Beyond Your Touch Read Free Page A

chair next to her.
    Kate wrinkled her nose at me. “It would appear you’ve been out somewhere?”
    I attempted to flick my helmet-flattened hair back, but my fingers snagged on a jelly-sticky snarl. I grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, ATV riding.”
    â€œOf course you were,” Kate said. Then she cleared her throat. “Whatever. We’re not here to discuss your hobbies.”
    The f-word danced on the tip of my tongue, but I pressed my lips into a reserved smile and resisted the urge to say it out loud. Not reacting was more likely to get under Kate’s skin.
    â€œI’m assuming both of you know that the men have gone to acquire a flute?” she asked.
    Selena shifted upright, crossing her legs. “Mom said you and her are working on making the Methuselah oil scent-free?”
    â€œYes. The plan is to have that done before the men return.”
    I tilted my head, taking it all in. When Kate and Selena’s dad had attempted to rescue my mother five years ago, they’d used the oil of Methuselah to prevent their bodies from becoming ethereal in the djinn realm. Unfortunately the oil had a strong odor that the genies detected. Kate and David had managed to escape with Chase, but the warning set off by the oil had given Malphic all the time he needed to seal the veil with a quick warding spell before Mother could get through. Still—judging by the way Kate was nervously fiddling with her signet ring—I suspected the oil wasn’t the only issue this time.
    â€œDad said you’re only fairly sure this flute idea will work,” I said, pinning her with a pointed look.
    She pursed her lips. “That’s not quite accurate.”
    I swallowed a smile. Gotcha. The ability to read body language had its perks, at auctions and times like this.
    Without taking her eyes off me, Kate plastered on a fake smile as if she’d figured out what I’d noticed. “We are certain it will work. But we’re missing a vital piece of the puzzle. We still don’t know how the flute-magic works—what combination of notes can force the veil open and break wards, if additional spells are required, those sort of details.”
    I snorted. “That’s a pretty major stumbling block. Isn’t it a bit ridiculous to go all the way to Slovenia for a flute before you know how to use it?”
    â€œWhat you’ve failed to take into consideration is that flutes like this don’t become available every time one turns around.”
    â€œWell, that depends on where one gets it, right?” I said, injecting a healthy dose of innuendo into my voice.
    Kate flagged her hand as if going into more detail would be wasted on me. “At any rate,” she continued, “the Professor is getting in touch with some of his Oxford connections about the music aspect and going to keep researching here as well. And Zachary—”
    Selena cut her off. “I know where this is going. Annie and I get the joy of babysitting Zachary while everyone else does interesting stuff.”
    I nodded my agreement. Selena’s little brother, Zachary, was seven years younger than her. I liked him. He was super smart for an eleven-year-old, like Mensa-smart—which was why the Professor was tutoring him. Still, Selena was right, we deserved to have a more important role than glorified babysitters.
    Glancing up, Kate hesitated as if thinking. “Babysitting, that’s not a half-bad idea.” Her gaze came back to us. “But this time Zachary will be helping the Professor.”
    â€œReally?” Selena grinned.
    I met Kate’s eyes. “So what are we doing, then?”
    She rested her elbows on the desk and steepled her fingers. “There’s a bone flute at the old Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor.”
    â€œBar Harbor?” Selena’s grin widened.
    Kate scowled. “This is not a shopping trip. We’ve already used photos to study the flute, but