The Fallen Stars (A Star Child Novel) Read Online Free

seat to fully face me, drawing me back into our earlier exchange. “Cut the crap, Kellen, as you Americans say. Tell me what’s going on here.”
    “No, Kellen, not here,” Calienta warned.
    As if on cue, the car started shaking. A glance up front confirmed my worst fears. The cab driver practically stood on the brake pedal, which couldn’t have been easy given the enclosed space. “I can’t steer the car!” he shouted as he tried to grab onto the wheel, which turned on its own. The shifter shifted itself from second to third gear as I looked on. “What’s happening?” he cried. “What’s happened to my car?”
    Calienta frowned, a look she often gave me when things weren’t going her way. “They’ve found us already. I thought we’d have more time.”
    “Can you do anything to stop them, or at least slow them down?” I tried to keep the panic out of my voice, but we were in serious weekend traffic. People were everywhere and cars were bumper to bumper. Pedestrians poured into the streets from the direction of the London Underground. If something went wrong, there were more lives than our own at stake.
    She shook her head. “It’s too risky with so many mortals.”
    The car jostled roughly, jerking forward at about twenty miles per hour over the speed limit. It steered us right into the path of a double-decker bus. Given our sudden appearance in the cab, no one wore seatbelts, though they were available. Gabe and Alistair scrambled to put theirs on now, as we’d all been sliding into one another on the crisp black leather seats whenever the car jerked.
    Beside me, Calienta closed her eyes. Reaching over, I buckled a seatbelt across her thin frame before fastening mine. Calienta never said a word. “Calienta,” I said into her ear, gulping. “There’s a bus. We need to do something.”
    No response. The bus ahead beeped its horn. Long blaring beeps.
    I tried again, this time shaking her arm and speaking with greater urgency. “Calienta!”
    Her emotions swarmed around me, portraying calmness, the polar opposite of the anxiety that had quickly risen within me. Yet she still didn’t respond.
    The bus seemed only inches away. Beep! Beep! Beeeeeeep! Passersbys cried out in warning, stopping on the sidewalk. “Calienta!” This time Gabe cried out. Alistair’s eyes widened. All three of us were leaning toward Calienta with our hands outstretched, powerless.
    Without speaking, Calienta opened her eyes and extended her palms out in front of her. What resembled fog shot out from her hands, surrounding the car and each of us. The sounds from the street dulled. It sounded like we were hearing things from the inside of a building instead of the inside of a vehicle. The white mist swirled through the car and out the one open window in the back, enveloping us entirely.
    “What’s happening?” The cab driver freaked out even more as he furiously slammed on the breaks repeatedly, to no avail. His hands gripped the steering wheel, his white knuckles prominent against the black leather.
    Calienta turned to the cab driver. “You’ll be going home to your wife now, Mark. It’s your anniversary. Buy her flowers. You’ll forget all of this,” Calienta instructed in placid tones.
    Mark tilted his head. “What was tha—”
    But before he could finish his question, Mark the cab driver disappeared. The car continued to drive itself, but now we appeared to be more in control of it.
    Turning, I stared at her. My bride continued to amaze me. “Calienta—”
    She kept her eyes forward. “It’s a trick to fool them. It won’t last for long, but it will get us somewhere safe until we can think of a plan.”
    “Why do we need a plan? What exactly are you, young lady?” Alistair leaned forward in his seating, matching Gabe’s posture. “Are you a witch?” His eyebrows rose to meet his receding gray hairline and failed.
    Calienta smiled at Alistair. “All you need to know is that I love your grandson. That will