Through Time-Whiplash Read Online Free Page A

doorway, much like the ones she had seen in pictures of the stones at Stonehenge, in England.
    However, these were a single set, three huge stones, two standing and one lying flat across the top of the two sarsen Standing Stones. And then she noticed a much smaller one, set back just a bit from the land, also hovered over the lake.
    This sarsen was shaped like a pyramid and stood as though to block the entrance. One would have to squeeze left or right to get past. Hell, what was she thinking?
    This was crazy .
    What was even more disturbing was the fact that the pyramid-shaped stone suddenly whispered her name. “Fios Jazmine,” it murmured, “come, you must come.”
    Her instincts shouted, Run for your life . Her curiosity made her step forward, transfixed on the pyramid now talking to her.
    She stood mesmerized for a long moment before she took another step forward. She extended her hand towards one of the Standing Stones, wanting to feel its texture. The entire experience was almost hypnotic.
    “Don’t touch it!”
    Jazz whipped around so fast she nearly snapped her neck, to find not only a Seelie Fae but a Royal Fae Prince bearing down on her .
    Had he heard the stone call her a Fios? He must have.
    Oh, no, oh no . She could be in trouble here. She had turned to the sound of his voice. A normal human would not only not have seen him but not have heard him either.
    She had given herself away.
    He was not in human Glamour but cloaked with invisibility, yet she had acknowledged his presence when he’d surprised her. What was more, he was a Royal, and her mother had told her tales of what Royals did with their kind. She knew the tales of Royals, all Seelie Fae, visiting, discovering what they were, seducing, and then whisking them off to Faery.
    Now what ? Play dumb, yes , that was it; she could do dumb. What moved her to peek at him she didn’t know, but she did. He saw her interest with narrowed eyes. What was she doing—what was wrong with her?
    She had never seen a Royal before, but she knew by the torque around his neck, which was gold and etched with the insignia of his Royal House, that he was one.
    Royals were the most magically potent of all Fae and therefore the most dangerous, and this one was the hottest Fae she had ever seen. She was mesmerized by the way his long, thick, flaxen hair blew in the wind all about his handsome face. She was so damned taken by his good looks and his smokin’ body. Oh, this was not good. There was only one thing to do …
    She took off at a speed, even greater than the one she knew she possessed, aware that it was probably useless. No matter how fast she could run using her Fios magic, she couldn’t out distance him. He was a Fae, with the power to ‘shift’, which allowed a Fae to step from one place into another in only a matter of seconds. She didn’t know if that was science or magic, but she knew she would be trapped.
    Fae seers had many extraordinary gifts. However, not all Fios had the same gifts. One of her particular gifts was speed. She held the hope that she would hold no interest for him and he would not bother himself to stop her. Wrong.
    Evidently, stopping her was what he wanted to do .
    She ran into a brick wall that she realized was his chest, bounced off like a rubber ball, and fell backwards so hard she had the wind knocked out of her.
    The Royal Fae Prince stared down at her as she lay back against the grass trying to catch her breath and asked, “ What, by Danu, are you?”
    * * *
    Pretend you don’t hear him! Pretend you don’t see him , she told herself. Yuh, duh, he knows you turned when he shouted at you. He knows you ran away from him.
    Doesn’t matter—just pretend. She said out loud, “Huh … what did I run into? A tree? I don’t see a tree. Must be just clumsy me, tripping over nothing.” She got to her feet and brushed herself off.
    “Don’t be foolish. I know you can see me—my reflection is in your eyes, and your eyes are not