Honeyed Words Read Online Free Page B

stayed back a few paces, watching her spin once, her arms outflung. But when she stumbled, I was there in an instant. I caught her before she fell to the ground, swung her around, and pulled her to me.
    She looked into my eyes, and I saw the mischievous look I’d learned to love and dread. “Nice catch,” she said, kissing me on the nose.
    We walked the rest of the way down the service ramp toward the two large bouncers who didn’t look like they were having a good time. That and the forty or fifty young girls in corsets, spandex, or, in one case, surgical gauze caused me to slow down. “There has to be a different entrance.”
    Katie looked around for a moment, and then straightened up. “No way. We’re running the gauntlet.”
    “Could be a little crazy,” I said.
    “But we have these,” she said, waving the passes in front of me. “None can stand before such might.”
    I bowed to her, spreading my arms out with a flourish. “As you wish, milady.”
    She giggled and grabbed me by the arm, nearly dragging me off my feet. “Besides, I can hide behind you.”
    “That’s great.” I plucked the passes out of her hand and turned toward the crowd. Katie grabbed the waistband of my jeans and followed behind me real close as I began to work my way through to the bouncers. “Pardon me, coming through, excuse me, dreadfully sorry…”
    One very large woman turned to block us, one hand on her hip and the other aimed at me with her working finger out. “Now see here, sistah,” she slurred. “We gotta right to be here.”
    “Yes,” Katie said from behind me. “Ari told us to look for you. Said if we saw you to let him know.”
    The woman was twice as wide as me, with her hair teased into some sort of eighties-psycho-cheerleader pomp with streaks of purple and gold.
    “You know Ari?” she asked, her anger melting to awe. “Can you get me in? I’m supposed to marry him.”
    I felt my face stretching as I craned around to look at Katie—seriously?
    “Said he loved me at the show in Cleveland.”
    “I’m sure,” I muttered.
    “We’ll tell him you’re out here,” Katie said, pushing me from behind. “Once we get inside.”
    The woman looked at us, debating, but the combination of desperation and alcohol won out. She swung around like a barn door, pushing several other girls out of the way. “Let ’em through,” she bellowed. “They’re gonna talk to Ari for me.”
    I shuffle-stepped forward, aware of all the eyes on us, hungry eyes, full of need and … one of the young goth girls didn’t look quite right. There was something about the way her eyes were glinting, the tilt of her jaw, the way her hair covered her ears.
    “I think she’s an elf,” Katie said, following my gaze. “But why would real elves be waiting in line?”
    I handed the passes to the bouncers, who ushered us past the velvet ropes. Once we were on the other side, I looked back. “You sure?” I asked. “Real elves?”
    Katie craned her neck to the side, trying to see through the milling crowd. “I’ve never met an elf. Maybe we should go talk to her.”
    The bouncers gave us a look. Crossing back over to the milling crowd may be a bad idea. “You sure you want to be late for the party?”
    I could tell she was torn. She glanced down the hall toward the party, then back at the crowd.
    The girl was gone. I’d been watching her, watching us. Just glanced away a second and she’d vanished.
    “She’s gone,” I said. “Maybe next time.”
    Katie pouted a few seconds and threw her arms up. “What can you do? Let’s go party.” She sauntered off, turning the corner as the ramp continued downward while I got a pair of lanyards for the passes and slipped one over my neck. I hurried to catch up with Katie. Were there real elves? How the hell did I know? I needed a guidebook to my own damn world after I reforged Gram.
    I staggered, a sharp pain in my left calf. Gram! I had been avoiding her, keeping my mind on other things,