The Morrigan's Curse Read Online Free Page A

much. He walked across the parking lot to where Riley was wiping his hands with an oily cloth and staring at the window of Evangeline’s room. A.J. saw Jax approaching. “Ugh! Where’d that come from?”
    â€œMeet Stink,” said Jax. “He was my dad’s pet.”
    â€œDon’t tell me you inherited him.” A.J. made a face.
    Riley chucked the dirty rag into his toolbox and addressed the brownie directly. “You want to hang out with Jax, that’s fine. But stay away from his liege lady unless you like getting squashed with a broom.”
    Stink bobbed his head and scurried around to Jax’s other shoulder.
    Jax narrowed his eyes at Riley. Last Grunsday, Stink had snatched a gun from Jax’s uncle before he could shoot Riley. A little while later, a crowd of brownies had lured a wyvern into attacking Ursula Dulac instead of its intended victim—
Riley
. At the time, Jax thought the brownies were out to get Ursula, but he suddenly realized that saving Riley’s life might have been their real priority. “Okay. What kind of arrangement do you and the brownies . . .” Then he froze, staring past his guardian and over the roof of the motel. “What’s that?”
    There was a dark, blotchy cloud in the purple sky. “Smoke?” suggested Riley. “Fire?”
    Jax shook his head. Every hair on his body wasstanding on edge, and an icy coldness swept over him. “It’s a storm. Coming this way.”
    â€œCan’t be,” said A.J. “There’s no weather on Grunsday.”
    â€œWe’re dealing with Llyrs, A.J.” Riley held up a hand for his friend to be quiet. “Jax? What do you know?”
    Jax’s fingers twitched toward the honor blade sheathed at his waist, seeking information. “We need to get out of here.”
    â€œLet’s not panic over nothing,” said A.J.
    â€œPack up,” Riley snapped. “This is Jax’s talent. If he says we have to get out of here, we get out!”

4
    JAX GRABBED ALL THEIR possessions out of the motel room, stuffing them into Riley’s duffel bag without any regard to whether they were his, A.J.’s, or Riley’s. Then he ran outside just as Riley was helping Evangeline into the Land Rover and A.J. was tying down Riley’s motorcycle in the back of his truck.
    What had been only a thumbprint in the sky had grown to fill the horizon, with clouds that looked like they’d been finger-painted by an angry preschooler. The temperature had dropped, and a wind was rising.
    Jax climbed into the Land Rover beside Evangeline, who recoiled at the sight of Stink on his shoulder. The brownie leaped into the cushions of the rear seat and vanished. Evangeline rubbed her eyes. “I’m worse off than I thought,” she said. “I’m hallucinating brownies.”
    â€œYou’re not hallucinating,” Riley said, backing the Land Rover away from the motel. “Jax has a new pet.”
    Jax ran his fingers over the seat cushions. The spot where Stink had disappeared was spongy, and he pushed into it. His hand vanished as if it were cut off at the wrist. Stink had created a brand new brownie hole inside the car. Jax couldn’t resist. He shoved his head in.
    The hole didn’t lead to a tunnel like the ones in the Dulac building. Instead, it was more like a pocket of tunnel material, which was a crinkly, translucent substance that seemed to be made of pure magic. From inside the brownie hole, Jax could see the car all around him, but Evangeline and Riley weren’t visible, and through the windows—nothing, just blankness. Jax was inside the car but outside of time. There was no sign of Stink.
He jumped to somewhere else!
    A hand gripped the back of Jax’s shirt and yanked him out. “Are you crazy?” Evangeline exclaimed. “We’re in a moving car! What if your head got left behind?”
    â€œMy head was still inside