touched one of the strange objects lying on the table. She pushed on it, rolling it over. The flat sides of the roundish object were numbered. It looked like a die, but there were a whole lot more sides than the six she was used to seeing. “It’s just that… you can’t be a leprechaun; they’re not real.” She picked up the plastic thing and rolled it. The number twenty showed on top as it came to a stop.
    Patrick chuckled at her. “I assure you, leprechauns and a whole slew of things you don’t believe in are real.” He smiled as he looked at the die. “Natural twenty. You are lucky.”
    Cathren pulled her hands back from the table and folded them between her knees. “Then why are you in red?” She considered the bright jacket Patrick was sporting. “Aren’t leprechauns supposed to wear green?”
    Patrick tugged on the front of his jacket, making sure it was on right. “No self-respecting leprechaun would be caught dead in green. Green is the color of the trouping fay. We leprechauns are solitary creatures by nature.” He brushed the sleeves of his jack as if cleaning them of dust. “Red is our color.”
    Cathren nodded her head, not really understanding him. “Then why do you always see leprechauns in green with those big top hats and black shoes with buckles?”
    Patrick scoffed at her, slightly offended. “Tales get twisted over time.” Sighing, he picked up his drink and took a long pull from it. “Somewhere, our stories got mixed in with other fay.”
    “So you’re not all into green?”
    Patrick shook his head at the question.
    “What about the gold and rainbows thing?”
    Patrick laughed. “Oh, there is gold.” Slipping his hand in his pocket, he pulled out three large, gold coins and dropped them on the table. “But I don’t have any control over rainbows.”
    Cathren looked at the coins in awe. Each one was nearly the size of her palm.
    Patrick spun on his stool so he