The Faery Keepers Read Online Free Page A

doesn’t wait for a reply but goes back into the tree to be swallowed up by the others. I’m not certain but I think she said thank you as they were disappearing into the hollow.
                  The door swings shut, leaving no trace of its presence. It merely melds back together with the surrounding wood.
                  “Well that was fun,” I say without feeling that it was at all. Just the opposite. My voice sounds dead.
                  “Heh,” Maggie snorts. “Right.”
                  “Well, mystery man is waiting for us...at least I hope he is. Why don’t we get out of this place? Quite frankly, I’m tired of it.”
                  “I’m with you on that,” she agrees groggily.
                  I’m not even sure I want to know what time it is let alone if the guy is still waiting there for us. I’m riding on the hope that he is trustworthy and hasn’t gone anywhere. The walk back feels like a dream. Like when you’re half asleep and just going through the motions without thinking about it. I don’t want to think about how sore I’m going to be tomorrow. Don’t want to think about how much trouble I’m going to be in when I get home. I just want to fall into bed and sleep for an eternity.
                  We reach the gate and I hoist Maggie over. I barely make it I’m wobbling so much from exhaustion. I stumble on the landing almost falling flat on my face until Maggie steadies me with her arm.  “Thanks.” I mumble.
                  When I look up I’m elated. The Jeep’s still there. Yes . No more walking. I could kiss him.
                  I hobble over to the door and climb in, sinking down onto the seat. I give a little sigh of relief. It helps that he doesn’t have music blaring at full blast that second.
                  He arches his eyebrows at me. “Rough time picking apples?”
                  “You could say that,” I yawn.
                  “You know what’s been bugging me?” he asks.
                  “Hmm?”
                  “I’m nice enough to give you a lift and I don’t even know your name.”
                  I smile a little at that. I was thinking something along those lines, too.
                  “Kate,” I offer.
                  “You sound unsure.”
                  “Maybe I am. I didn’t hear your name.”
                  “And you’re not going to,” he smirks, his eyes glinting mischievously.
                  “Hey! That’s not fair.”
                  “Maybe,” he allows. “Maybe you’ll hear it in the future. Maybe not...”
                  I roll my eyes at him.
                  “Oh stop flirting you two and drive. I’m a bit tired here,” Maggie interrupts from the back seat irritably. I cast a glare at her and am about to say that I am not flirting with him. But he turns up his radio and drives, drowning out any retort I am about to say. I can swear I see him smiling a little, just a slight curl of the corners of his mouth.
                  I cross my arms over my chest and lean my head against the window, the air conditioning blows softly across my face from the vents on the dash. It’s easier now to block out the noise of his music. Soon I fall into a dream filled sleep without meaning to.
                  Faces swim across my eyelids. Broken images that make no sense. First a cement wall then a row a trees then a star strewn sky, a face I don’t know, a shadowy figure, most of which were the events of the day. Others I am not so certain.
                  I’m shaken awake by the guy. I open my eyes to find that we’re outside my house and when I look into the back seat Maggie is gone. What? How did he know where I