Storm Read Online Free

the date, but of course Pierre from Lyon ended up being Paul from Richmond.
    “He’s got the best dating mishaps,” Maple says.
    I smile. “You should ask him about Brian, and John, and Riley.”
    Ric flips me off. I stick out my tongue. In my head, it felt effective.
    “Real mature,” Ric says.
    “Whatever, I’m awesome.”
    Carter shakes his head.
    “Are they always like this?” Maple asks.
    “You haven’t known us long enough yet, but yes,” Ric says.
    “It’s how we show love,” I add.
    I look back at Carter, who nods toward the door. Right. Poncho. “See you both at dinner?” Gran insisted they be there for Pop’s retirement dinner. Inviting my friends over is the closest thing she will get to a party.
    “Will there be pie?” Ric asks.
    “Is the sky blue?”
    “Sometimes it’s gray,” Maple adds.
    I don’t even have a response to that. Way to ruin my metaphor. “See you both later,” I say.

    The library doors squeaks open when we push through them. My feet clack on the marble ground and echo through the space. Hyde the cat sits at the circulation desk next to Poncho and hisses when he sees me. Seak, the library’s other cat, curls against my feet. Hyde’s disdain is the only way, aside from the color of his ID tag, I can tell the two cats apart.
    Poncho looks up at us through his dark slanted eyes as we enter. They look like slits on his extra-round face. “Miss Grey, Mr. Prescott—I didn’t expect you today.” There’s a slight smile on his face, slight enough that I can see the endearing gap in his teeth.
    “We have a situation we need to discuss with you,” I say.
    “Privately,” Carter adds. Even though there are only like three people in here. It’s never that busy.
    Poncho nods slowly, his gray-blue spiked hair not even moving. “I see.” He looks between us and then places a little sign on the information desk.
    Will return. Do Not Take Any Books Without Permission.
    The implied “or else” is practically written in blood.
    “My office.” And then he leads us down the hallway, Hyde and Seak following behind him. Carter and I exchange a look before following. As we walk, I notice the singular sock with the red stripe, the other one on someone else’s foot. I still don’t fully understand how Vassago has the mate, but one day I will ask.
    Poncho’s office is dark, filled with candles, a fireplace, and leather chairs. It’s drafty. The walls are lined with books—lots of books because they’re aren’t enough outside, you know, in the actual library—and papers that he’s stuck up all over the place. The books don’t seem to be in any certain order and some are in Latin, some in English, and some in whatever the demonic code is. Varying shapes and sizes of skulls align the walls.
    “What kind of animals are those?” I ask, pointing to a skull with two horns where the cheeks are.
    “I don’t think they are animals. At least not from this world.”
    I blink. “Demon animals? Demons?”
    Carter shrugs. “I doubt he’s collecting dog skeletons.”
    This office officially gives me the heebie-jeebies.
    “What are we here to discuss?” Poncho asks, sitting in his chair. Hyde and Seak jump on the desktop.
    I toss my bag on the chair and watch Carter as he searches his for the dagger. “We have this.” Poncho’s eyes widen as Carter holds it out to him. “We need to know what it does.”
    Poncho’s hand lingers above, but doesn’t move to touch the dagger. The black hilt and blade shimmer in the light of his lamp. The blade has some dried demon guts stuck to it and the handle is engraved with five symbols, but right now they’re caked with dirt from where we buried it three days ago when we got back from De’Interno. We knew if we had it we could get caught. It was too important to let the Triad get it, so we kept it buried.
    “Where did you get this?”
    “Kriegen had it,” Carter said. His voice is completely stable when he speaks, but I look at him