The Charm Stone Read Online Free Page A

stove off before I burn the house down. When I get back, you'd better be gone.”
    She didn't wait for an answer, she was already dashing inside. The pan and its contents were scorched black and the small kitchen rapidly filling with smoke. She shoved the pan off the burner just as the smoke alarm went off. Swearing, she yanked a kitchen chair over so she could disarm the stupid thing, but when she went to stand on it, her foot went right through the wicker, leaving nice scratches along her calf. The alarm still screaming overhead, she pulled her leg free and looked around for something sturdier to stand on, finally stalking back to the porch.
    Bagan had hopped off the sill and was looking at her bicycle with great consternation. “Is it possible you could make that horrible noise desist?” he asked, poking at the chain and squeezing the hand brake.
    “You,” she said, her voice shaking. “Leave. Now.” She grabbed the plastic deck chair and dragged it through the door, but not before it caught on the screen, tearing a nice long slit in it. Swearing and not bothering to keep her voice down, she climbed on the chair and all but ripped the cover off the alarm.
    She opened the window over the sink and turned the stove fan on to get the rest of the smoke out of her kitchen, then stalked back to the porch.
    He was still there, sifting through some of her surf gear.
    “What part of ‘leave now’ did you not understand?” She should have called the cops before coming back out here. A vision of police officers rushing in to save her from a dwarf swam through her mind. Maybe she'd just run out, get in the Jeep, and leave. And then what? Never come home?
    Bagan sighed wearily. “Everything isna so difficult as yer makin’ it, lass,” he said. “And I thought being buried alive was the worst thing that could happen to me,” he muttered to himself.
    But she heard him. “Right now I'm thinking that wouldn't be such a bad place for you.”
    Undaunted, he crossed his arms. “If you tire of my company so easily, you've but to remove the necklace and I'll disappear.” He raised a stubby finger as her hands went immediately to the necklace. “But no matter if I'm here or no’, you canna avoid your fate.”
    “My fate.” Now it was her turn to sigh wearily. “That would be marrying the clan chief, right?” She snorted. “Right. Bye-bye.” She pulled the necklace off and where there had been a three-foot man standing indignantly before her, there was now an empty space.
    She hadn't really expected it to work. Because that meant… she didn't even want to think about what that meant. She looked from the empty space to the stone and back again, then started to tremble.
Just put it in the trunk and take it back to the beach and toss it in the ocean.
    But the few remaining rational brain cells insisted this simply couldn't be real, no matter the alarmingevidence to the contrary. So she slowly draped the necklace around her neck once again. No midget. Ha! She breathed a sigh of relief. Although why she should be relieved she had no idea. Didn't this just prove she'd actually suffered some severe head damage and was losing her mind?
    “Are ye ready to heed me now, lass?”
    She swung around to find Bagan leaning against the doorframe that led to her kitchen. He wiggled his fingers in a brief wave. “Shall we make our plans?”
    “Jesus Christ,” she breathed. She stared from the necklace to Bagan. “What the hell is happening to me?”
    He waddled closer to her and took her trembling hands in his smaller, but surprisingly warm and strong ones. “Destiny, lass. Destiny.”
    She sank into a chair as the fight left her and dread filled her instead. Along with a healthy dose of fear. “I don't like this destiny. According to you, the last person who had my destiny drowned.”
    Bagan frowned. “I've given that a lot of thought and I believe it has to do with her ne'er wearin’ the stone. It's never failed before, ye