Right Hand Magic Read Online Free Page B

was one thing to get a promotion or win an election through the natural course of events, quite another to arrange it via sorcery.
    After leading me through a series of confusing turns, Hexe came to a halt in front of a small room only slightly larger than the average office worker’s cubicle. Sandwiched between a magic candle peddler and a crystal ball pro shop, it didn’t even have a real door, just a flap of old tapestry with a business card pinned to it. The card read FARO MOVING: IF I CAN’T MOVE IT, IT’S NOT YOURS .
    “You can’t be serious?” I groaned as I eyed the threadbare covering over the doorway. “I came all the way for this?”
    “I know how it looks,” Hexe replied, sotto voce , as he ushered me inside, “but looks are deceiving in Golgotham. Trust me, he’s the best in the city.”
    The scores of maps covering every inch of the aged walls were the first thing I noticed upon entering Faro Moving’s minuscule “office.” Most were of the city and the triboroughs, but there were also various different maps of the state, the country, the world, and even the moon.
    Sitting behind a tattered old desk was a Kymeran male with spiky blue hair. His eyes had the same cat-slit pupil as Hexe’s, but they were emerald green instead of gold. He was dressed in frayed jeans and a vintage Black Sabbath T-shirt, his sneaker-clad feet resting in an open drawer as he thumbed through a Rand McNally atlas. The only light in the small room was from a ball of witchfire that bobbed above the desk like a child’s toy balloon.
    “If you’re lookin’ to fuck somebody up or make somebody fuck you, you’re in the wrong place,” the blue-haired Kymeran said without bothering to look up from his reading.
    “Is that any way to greet an old friend?” Hexe chided.
    The blue-haired Kymeran laughed and set aside his reading material. “Heavens and hells! Hexe! It’s been dogs’ years! I thought you worked out of your house? What brings you to the Rookery?”
    “I’m bringing you some business. Faro, this is Tate. She’s my newest lodger, and she’s in dire need of your services.”
    “Pleased to meet you, Miss Tate,” Faro said as he got to his feet, offering me his hand. “Any friend of Hexe’s is a friend of mine.”
    “Thanks, Mr. Faro,” I replied, trying hard not to think about how weird the Kymeran’s sixth digit felt in my palm as we shook hands. Instead, I focused on his scent, which was a pleasant mixture of oakmoss, citrus, and the deep woods.
    “Just call me Faro. So, what can I do ya for?”
    “I was supposed to move in today, but the company I hired to handle it is refusing to deliver to my new address. ...”
    Faro cut me off before I could finish. “Triple-A Aardvark, right?”
    “I take it you’re familiar with them?”
    “Like the back of my hand.” Faro sighed. “Normally I charge about a grand for an in-city move, but seeing how you’re renting from Hexe, I’ll cut you a deal. How does five hundred sound?”
    “It sounds pretty damned good, at this point.” I reached into my purse and took out five crisp one-hundred-dollar bills. “I had this money on me so I could pay the movers, but I might as well pay you instead.”
    “Excellent! That saves us a trip to the ATM on the second floor.” Faro grinned as he slipped the money into his own pocket. “Let’s get right to it, eh?”
    He walked around the desk and stood in front of me, the witchfire following him like a loyal pet. He fished what looked like a monocle out of his pants pocket and screwed it into place in his right eye, and then looked me up and down as if measuring me for a wedding dress.
    “Good—you have a very strong, extremely distinctive aura. It’ll be no problem at all.”
    I wasn’t sure what my aura had to do with moving my belongings out of storage, but I decided it was best to remain silent. Faro went back to his desk and took a handheld GPS device out of one of the drawers and entered an address,