Fort Morgan Read Free Page A

standing in
a soggy hallway of an office building.
    “ Let’s go save Yvonne,”
Abi said.
    She started down the hallway. Stunned,
Tanesha stared at her back for a moment before running to catch
up.
     

Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty-two
    Complicated Plans
    “ What are you doing here?”
Tanesha said when she caught up with Abi.
    “ Saving Yvonne and
Dionne,” Abi said.
    “ Wait.” Tanesha put her
hand on Abi’s forearm and they stopped running. “You were just
shot.”
    “ I healed.” Abi
shrugged.
    “ No really, why are you
here?” Tanesha asked. “You could be waited on hand and
foot.”
    “ In my velvet finery?” Abi
asked. “Courtesan to Prince Finegal?”
    “ What?” Tanesha flushed
red. “I never . . . Why are you calling yourself a
prostitute?”
    “ Maybe you meant a
concubine?” Abi asked.
    “ Abi,
I . . .”
    “ It’s not you,” Abi said.
“That’s what the court thinks of me. I had to get away.”
    Abi grabbed Tanesha’s hand and pulled her
into an office. They crouched behind a desk. A man who looked
half-cop, half-bodyguard walked in front of the office.
    “ Plus, you can imagine how
hot Fin will be when I get back,” Abi said with a smile.
    “ You mean Celeste is up to
her old tricks?” Tanesha asked.
    Abi looked surprised and then scowled.
    “ How did you know?” Abi
asked.
    “ Fin.”
    “ That fairy has her sights
set on Prince Finegal and she doesn’t care who knows it,” Abi said.
“She calls me the Courtesan Abi. She says she will allow him to
keep me when they’re married so as not to estrange the queen’s
favorite grandchild, Ne Ne. The queen thinks it’s funny so she
doesn’t do anything about it. I’m the mother of Fin’s only living
child, and still the Queen doesn’t do anything to stop Celeste.
Plus Celeste is a part of the court, and. . .”
    Abi scowled.
    “ What?” Tanesha
asked.
    “ She vacations on the
Antipodes Islands,” Abi said.
    “ We’re here to save Mom
right?” Tanesha asked. She was frustrated that Abi was now
distracted by “Stupid Celeste,” Fin’s name for the
woman.
    “ Of course,” Abi said. “So
you know, Celeste vacations on the Antipodes Islands.”
    “ You said that,” Tanesha
said.
    “ They are islands off of
the coast of New Zealand,” Abi said.
    “ Um . . .”
    “ Your geography is really
awful,” Abi said. “Typical American education, you really need to
know your own planet. I should get Ne Ne. . .”
    “ Wait!” Tanesha exclaimed.
“What does Stupid Celeste have to do with Mom and
Dionne?”
    “ Why did you call her
‘Stupid Celeste’?” Abi asked.
    “ That’s what Fin calls
her.”
    “ He does?” Abi asked. She
flushed red at the idea that Fin thought Celeste was
stupid.
    Tanesha nodded, and Abi smiled.
    “ That’s good,” Abi
said.
    “ Answer the question!”
Tanesha said. “What does Stupid Celeste have to do with Mom and
Dionne?”
    “ Everything,” Abi
said.
    “ Why?” Tanesha
asked.
    “ The Antipodes Islands are
considered too cold to be inhabited,” Abi said.
    “ So?”
    “ They are volcanic
islands,” Abi said.
    “ And?”
    “ Serpents thrive in
volcanos,” Abi said.
    “ Oh,” Tanesha
said.
    “ Exactly right,” Abi said.
“The Antipodes have long been rumored to be the lair of the
serpent.”
    “ But Heather said the Sea
of Amber was everywhere,” Tanesha said.
    “ She would know,” Abi
said.
    “ But. . .?”
    “ Volcano?” Abi pointed to
the ground.
    “ There’s a volcano here?”
Tanesha asked.
    There was a noise somewhere in the building,
and Tanesha stood up.
    “ I’m going to help my
mother,” Tanesha said.
    “ If Celeste is
involved. . .” Abi started.
    “ Just spit it out!”
Tanesha said. Her words came out as a magic-charged order and Abi
gave a slight bow.
    “ If I’m right, Celeste has
made an accord with the serpents for Yvonne,” Abi said. “They are
using the end of this pornography ring as an opportunity to