The Faery Keepers Read Online Free Page B

live?
                  “Hey Sleeping Beauty, you’re home.”
                  I peer at him.
                  He must be pretty good at guessing what I’m thinking because the next thing out of his mouth is: “The cranky chick told me your address after I dropped her off. Here we are.”
                  “Oh. Thanks.”
                  I realize then that its deathly silent inside the Jeep. Strange.
                  “You gonna get out?”
                  “Yeah, sorry. Um, thanks for the ride again.” I find my bag on the floor by my feet and hoist it onto my shoulder. How it got there, beats me. I open the door and jump down, closing it as quietly as I can behind me.
                  He leans across the seat again, opening the window. “The name’s Derek,” is all he says.
                  I’m so startled that I don’t know what to say. So I just nod like an idiot and make my way to my familiar front door, digging for my keys.
                  I fall asleep almost immediately after my head touches my pillow. Hearing Derek rev off is the last conscious thing I register.
         
                  I meet up with Maggie the next day at her place. My mom doesn’t even say two words to me about last night so I guess I’m off the hook. Or she was too passed out from her own job as a nurse to notice. Unsurprisingly I don’t wake up until late in the day. She’s just leaving for work when I make my appearance in the kitchen to grab a quick bite before heading out myself.
                  “Morning.” i s all I get.
                  “Yep,” I mumble to an already closed door.              
                  Don’t get me wrong, I love my mom. But the woman needs to cut back on her hours. She takes anything she can get, though. Raising me by herself and trying to keep up a house is hard work. Or that’s what she tells me any time I make the mistake of bringing it up. So, this is what we have, her leaving whenever I’m around and vice versa. Makes it hard to have quality family time.
                  Since I’m not sixteen yet my only mode of transportation is, sadly, walking, bicycling, or taking the bus. The other having just walked out the door that is. So it looks like I’ll be walking. Ugh . Did I mention I can’t wait to get my driving permit? Stupid age limitations...
                  Maggie lives in an apartment in down town Hawthorne Hollow with her older brother, Parker.
    Their parents died when Parker was only sixteen himself leaving them with an only aunt. Maggie herself was only nine at the time. But when Parker was legal he got a job and they moved out on their own rather than burden their aunt who clearly didn’t want children at her house. Maggie wasn’t unhappy. Just the opposite. She liked having the freed om other girls her age didn’t. But that didn’t mean she doesn’t miss her parents.
                  Parker answers the door when I buzz. “Oh, hey Katie.”
                  His hair is as fair in color as Maggie’s. But where Maggie is all tan and blue eyed, a perfect Californian, he’s pale skinned and brown eyed. A dusting of facial hair covers his jaw line and his hair is a tousled mess. He’s wearing a dark blue band logo shirt and cargo jeans. “Come on in,” he waves.
                  “How’s it going?” I ask, shoving past him.
                  “Pretty good.”
                  “Any news on the band?” Parker was a guitar player after his day job. If you didn’t know him you would have never guessed it. He’d just had a rehearsal for a local band named Bitter Nightingales and was waiting to hear back from them last I heard from his gossip of a sister.
                  “Maggie ruins