Read A Kind of Magic for Free Online Page A

Sophie’s raging crush on Michael, especially now that Michael had officially given up his wife as lost forever.
    Fortunately, although Eamon was considered a scholar of humans among the fae, he was still pretty clueless about actual people, so he didn’t seem to have caught on to Emily’s nervousness or the reasons behind it. “Was the performance tonight one of those things you think might be odd?” he asked.
    “You were there?”
    “Yes. I enjoy this show.”
    “Did you notice anything different?”
    “I think it was better than the last time I saw it.”
    “Better how? I mean, like supernaturally so? It kind of felt like we were sprinkled with fairy dust, but were we?”
    “I am not familiar with fairy dust. Is it dust made from fairies? That sounds like a barbaric practice.”
    “No! Ew. It’s a figure of speech.” She noticed that his lips were twitching and realized he was teasing her. “And you know that because I know you’ve read Peter Pan, ” she said, elbowing him in the ribs.
    “I assure you, I noticed no dust, magical or otherwise, descending upon your production. There was an energy in the air, though, but performing generates its own kind of magic, so it is hard to tell if it was imposed upon you or if you created it yourselves.”
    “Wait, acting is magic?”
    “Well, the music certainly can be, and given that there’s at least one cast member with fae blood, your performances do create some magic.”
    “Wow. I like the sound of that.” Figuring that his teasing her counted as flirting, she hooked her arm around his and leaned against him. “So, do you want to go somewhere and talk? Or we could go back to my place.” Her face grew warm when she said it as she remembered the last time, when she’d been very drunk and very amorous and he’d been quite the gentleman. “Or your place.”
    “What about somewhere in between? There is a revel and market tonight, and I thought you’d enjoy seeing one without having any other mission to worry about.”
    “Aw, no gangs of fairy thugs breaking the place up?”
    “I can’t guarantee anything, but I feel it is unlikely.”
    Fairy events usually started at midnight, so this would be a very late night for her, but she didn’t have to be at work until the next night, so she could sleep all day, and how could she pass up an offer like this? “Okay, you’re on,” she said, “but first I need to stop and get some coffee if I’m going to stay up so late.”
    The revel was in Central Park, as so many fae activities were. Sophie said it was because the fae were creatures of nature that didn’t coexist well with manmade industrial society. In cities like this, they had to limit themselves to spaces with grass and trees. Eamon was the odd fairy who’d managed to inure himself to buildings, streets, and sidewalks. Most others would have been fading rapidly after coming this deep into the city, away from the green of the park.
    The last time Emily had gone to a fairy market, it had been on Bethesda Terrace. This one was at the nearby Bandshell. Or it would be, when it started. She wrapped her hands around the large cardboard cup of coffee as she and Eamon stood nearby and waited for the market to appear. She thought she detected nearby movement, as of other fae living in this sphere who were coming to the event that formed a temporary bubble between the two worlds.
    “Do you know anything about kelpies?” she asked Eamon while they waited, figuring she might as well do some research while she was at it.
    “I find them cruel and arrogant, so I don’t spend much time with them,” he replied. “Why?”
    “Michael said he saw one in the park this morning. He thinks it killed someone.”
    “If the person was drowned, that is likely.”
    “So it’s not odd?”
    “For you, maybe. For us, that is what kelpies do.”
    “I mean, is it odd for one to be here?”
    “They do most of their mischief in the human world, where they are more likely