Back Gifted Thief
Chapters (30)
  1. Prologue
  2. Chapter One
  3. Chapter Two
  4. Chapter Three
  5. Chapter Four
  6. Chapter Five
  7. Chapter Six
  8. Chapter Seven
  9. Chapter Eight
  10. Chapter Nine
  11. Chapter Ten
  12. Chapter Eleven
  13. Chapter Twelve
  14. Chapter Thirteen
  15. Chapter Fourteen
  16. Chapter Fifteen
  17. Chapter Sixteen
  18. Chapter Seventeen
  19. Chapter Eighteen
  20. Chapter Nineteen
  21. Chapter Twenty
  22. Chapter Twenty One
  23. Chapter Twenty Two
  24. Chapter Twenty Three
  25. Chapter Twenty Four
  26. Chapter Twenty-Five
  27. Chapter Twenty Six
  28. Honour Bound
  29. About the Author
  30. Other titles by Helen Harper

She pouted. ‘That’s two people too many.’

‘What am I?’

I turned to Speck. ‘Dark blue. And Brochan is…’

He held up his hands. ‘I don’t want to know.’ He paused. ‘Tegs, have you thought about how you came to have this Gift?’

I frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

‘It’s a bit of a coincidence, isn’t it? You take the Bull’s true name and now you have the same Gift as him?’

‘I’ve never heard of that happening,’ I said slowly. ‘But it does seem to make a kind of sense.’

‘Let’s face it, you could write down everything all four of us know about the Sidhe and it probably wouldn’t fit on the back of a stamp. Maybe it’s not just the true names that have power. Maybe if give away your true name, you also give away part of that power.’

‘I’m sure the Bull would have realised if his Gift had been diminished.’ I nibbled my lip. ‘What happened with Bob…’ My voice trailed away.

Speck scratched his chin. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Teleportation. It wasn’t until after Bob had teleported me to the Bull that I could suddenly teleport myself. And others, too. The Bull seemed to think it was strange that I could bring him along with me.’

‘You think you absorbed some of the genie’s magic too?’ Lexie’s eyes were round. ‘That’s so cool!’

Speck nodded. ‘Osmosis.’ When he received a funny look from Lexie, he scowled at her. ‘What? Just because I paid attention in school when you were too busy partying…’ She thumped him and he let out a small screech. ‘Stop doing that! You know I don’t respond well to pain.’

Brochan gazed at the pair of them with an expression of long-standing sufferance. Then he turned back to me. ‘Maybe the Gift you received is one of learning. You learn what other people can do.’ He drew in a breath. ‘It would make you incredibly powerful, Tegs.’

‘I can think of a few Sidhe who wouldn’t be very happy about that.’ I shrugged. ‘I didn’t learn pyrokinesis, and those fireballs were flung at me after I received my true name.’

‘That was immediately afterwards. Maybe you weren’t ready.’

I shrugged. ‘Unless someone else uses their Gift on me, it’s not a theory we can test. I’m certainly not about to ask for anything else from Bob.’

Lexie gasped. ‘What if you caught wish-granting from him?’

‘You make it sound like a disease,’ I grunted. ‘And I don’t think that would be possible. Wishes are specific to genies. Teleportation, however…’

‘Hello darlings!’ Bob sang. ‘My ears were burning so I knew you were talking about me.’

I stared at him suspiciously while Brochan sneezed. ‘Why did it take you so long to get here?’