Page 20 of The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo
Everyone stared at me with disbelief.I held up my hands, the pattern of the glamour glinting faintly in the shadows.“I’ll stop if you don’t want it, but I figured you’d like something of a better quality than the stuff you get at a glamour shop.”
“OK,” the young woman said, her black hair piled on her head in a manner that had it bobbing around after she stopped nodding.“How much will it cost?Karma—my foster mother—gave me her card, but I’m only supposed to use it in emergencies.”
I smiled at her, and finished up the glamour.“My treat.This should last you a good month before it starts to crack.If you want me to seal it, it could go six months to a year.”
“A year?”Aisling asked even as the two young people gawked at me.“You can make a glamour last a whole year?”
“Savant, remember?”I said, eyeing Pixie.“And yes, sealed glamours last longer than normal ones.Mostly, they go for two to three months, but when made by me ...well, they last longer.The glamour’s yours ...unless you don’t want one for a month?”The last sentence was spoken to Pixie.
“Is it going to hurt?”she asked, rubbing her arms.“The glamours get a bit irritating after six hours, so I usually have to take them off for a bit.”
“My glamours don’t do that,” I said, eyeing her for a moment, then made a few tweaks to the threads that wound through the glamour.“But if you don’t want to wear it ...”
“Deus, no!I’d love not having to worry ...”She stopped herself as she reached for it, clearing her throat and adding, “That is, I’d like it if you really aren’t going to charge me for it, and it doesn’t make me itch and get sore.”
“Let’s try it unsealed, just in case you don’t like it,” I said, tossing the glamour into the air so it sparkled for a brief moment before drifting down onto her.“It’ll last only a month, all right?”
She gasped, an expression of pleasure on her face as she looked down.“It’s like ...it’s like it’s not there, but I only have two arms.”
“You really are talented,” Ysolde said, examining the girl.“I don’t even see a hint of it.”
“Christian?”Allie asked her vampire.
He took a few steps forward, murmured a “You permit?”to Pixie before moving around her, his eyes narrowed.He cast an odd glance toward me and shook his head.“I see no signs of anything other than a perfectly normal teenage girl.”
Pixie looked like she wanted to dispute that statement, but bit back a response when Brom wrapped an arm around her waist.
“Right,” I said, wanting nothing more than to fall into the nearest bed and sleep for approximately six months.“I have about twenty minutes before I collapse, and at least one set to do tomorrow for the band contest.Shall we get started?”
SIX
BECKET
In the end, they letme sleep.I think it was when I stumbled over a clod of dirt and did a face-plant that the dragons realized an exhausted artificer was not a productive artificer.At least, that’s how I explained it to the rest of the band.
“Are you sure you’re safe?”Deni asked after I told her I was going to spend the night at Christian’s castle to ensure an uninterrupted night.“You don’t really know these people, do you?Could they be working for that demon you saw in the toilet?”
