“Got it. And you think about what I said. Getting out more couldn’t hurt.”
“With who? Mitch and Stacy have kids, Kerry’s always busy, Julie hates me, and you have a cab to drive.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. How about you call that King of Cats guy I used to see you with? Take him out, get him drunk, and see if you can make him sing karaoke.”
“No.” My tone didn’t leave any room for argument.
Danny blinked, looking startled. “Just think about it, all right? Open roads, Toby.”
“Good night, Danny.”
He was just trying to help, and I shouldn’t be cranky about it. I told myself that half a dozen times as I got into my car and pulled out of Dame Altair’s neighborhood, going more than a bit above the speed limit as I tried to make it to Andy’s party on time. I glanced at the clock. Fifteen minutes to midnight. I could just make it, if I managed to avoid getting pulled over.
Human kids live their lives in sunlight. Staying up late is usually a treat reserved for special occasions. Fae kids live by a different clock. Almost all fae are nocturnal creatures, from Daoine Sidhe like my mother all the way down to the hearth-spirits and pixies. We don’t like the sun; the sun returns the favor. Of Mitch and Stacy’s five kids, only the oldest, Cassandra, was keeping anything like a human schedule. She was a freshman at UC Berkeley, and unfortunately, most of the required courses for a physics degree were held during the day.
The fae disdain for daylight made shopping for Andy’s birthday present an adventure in and of itself. I’d finally managed to make it to a toy store downtown just before closing, where the clerk assured me that no four-year-old boy could ever have enough plastic dinosaurs. Since I’d been out of bed for less than half an hour, I was groggy enough that I would have agreed to buy the kid a box of plastic forks if it meant I could get out of there and go for coffee. The dinosaurs were in the back, in a bag covered with gamboling cartoon clowns. I hate clowns.
I was lucky: it was late enough that the roads between San Francisco and Colma were basically clear, and I pulled up in front of Mitch and Stacy’s house with almost five minutes to spare. From the sidewalk, the house looked dark, silent, and totally deserted. Living in Faerie has taught me a lot about how deceptive appearances can be.
The edges of the lawn glittered as I walked toward the house, betraying the presence of an illusion spell. I stepped across the boundaries, and the house was suddenly blazing with lights, the air sharp with the smells of sugar and finger paint. Braziers were mounted on stakes all around the lot, with pixies fanning the tiny flames that kept the spell alive. Shouts and peals of happy laughter filled the air. The party, it seemed, was still in full force. I grinned and walked on, Barghests and Danny’s attempt to meddle in my social life forgotten.
The side gate was open, invitingly decorated with a bouquet of bright balloons. I veered that way, ducking under a crepe paper streamer and into the backyard where chaos reigned.
At least ten kids of varying ages and species were racing around like they were jet-propelled. Most of their attention was on the jungle gym, where there was some sort of pirate game going on. It seemed to involve chasing each other up and down the slide while shouting, “Shiver me timbers!” A dun-colored Centaur cantered around the structure, crying, “Avast ye!” and trying to grab the others whenever they came into range. Jessica was directing the action, too absorbed by her six year old’s autocracy to do more than wave distractedly at my arrival.
Cassandra was on the porch, struggling to read while children shrieked and zoomed around her. It seemed like a battle she was doomed to lose.
I walked over to sit down next to her, one eye on the wild rumpus. “Hey, puss.”
An Artificial Night
Seanan McGuire's books
- A Man for Amanda
- Dance Upon the Air
- Moon Island(Vampire Destiny Book 7)
- A game of chance(MacKenzie Family Saga series #5)
- Death Angel
- Loving Evangeline(Patterson-Cannon Family series #1)
- A Changing Land
- A Clandestine Corporate Affair
- A Gentleman Never Tells
- An Inheritance of Shame
- And Then She Fell
- Anything but Vanilla
- Anything for Her
- Anything You Can Do
- A Rancher's Pride
- A Stranger at Castonbury
- An Act of Persuasion
- An Unsinkable Love
- Angel's Rest
- Be Good A New Adult Romance (RE12)
- Beauty and the Blacksmith
- Beauty and the Sheikh
- Blood and Kisses
- Captain Durant's Countess
- Cardwell Ranch Trespasser
- Cavanaugh on Duty
- Chances Are
- Cinderella and the Sheikh
- Currant Creek Valley
- Cowboy Enchantment
- Dance With Me
- Dangerous Refuge
- Dicing with the Dangerous Lord
- Down and Dirty (Dare Me)
- Ein Mann fur alle Lagen
- Emancipating Andie
- Entanglement (YA Dystopian Romance)
- Forever and a Day
- Grace Anne
- Guardian Wolf
- Her Hesitant Heart
- Her Man in Manhattan
- Highland Defiance
- Meant-To-Be Mother
- Highland Heiress
- Highland Master
- Highlander Most Wanted
- Hotter than Texas (Pecan Creek)
- Kiss and Spell (Enchanted, Inc.)
- Lady Vivian Defies a Duke
- Lanterns and Lace
- Leather and Lace
- Lightning and Lace
- Lost and Found
- Meant to Be (Heaven Hill Series)
- More Flirts! 5 Romantic Short Stories
- More Than One Night
- Need A Want Companion Novel
- Night Maneuvers
- No Stranger to Scandal
- Norma Jean
- NYC Angels Flirting with Danger
- Once and Again
- Operation Endurance
- Radiant
- Real Romance
- Rock and a Hard Place
- Roman Holiday
- Sand Angel
- Scandal at the Cahill Saloon
- Scene of the Crime Deadman's Bluff
- Second Chance
- Seductive Company
- Sins and Scarlet Lace
- Stranded with a Billionaire
- Strangely Normal
- Tap Dance (Dance Series)
- The American Bride
- The Banshee's Desire
- The Banshee's Revenge
- The Devil's Heart The Chattan Curse
- The Englishman
- The Game Changer The Final Score
- The Rancher and the Event Planner
- The Reluctant Wag
- The Texan's Contract Marriage
- Translation of Love
- Urban Venus
- Want (Stephanie Lawton)
- Wanted (Amanda Lance)
- The Raider_A Highland Guard Novel
- The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress
- India Black and the Gentleman Thief
- Take This Man
- The Wiccan Diaries
- The Swan Book
- How To Be A Woman
- It Takes a Scandal
- An Heir to Bind Them
- Passion and the Prince