Magic of the Wood House (The Elemental Phases Book 6) by Cassandra Gannon Page A

holy
hell out of you.  When are you going to give it up?”
    “Well,
today proved that I was right about you all along.”  Eian bit off.  “ Finally everyone will see that you’re nothing but fucking gangsters.  Finally ,
you’re going to pay!”
    Pele
snorted, unimpressed with the threats.  “See, Job?  If we were really behind
this, I’d have made sure this asshole was the first one to die.”

Chapter Four
     
    And
new philosophy calls all in doubt,
    The
element of fire is quite put out
     
    John
Donne- “An Anatomy of the World”
     
    Christmas Eve Afternoon
     
    Sullivan
wasn’t sure how to explain the volcanoes.
    As
far as he knew, there wasn’t a single volcano within a thousand miles of
Florida.  And there was no way the Cult could have faked the tall, smoking
mountains in the distance.  The glowing black peaks lit-up the sky in luminous
orange.  The effect would’ve been hard to manufacture outside of an Industrial
Light & Magic FX studio.
    And
then there was the castle.
    Yeah…
That was another problem.  No one could hide a Gothic castle amid the Mayport
Beach bungalows.  A huge, stone fortress complete with gargoyles and a moat
made of lava was sure to draw some attention.  Sullivan would have noticed if
the Cult built the place on a side street or something.
    Nope. 
It didn’t take any great detective work to piece together that Sullivan was a
long way from home.  As for the rest of this garbage…
    Sullivan’s
gaze went from Alder’s encouraging smile, to Djinn and Pele’s bored frowns, and
finally to Teja’s gorgeous, unreadable, out-of-reach face.  “Bullshit.”  He
said distinctly and watched with satisfaction as her hazel eyes narrowed.
    Teja
was so damn stunning it defied all known boundaries of stunning-ness.  Dark
hair and lush lips and a face like Sophia Loren.  Her eyes were a brilliant
hazel, with foot long lashes and radiant golden flecks that glowed when she was
pissed off.  And the girl was pissed off a lot , so there were tons of
flecks to enjoy.
    In
fact, while Alder was spinning his fantastical tale of other-worldly, Men in
Black style conspiracies, Teja just stood there with her back against the
wall, scowling.
    She
even scowled hot.
    Since
he’d met her Teja had fluctuated between ignoring him, insulting him, and
confusing him, but he’d never been so attracted to anyone in his life.  Looking
at Teja put crazy thoughts in Sullivan’s head.  Impossible, crazy thoughts
about her and him and naked bodies intertwined.
    Her
hair captivated him the most.  Shoulder length and black, it fell in a halo of
perfect curls.  And at her temple, there was a streak of pale blue.  Sullivan
had no idea why he found that so intriguing, but he found his gaze drawn to it,
again and again.  Christ, he was just so relieved to have her back in his life,
regardless of the circumstances.  Down deep, something inside of him recognized
this woman as his.
    Which
was insane.
    Not
surprising given the insanity surrounding him.
    “Bullshit?” 
Djinn echoed incredulously.  He up threw his hands in exasperation.  “Explain
what’s going on then, human?”  He gestured to the window and the hellscape of
fire beyond.  “Where are we if not the Fire Kingdom?  What’s happened to you,
if we’re all such liars?”
    Sullivan
kept his attention on Teja.  “I don’t think you’re lying about this being your
mutant homeland.  I’ve suspected for a while that you weirdoes aren’t human. 
Honestly, I’ve been expecting something like this.”  Looking outside at the
geysers of magma, it felt like he’d already known this “realm” of their
existed, in fact.  Which just went to show that their craziness was
contagious.  “But I know you’re lying about the rest of it.”
    Her
eyes narrowed at him.
    “Did
he just call us mutants?”  Pele asked Djinn in a stage whisper.  “Should we be
offended right now?”
    “Maybe
he means --like-- awesome mutants.”