[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.We are the lost, the wild, the untamable.We arethe  Okay, okay, Nick interrupted, rolling his eyes, realizing he was gettingnowhere. Look, you can t make me play this stupid game.You got that? I wantno part of it.She laughed, a cutting, cold sound. Fool.No one will bother to make you.Youstill do not understand.This is not a gift.It is something you must earn.Peter has brought you here at great peril to himself.What you do from here isup to you.If you wish to leave, then leave. I m not a prisoner? I can just walk out of here? If that is what you really wish.Nick laughed and shook his head. Are you kidding me? I m so out of here.She glared at him. That is the problem with you runaways.You believe you canalways run from your troubles. I didn t run away, Nick snapped.Now she was the one shaking her head. Well, I did.But it wasn t like that.Look, you don t know anything aboutme.But she looked like she did know, like she d seen it all too many timesbefore. One cannot be forced to become a Devil, a child of Faerie.It is ahard enough thing if you want it with all your heart.You must take on thechallenge of your own free will or the spirit of the forest will never bindwith you. Yeah, okay.Whatever.Can you just tell me how I get out of here already?She gave him a long, hard look, then pointed toward a large round door at thefar end of the chamber.Nick sat the bowl down and got to his feet.He wiped his hands on his pants,flipped his bangs from his face, and headed for the round door.As he trekkedacross the hall, one by one, the kids stopped what they were doing and watchedhim.A black boy trotted up alongside of him.The kid was a few inches shorter thanNick and missing his left hand just above the wrist.He appeared younger thanthe others, maybe as young as ten, hard to tell for certain.He had an honest,Page 47ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlplain face and kindly eyes, his hair was pulled back into two braids with longblue ribbons woven into their ends. You leaving already? he asked in aslight Southern drawl.Nick kept walking. Here. The boy tried to hand Nick the spear he was carrying.Nick pushed itaway. Kid, it d be murder to send you out there without a weapon of some sorts.Nowyou need to listen up.You come across some of them barghest, you be sure notto show no fear.Got that? They sense you re afraid then they ll get after youfor sure.Nick came to the door and stopped. Now, hear me, the boy continued. I m not playing with you.You re gonna bea-wantin this. He shoved the spear in Nick s hands.Nick took the spear and looked at it, positively mortified. Oh, yeah.And if the Flesh-eaters track you down, you just drop that therespear and get running.Because, he laughed,  they ll just shove the damnthing right up your ass.Nick set his hand on the door slat, but didn t slide it over. Here let me help you with that, somebody said.This voice was deeper thanthat of the one-handed kid.Nick turned and found himself looking up into thestern eyes of the tall Devil boy. My name s Redbone.Sorry we won t have the chance to get to know each otherbetter. He smiled coldly and yanked the bolt over, pulling the thick rounddoor inward.The wooden hinges whined as the door swung open.Nick immediately noticed the gouged marks on the outside of the door long,deep slashes running down the splintered wood. Don t mind those, Redbone said. The barghest like to sharpen their clawsthere, that s all.It was gray, musty.Nick could just make out the shapes of a few gnarledstumps and trees, but the rest of the forest fell away into a wall of shiftingmist.From somewhere far out, he heard a single howl.Nick recognized thatcall, would never forget it as long as he lived.It was the same howl that theshadowy hunched creatures, the ones with the orange eyes, had made the nightPeter brought him in from the Mist.Nick found himself incapable of moving.Redbone put a hand on his back, easing him forward, and started to push thedoor shut behind him. Wait! Nick cried, slapping a hand on the door.He turned around; they wereall staring at him. Yes? Redbone asked, a smirk pushing at the corner of his mouth.Nick s lips began to quiver.He started to say something, but was too mad, tooafraid he would start crying.Redbone stared at him. Maybe you d like to stay and make some friends? Youjust might live longer with some friends watching your back.Chapter EightNathanThe child thief watched the park lamps hum to life one by one.Night had comeearly beneath the incessant drizzle.The deep shadows from the toweringtenement buildings squeezed together and there was no longer a soul in sight.Peter refused to admit that another day was lost, he couldn t afford anotherday, not with the Captain on the prowl in Avalon.He pushed through the row ofbuildings, onto another, then another.He spotted two figures dodging lamplights and darting from shadow to shadow.Even across the wide courtyard, Peter could tell that these kids wererunaways, could almost smell it.A grin snuck across his face the game was on.Page 48ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlThe child thief trailed them into the stairwell of a large building, slippingbeneath the stairs.The stairwell smelled of piss and vomit, mold and stalegarbage.He leaned back into the shadows, trying not to inhale through hisnose as the two boys conversed in low, anxious tones.Now that they were in the light, Peter could see they had to be brothers, theolder one maybe fifteen or sixteen, the younger one no more than twelve.Theolder boy had a scrape on his forehead, his left eye was swollen, the knees ofhis jeans torn and bloody.Someone had beaten him. What we gonna do? the younger boy asked. We just gonna tell him. No way! Nathan, what else we supposed to do? You think he s gonna believe us? Nathan said, the anxiety in his voicerising along with the volume. That was his dope.He s gonna blame us, orthink maybe we stole it.It s the same story, Peter thought.Drugs.These days it was always the drugs.But Peter had seen too much, knew too well that men-kind didn t need an excuseto be cruel and murder one another.If it wasn t drugs, then there was alwayssomething else. Shh, the bigger boy said, glancing furtively up the stairwell.He threw anarm around Nathan. Chill now.Your big bro got it covered.I m tight withHenry [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]