Read The Inner Circle, Book 3 of the Glass Wall ( A YA Urban Fantasy Romance ) for Free Online

announced,
“It’s Ellison.”
    “Well then, don’t worry about me,” I said,
relieved to escape her questioning. Grabbing the nearest book, I
waved it in the air. “I’m just going to make a dent in this book
here and go to sleep.”
    “ Pride and Prejudice ?” she said,
squinting her eyes to read the title. And then she laughed. “You’ll
be asleep in five minutes!” She moved to the door, but before she
left, she twisted around and added, “Oh, just kiss and make up with
Rafael. You two are a really good match.”
    I scowled as she giggled, and with a cheerful
wave, skipped out of my room.
    Rubbing my temples, I stared at my
handwriting scrawled across my notebook.
    How was I going to spy on the Inner Circle
and outwit them?
    Closing my eyes, I began to rub my temples,
when I suddenly realized that Grace had just given me my
answer.
    Rafael had apparently been using me.
    It was time for me to flip the tables and use him.
    Yes, it was time to kiss and make
up.

Chapter Three – The Man in the Black Top
Hat

    The more I
thought about the idea, the more I liked it.
    Grabbing the hand mirror Rafael had given me,
I stared into it. I knew it was Fae technology, but I wasn’t sure
how to activate it. Hopefully, he hadn’t gotten my message from
before where I’d called him a jerk.
    Finally, I just looked at my reflection and
said, “Rafael, we need to talk. I want to help. I’m sure you’re
doing the right thing, even if I don’t understand it.”
    I stared at my reflection, a little surprised
at how genuinely heartfelt that had sounded, but I chalked it up to
burgeoning acting abilities, tucked the mirror back into my drawer,
and turned away.
    With any luck, he’d get the message, and I’d
be able to start snooping on him.
    After a while, I remembered my golden Fae
bracelet, and bringing it close to my mouth, I repeated the same
message just in case it worked along the same lines as the
mirror.
    I tried to contact Jareth several times after
that, thinking to myself the sequence of numbers that had always
worked before.
    But he didn’t come. I wasn’t really
surprised.
    It was getting late, and everyone was getting
ready for bed. And as they settled down for the night, I decided to
quickly check on them all under the guise of asking questions about
minutiae.
    Poking my head into Grace’s room, I inquired,
“And what time did Ellison say he was coming again?”
    She looked pleased at the excuse to text him
again, and then grinned up at me. “Eight sharp!”
    “Nite,” I said, closing the door.
    Al and Betty’s door was wide open, and they
were both in bed reading.
    “Need anything? Like water … or anything…?” I
asked them. It sounded a bit lame, but I was still kind of worried
about Betty, so it wasn’t all pretense.
    “I’m fine, dear,” Betty said with a friendly
wave as Al peered up from his book with a strong, “Sweet dreams,
kiddo!”
    I even wandered into the kitchen to check on
Tigger. As usual, he was snoring in front of the refrigerator.
    Returning to my room, I sat there in the
darkness, hugging my knees and clenching Jareth’s protection rune
tightly in my hand.
    Silence fell.
    The protection rune was cool against my skin.
I supposed that meant the Mesmers were nowhere around.
    After a few minutes, I got up to turn my lamp
back on before crawling back to huddle on the bed. I tried to think
of other things, but it was hard not to be afraid. Very hard.
    At some point, I must have fallen asleep,
because I woke up feeling icy cold and as if fingers were creeping
up my arm.
    With a strangled gasp, I leapt out of
bed.
    But there was nothing there.
    Again, I tried to call Jareth by thinking of
his numbers, but he didn’t show up.
    My clock said it was just past midnight and I
frowned. I still had a long way to go before dawn.
    I missed Ajax. As obnoxious as he was, I’d
always felt safe when he slept in my room.
    But then, I did have Tigger.
    Creeping into the kitchen, I found the