Keeping It Real Read Free

twos
    across the water, over the vast towerless span of the elf-built bridge - the Andalune - and through the
    dense woodlands which crept from the water's edge to the Heights of Solomon. Zal's house lay over the
    ridge, the only clue to its presence a heavily barred iron gate set in stone posts thatwere almost hidden
    by trees. There was no postbox and no speakerphone. Lila pulled up in front and glanced up at the
    spikes. Behind the gates the forestthick-ened and the boughs of the trees leantover the road and
    shrouded it in darkness . Within twenty metres the drive curved away from her and was lost to sight. In
    the quiet she heard her engine and the sough of wind in the leaves. She was surrounded by trees.
    Using the private contact numbers and her Al-self's communication suite - nested inside her head
    where everyone else had to use a Pod or a Berry or a Seed to interface - she called to the security
    people from Doublesafe who were already inside . The gates swung inward silently and Lila moved
    forward in a steady glide .
    The road snaked its way steadily uphill and then into a hollow which lay atthe summit of the hill .
    Solomon's Folly stood there - a giant white stone house facing south. Itlooked through a cutswathe in
    the forestlike a firebreak which ran over simple grassland down and down
    and down to a crescentof white beach and the sea . Itwas three storeys high for the mostpart, and
    roughly covered an area the size of two football pitches. Pieces of ithad towers and other pieces had
    glass roofs. Ithad many sides and angles. Some of them were lost among trees, others seemed to teeter
    on or be builtinside large boulders which piled along the north face of the house. Itlooked like ithad
    been built one room at a time, almost randomly, without thought for anything excepta sea view and an
    obsessive need for privacy, and so ithad been. Lila feltalmostil looking at it. It was hideous. It looked
    as though the hollow had been created by the house's incomprehensible weight, and that everything was
    sinking into the earth.
    She paused before the last descent to gawp and catch her breath. Pine needles and heavy loam and
    other green and rotting smells were thick in the air because the day was hot and making them rise. To her
    left and right she looked into the woods on maximum zoom and saw signs of a great number of wood
    elementals but nothing of the elusive beings themselves. You would expect elementals around elves, and
    in forests of any size, but you would never expect an elf to live in a house like this. It was a rental
    property. There could be no other explanation. Lila recorded what she saw and went on down to the
    main door. It stood open and as she dismounted a man in a Doublesafe uniform came to escort her
    inside.
    A woman wearing a gloriously expensive dress, very understated, and antique Jimmy Choo shoes
    came to greet her. 'I'm Jolene, Zal's PA' she said and Lila shook hands with her. Jolene was the kind of
    human Lila associated with elf groupiedom; smart, in control, stylish. Itwas difficultnotto feel inferior,
    especially withouta slick manicure . Lila puther hands behind her back and reminded herself she wasn't
    here to look great, only to carry out her job. Jolene seemed content with her authentication documents
    and barely raised an eyebrow at either Lila's gender or her size, so perhaps she wasn't all bad.
    'Would you like to see the house first?' Jolene offered, glancing at her watch.
    'No thanks,' Lila said. 'I know the layout.'
    'And the staff and the grounds and whatthey eat for breakfast, I suppose,' Jolene said, smiling. 'In that
    case I understand it's time you were at work. Is that bike the only vehicle you brought?' She peered
    anxiously across the vast hallway and through the door at Lila's Kawasaki.
    'Elves won'ttravel in Faraday cages,' Lila said, 'so that rules outcars, trains and planes. I don't travel
    on horseback, and it beats walking.'
    'So, you have done some homework,' Jolene