Free Brightly (Flicker #2) by Kaye Thornbrugh

up, Rod.”
    “I’m simply—”
    “I said , shut up.”
    “Testy, are we?” Rodney snickered.
    Filo didn’t say anything, just squeezed his eyes shut and held the smoke in his lungs. If he sat very still, he could feel the humming warmth of the pixie grass starting to seep into his blood, like honey rolling through his veins. He’d forgotten how good this felt: warm and light and peaceful, infinitely better than sitting in the apartment and slowly winding himself tighter than a clock.
    At length, he asked Rodney, “Did you know?”
    “Know what?”
    “About them having other apprentices. You hear things, Rod. You hear practically everything. Did you know?”
    “Not that, no.”
    “Would you have told me, if you had?”
    “Yes.”
    Filo cracked one eye open and peered at Rodney. “Are you lying?”
    He considered it. “I don’t think so,” he said finally. “I think I would’ve told you.”
    “That’s good.” Filo pinched the bridge of his nose. “I just never thought of it. I mean, I knew they had a life outside of Flicker. They had to, with all the time they were gone. But I never thought they had others like us. I should’ve, though. I should’ve thought of that. Right?”
    Rodney shrugged. “Who could tell with those two? Not me, certainly. I never spent much time around your old masters. In fact, I’ve always made a point of keeping out of their way. So has everyone else who’s known what’s good for them, except maybe Conall. That man fears nothing. He’s an old one, you know.”
    “One of Tuatha de Danann,” Filo said, attempting to blow a smoke ring and failing. “Yeah, I know.”
    What had Neman said to him the last time he saw her? It has been so long since we have stood upon the soil of our homeland, or held Court with the old lords under the ground. Those were Conall’s people, great masters of magic, the ancestors of the Daoine Sidhe who now ruled the Faerie Courts. To hold Court with them…. Just who were Neman and Morgan?
    “You shouldn’t speak so lightly,” Rodney chided. “Conall is probably the only match for your masters in many miles, including some of the local Sidhe lords. I doubt anyone else in this city would’ve dared to shelter a girl those two bore a grudge against, even if they did surrender their claim to her—and remember how readily he took Alice in.”
    “I don’t remember that,” Filo said crisply. In fact, he hadn’t even known that Alice was working for Conall until last fall. She’d kept that from him for a year.
    Before Alice left Flicker, there were no secrets between them. Now Filo couldn’t help but wonder what else she might’ve kept from him while she was away, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask. It was easier that way. Less painful.
    “How well did you know them, anyway?” Filo asked abruptly. “Neman and Morgan.”
    “Me? Oh, I hardly knew them at all,” Rodney said. “In the years they frequented this city, I think we bumped into each other twice. Briefly. Of course, there were a few times before Bridgestone.… But that was well before your time.”
    “You’ll have to tell me about that sometime.”
    Rodney’s eyes gleamed, like he’d just remembered something funny. “No, I don’t.”
     
     
     

Chapter Five:
Siren
    When the red van rumbled to a stop in front of Flicker, it was just after seven o’clock. The five of them had been waiting in the shop for half an hour, not speaking much, just fussing with the zippers on their bags. Lee’s gaze kept roving around the shop, trying to memorize everything. It might be a long while before she saw any of it again.
    Through the wide glass window at the front of the shop, Lee watched one of the van’s side doors slide open. Clementine hopped out onto the sidewalk, dressed in a T-shirt and jean shorts, her hair pulled into a ponytail that bounced with each movement of her head. The bells above the shop door rang merrily as Clementine pushed open the door. She didn’t step