Free Simply Irresistible by Kristine Grayson Page A

someone up to her apartment and get help.
    After her nap.
    She made it to the door leading into the back. The pounding on her skull grew harder, almost as if someone were trying to get into her mind. She pulled the door open and found herself faced with boxes, empty aquariums, and a lot of pet food.
    In fact, the entire back had the meaty odor of dry dog food, and it made her instantly queasy.
    She didn’t see Henri/Dexter anywhere. The back door was locked, and the bathroom door was closed.
    She called his name, but he didn’t answer. Which was odd, because she hadn’t seen him leave.
    There was no place to lie down back here. She put a hand on the pile of boxes and leaned on them, feeling like an old woman.
    Then she used the last of her strength to cast about with her mind for him. But she couldn’t sense Henri/Dexter. She was alone here except for the kittens and the mother cat.
    A shiver ran up her spine. Alone, and the headache was growing worse, worse than it had ever been in her life.
    She wasn’t going to be able to drive. She wasn’t even sure she could walk any farther.
    She was going to need some help, and she was going to need it fast.
     
    *
     
    Dexter appeared in a giant library. It smelled musty and the lights were dim. The floor was made of marble and there were long tables between the stacks. Ladders on wheels ran up the walls as far as the eye could see.
    He looked up. The books seemed to run on forever. He wondered if every book ever written was in here and then supposed it was.
    Behind him, gum snapped.
    “Ew, gross,” a young girl said.
    “Don’t do that. You almost got it in my hair,” said another.
    “Did not.” The last voice was petulant.
    He turned around. Three teenage girls sat on top of one of the tables, legs crossed. Stacks of books surrounded them, and they all had books open on their laps.
    The girls wore crop tops, low-slung jeans, and too much makeup. Their feet were bare, but their toes were painted with glitter polish and decorated with fake tattooed butterflies.
    “Excuse me,” Dex said, keeping his voice down even though they hadn’t. “I’m looking for the Fates.”
    The girl closest to him—a long-haired blonde with sky blue eyes—smiled at him. “That’s us!”
    “No,” he said. “The real Fates.”
    The girl in the middle flipped her beaded corn-rows out of her face with one beringed hand. “We are the real Fates,” she said with a trace of annoyance.
    He was the one who was getting annoyed. All he had wanted to do today was find a home for five kittens. He hadn’t planned on spending his morning searching for three women he didn’t even like.
    “I meant,” he said, enunciating carefully, “I’m looking for Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos.”
    “Oh, them,” said the last girl, who had trimmed her red hair so short it looked like a crew cut. “They’re not the Fates anymore.”
    “What?” Dexter took a step forward.
    “Yeah,” said the first girl. “We are.”
    He felt his stomach twist. “What do you mean, they’re not the Fates anymore?”
    “Hey, bud, don’t you pay attention in class?” the second girl asked. “They’re done. We’re the Fates now.”
    “Or we will be,” said the third girl, tugging on the rings jutting out of her right eyebrow.
    “What do you mean, you will be?” Dex was feeling the beginning of panic. As much as he disliked them, he couldn’t imagine the magical world without the Fates.
    The first girl pulled bubble gum out of her mouth, twisted it around her index finger, and then chewed the gum back in. She didn’t look more than twelve. “Well,” she said around the gum, “all we gotta do is a good job.”
    “Yeah,” the second girl said, nudging the first girl in the ribs. “Right now, we’re the Interim Fates.”
    “Whose bright idea was this?” Dex snapped, and all three girls looked stunned.
    He could tell from the look on their faces that he’d just made a classic error.
    “Don’t tell