Clash of the Otherworlds: Book 3, Portal Guardians Read Free Page B

know," said Spike, frowning.   "Come over here and try mine."
    I stepped closer to the filaments surrounding Spike and touched them.   Each disappeared as soon as my finger intersected with their light.
    "Did it hurt?   Like a prick or a spark or anything?" Spike asked.
    "Nope.   Nothing at all."
    "Huh," he said, looking down at his finger.
    "Is there a mark on your hand?"
    He shook his head.   "Just a little red spot, maybe."   He held up his finger for my inspection and confirmation.   Sure enough, there was something there.   It looked like a welt or a burn mark.
    "Willy, do you have a boo-boo on your hand where you touched the bad light?" I asked.
    He had the finger in his mouth and just shook his head no.
    "Can I see?" I asked.
    He shook his head no again.
    I sighed.   This kid stuff was not easy.   I didn't have the patience for it, and was quickly gaining a lot of respect for Abby that I probably should have had for her all along.   "Please?" I asked in the sweetest voice I was capable of using at that point.
    He popped his finger out of his mouth and held it up for my inspection, saying nothing but looking as forlorn as a baby pixie could.
    I squinted as hard as possible, but try as I might, it was impossible for me to see something that tiny.   "I can't see it.   Your finger's too little."
    He examined it himself, saying, "It's red and it hurts and I don't like dat mean pixie lady," before sticking it back in his mouth.
    I turned to follow the flight path of the now absent prickly-light-spinner.   "Well, she's gone, at least for now.   And for the record, I don't like her either."
    "Make that three thumbs down for the wench with the light-web coming out of her tail."   Spike tugged on my sleeve.   "Come on.   Let's keep moving."
    "Where are we going?" I asked.
    "In the direction she came from."
    "Why there?"   It seemed like asking for trouble to me.
    Spike shrugged.   "My logic probably sucks, but since she's now on my bad-guy list, and she came from there in a hurry, maybe it means her enemies are that way."
    "But what if she was leaving her house?   Or her compound?   And it's full of web-spinners?" I asked, freaking out about the possibility of more than one of them coming after us.   I wasn't sure if my light cutting skills were permanent or just a fluke.
    "Then we're screwed."   Spike stopped walking.   "Do you have any other ideas?"
    "No.   But I'd like to talk about why I was able to make those things disappear and you were hurt by them."
    "You're an elemental," Spike offered, shrugging, as if that explained everything.
    I laughed.   "That's it?   That's the reason?   Why does that make a difference?"
    "How am I supposed to know?   I'm just a simple incubus.   But it's my theory, and I'm sticking to it."
    I put my arm through his and began dragging him in the direction he'd suggested.   "I love that you're not a man of science."   I was grinning like a fool.
    "Why?" he asked, joining me in my happy-fest with a smile of his own.
    "Because, I already have one of those in my life.   Tony."
    "And now you have me in your life too, is that what you're saying?"
    I squeezed his arm harder, not looking at him.   "Hells yeah, I do.   Assuming you still want to be in it."
    He leaned in and gave me a quick, chaste kiss on the cheek.   "There's no place I'd rather be."
    Willy started pumping his little body up and down in my fist, doing some sort of nutty pixie dance.   "Hells yeah!   Hells yeah!   Hells yeah!"
    I laughed.   "You do realize we just taught the little turd another bad word, right?"
    "We're probably going to make it out of here only to get pixelated by his parents when we get home," said Spike.
    "Probably," I agreed, looking down to make sure I didn't trip and add squished pixie baby to my list of infractions.
    My next thought was interrupted by the sound of an angry man grunting and yelling, and the distinct swishing and crunching that I knew to be someone running