Starlight Web (Moonshadow Bay #1) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,47
They’ll take it from here,” Teran said.
We carried our spiked cocoa back into the living room and sat near the fire.
I tried to remember my mother talking to me about the Ladies. She hadn’t said a great deal—and I suspected she thought it would be awhile yet before they showed up in my life, so she hadn’t prepared me for them. But now, I’d have to wing it. Teran could help, but if the Ladies wanted me to listen to them, they’d have to be willing to talk.
Feeling restless, I stared into the flames as Ari and Teran talked. I closed my eyes as the flames played a warm rhythm on my skin, and tried to relax.
Chapter Ten
Morning came early, especially with a schnapps-induced hangover. One spiked cocoa had led to two, had led to three more shots of peppermint schnapps before we had called it a night. Now, I was so fuzzy that I could barely think.
I managed to fill my travel mug with a latte and throw together a turkey and swiss sandwich before I had to hit the door running. But I no sooner opened the door than I remembered that we were going to be spending the night at the asylum. In my cotton-headed brain, I had managed to push that to the side.
“Cripes, I’m late, I’m late!” I headed back inside, frantically trying to think of where I put my sleeping bag. Did I even own a sleeping bag? Finally, I just tossed a bunch of warm clothes in a backpack and added several boxes of granola bars, a flashlight, and a bottle of my mother’s Protection spray.
“I can’t believe I’m already late and it’s only my second day,” I muttered to myself as I hurried down the porch steps, trying to juggle my coffee, my purse, the pack, and the very slick stairs. I needed to buy rock salt on the way home, or maybe on my lunch hour.
As I reached the bottom, I stepped off the last stair onto the sidewalk and the next moment, I faceplanted on the ice, my heel catching in one of the chinks of hardened snow. My travel mug landed near me, splattering hot latte all over the snow, my purse went flying down the sidewalk, I landed on top of my pack and groaned as something hard jutted into my stomach, and I began to notice a ringing in my ears as I lay there, trying to catch my breath.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” I muttered, wondering if anybody had seen me. I slowly pushed my way to my hands and knees, wincing as I glanced around. Maybe I had lucked out. There was nobody in sight, so maybe I’d make it through without any prying eyes. As I stood, I noticed that my jeans had a rip in the knee, and my knee beneath the fabric was scraped and bleeding. My nose hurt, and the heel of my boot had ripped off. So much for getting a good start to the day.
I gathered up everything, yanked the boot heel out of the snow, and limped my way back up the frozen steps. Unlocking the door, I tossed my purse on the sofa and slumped on the cushion next to it. After a moment, I pulled my boots off, then fished my phone out of my purse and called Tad.
“I’m going to be late. I faceplanted on my sidewalk just now.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just broke my boot heel, scraped my knee, and I think I may have sprained my nose.” I must have sounded just exasperated enough for him to take pity on me. At least, he tried not to laugh, though I could hear the suppressed snicker behind his words.
“Take your time. We’ll see you when you get here. Don’t rush it—we don’t want you showing up with a broken leg.”
“Thanks,” I murmured. I felt out of sorts in every which way. Wincing, I stood. Not only did my hip still ache from the day before, but now my knee hurt, along with my elbow and nose. I was on my way upstairs to my bathroom when I heard someone behind whispering behind me.
Are you all right, pumpkin?
Pumpkin? That’s what my mother had called me. But I decided to wait till I was at the top to react. The last thing I needed was to tumble down a flight of stairs. As I headed toward my bedroom, I paused.