Solatium (Emanations, an urban fantasy series Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

diplomatic visits. Many Seconds were known to live in Cordus’s First Emanation territory, which stretched from eastern Canada down to the Florida panhandle and west over the Sierras and the Cascades. All those Seconds needed to be checked up on. The goal was to make sure they weren’t doing anything that might reveal their inhumanity or the existence of the other world. Keeping that sort of thing from happening was the whole point of Cordus’s operation. Yellin’s visits were intended to let Seconds in the New York area know the boss was keeping tabs on them.
    We headed down the hallway toward the elevator. 
    “Please, Miss Ryder,” Yellin said over his shoulder, “let us make up for lost time.”
    As though I were more than a handful of steps behind him. Disciplining my expression, I followed him to the elevator. We rode it down to the first basement level, which was connected by tunnel to the garage.
    Once in the tunnel, I quickened my pace to walk beside Yellin. He sped up, trying to stay in front of me. I sped up a little more. Pretty soon, he was scuttling along like a beetle.
    I enjoyed playing this game. I always won because I didn’t care about looking dignified, and he did. You can’t be dignified when you look like you’re running away. He must’ve known it was a losing battle, but he didn’t seem able to stop himself from trying.
    “So who’re we visiting today?” I asked, sure he’d find my tone too familiar.
    He frowned — or, I should say, his existing frown deepened.
    “Among others, we will call on a Second who goes by the name of Helen Sturluson.”
    “Has she lived around here a long time?”
    Yellin shot me a look a pure annoyance.
    Not too long ago, I wouldn’t have asked the question — or tried to walk abreast of him, for that matter. For the first few weeks after he took over my training, I’d just followed him around in silence, too afraid of him to do anything else. But pretty soon I’d discovered something: the guy wasn’t scary.
    Based on my initial experiences with Seconds, I’d assumed they were all basically death on wheels, especially the humanoid ones. But Yellin wasn’t. I simply never got the sense that he was considering harming me, whereas many of the other Seconds I’d met gave me that feeling all the time.
    So far as I could tell, he just wasn’t a violent person. Irritable and snappish, but not violent.
    Once I understood that he wasn’t going to hurt me, I felt freer to interact with him as though we were normal co-workers.
    “So,” I said again, “Miss Sturluson. Has she been here long?”
    “I am not at liberty to disclose information about Miss Sturluson.”
    The expression on his face was pained, as though I’d made a horrific gaffe.
    “Oh. Sorry, Mr. Yellin. I didn’t realize.”
    I paused, but in the end I couldn’t resist. The urge to needle him was irresistible.
    “How come that sort of thing is kept secret?”
    “Seconds do not appreciate having their private affairs shared with Nolanders, Miss Ryder.”
    “Ah. Of course.”
    I let the silence stretch as we passed through the door to the garage. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched his hunched shoulders begin to relax. I waited until they seemed to have reached a low point.
    “So where does she live, exactly?”
    The shoulders shot back up, creating two large wrinkles in the back of his gray suit jacket.
    “In Brooklyn.”
    “Cool. I really like Brooklyn.”
    I got no response.
    “The brownstones are nice. I think so, anyway. Do you like them?”
    Yellin made a little strangled noise.
    Yeah, I was tormenting him, but really, he deserved it. All the Seconds did. People shouldn’t be treated like property and looked down on just because they belong to a different species, or whatever Nolanders are, exactly.
    When we reached the car, Yellin handed me a list of addresses. I got in the driver’s seat and programmed them into the sedan’s GPS.
    I had to drive. I always had to. I