Mirage Beyond Flames (Coriola) Read Online Free

eat,” she said and got up, following the cat, who led the way to the kitchen.
    The kitchen was furnished as simply as the rest of the house. In the center stood a triangular counter – which also served as a table with two chairs. Cupboards and other utensils were disposed along the walls around the counter, all surfaces being immaculately white.
    “Let’s see what M rs. Adams cooked for us,” she muttered, referring to the housekeeper she’d hired, at the recommendation of the old couple who had sold her the house, after they had benefited for five years from Mrs. Adams services.
    Linda inspected the frid ge, discovering chicken soup, something that appeared to be mushroom omelet and pumpkin pie - her favorite dessert.
    “Mm, we’re going to eat excellent tonight.”
    S he put food and water for Pirata in his zone – an area next to the kitchen door where the cat had his sleeping basket, toys and even a swinging little door, specially built for his access and cat-ish needs – then ate some omelet  sitting at the counter.
    When she finished it, she took a piece of pie and installed herself in front of the TV, on the living room sofa.
    While changing the channels, bored, she stumbled over one of the numerous film versions made after Paul Feval’s book, Le bossu, a book she had especially liked in childhood. The movie wasn’t half too bad, so she watched it interestedly. After it ended, she noticed darkness had fallen and her elves – or rather the photo sensors with which they were equipped –had turned on their lanterns, creating sublime games of light on the pool’s shiny surface. Seeing as it had probably been one of the hottest days in London’s history, the pool seemed more alluring than ever.
    Pirata had sprawled onto her la p at some point in the middle of the movie and he was deeply asleep. Linda lowered him gently on the sofa, receiving in exchange a small protesting meow.
    She climbed the stairs to her bedroom and undressed, leaving her clothes in her specific disordered style, discarded on the huge b ed covered with blue sheets, same color as the walls. She put on a tiny black swimsuit, almost new. She grabbed her cell phone – from which she rarely could be separated – and turned on the radio application, finding a channel with pop, rhythmic music that perfectly suited her mood. She left the phone on a lounge chair next to the pool and slowly sank into the water, savoring the feeling of liquid coolness, as pleasant as a hot bath on a cold winter night.
    Pirata, awakened by the commotion and music, had come to keep her company and was watching his lazily swimming mistress, while h e was sprawled among dwarves in the grass.
    After she swam enough, a pleasant fatigue spread into her muscles. She turned her face up in the water and let herself float, gazing at the dark sky, where no star seemed to ever show itself.
    Smog , she thought melancholically, then started to move her arms slowly to reach the pool’s side.
    Precisely when she was getting ready to climb out, the radio stopped, as the phone started ringing.
    “Who the hell is it at this hour?” she rhetorically asked the cat who was imitating her, stretching with his belly in the air and scratching with his playful claws the paint of a poor elf.
    Linda rushed out of the pool, quickly dried her hands on a towel and grabbed the phone. She didn’t know the number on the display screen.
    “Hello,” she answered a tad too briskly.
    “Hello, Linda, it’s Gerard Leon. I’m standing in front of your gate but I don’t kno w how to get in and it’s kind of difficult to climb over it. Could you open it for me?”
    For a few seconds, she didn’t manage to utter a sound. Eventually she asked:
    “Gerard? What the hell are you doing her e at this time of night?”
    “I’ll explain when you open. Or would you rather I climb over the gate?”
    “No, don’t touch it!” she said aggravated. “It’s gonna start the alarm and alert the security