The Downside Ghosts Series Books 1-3: Unholy Ghosts, Unholy Magic, City of Ghosts. Stacia Kane

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СКАЧАТЬ six. No wonder she was hungry and restless. She dug in her bag for her pillbox.

      Terrible waited while she swallowed a Cept and washed it down with a slug of water, then started moving again as soon as she screwed the cap back on the bottle.

      “Gonna be dark soon,” he said. “Best be back in the car afore then.”

      “Where are we?”

      “Near Chester, but the other side. Docks that way. Ain’t nothing good come out of them docks at night.”

      She shivered. The alley grew darker as they walked down it, like the sun didn’t dare shine there. Terrible turned left at the end, into a space even more narrow. The walls were lined with chicken wire and damp, moldy rocks, and it smelled like a burned-out urinal.

      She couldn’t see to the end of it, either. It curved away to the right, giving her the bizarre impression that it pinched shut at the end. Her stomach was empty enough that the sweet peace of her pill started seeping through her blood quickly, but it didn’t entirely eliminate her nerves. Nor did having Terrible’s huge body right in front of her. Brain came here? That skinny, pale child made his way through this foul-smelling darkness alone?

      When she was young she’d often thought kids like Brain had it better than she had. She didn’t anymore—two different kinds of misery were still both misery—but when she saw places like this it made her wonder. She seriously doubted Brain had made it to what ever age he was without having his body violated, his bones broken, his spirit crushed. Just like her, but at least she’d known where the threat came from most of the time.

      She wished he hadn’t left her place.

      They took another turn, right this time. Chess started to wonder how long they would be in here, if they would ever get out. If they at least could get out before dark. She had her knife, and she knew Terrible was armed to the teeth, but somehow that didn’t reassure her.

      Finally they reached a makeshift door, a scrap of warped and broken plywood hung in a ragged hole in the wall by straps of leather. Terrible opened it and they stepped inside.

      A single flame gave the only illumination save the fading sun’s rays trying desperately to cut through the grime on the windows. Here and there a panel was broken, and light forced its way in, but was defeated by gloom before it could have an effect.

      Bodies crowded the space, hunched together along the walls and slumped across the floor. Some young, some old, all covered in rags and stiff blankets.

      “What business you got here?” demanded a voice, and Chess turned to face a small man, holding a candle of his own. The light made him look bigger somehow, making his dark skin gleam as if he’d been carved from mahogany. “Ain’t no need for Bump to bring people into my place.”

      “You know Brain?”

      The man—Duck?—didn’t even blink. “Can’t say I do.”

      Terrible didn’t blink either, but he held his hands out, palm up. “Ain’t looking to hurt nobody. Young one might be in trouble, me and the lady just wants to help him out. She got a home for him up her place.”

      “Since when does Bump take an interest?”

      “Ain’t Bump’s interest. The lady’s interest. You wanna keep Brain safe, you tell me where I find him. True thing, Duck.”

      Chess felt like she ought to speak, but the mental pissing contest between the men was too fascinating to interrupt.

      “Gonna need your word on that, Terrible. And who she is.”

      Terrible opened his mouth, but Chess was faster. She liked this man, Duck, and she revised her earlier thought as she took in both him and her surroundings. Brain was definitely luckier than she’d been. It might be a scary place to come to, but it was safe once you arrived. “Cesaria Putnam. I’m a Debunker for the Church.”

      Recognition flared in Duck’s eyes. “You Bump’s Churchwitch.”

      “No, I’m Cesaria, and this has nothing to do with Bump.” Which was kind of a lie, but not enough to keep her from meeting his eyes clean. Whether Bump had gotten her involved or not, Brain still would have seen what happened at the airport and would still be in danger because of it.

      “Brain over there,” Duck said after staring at her for a long moment. “In the corner, in the back.”

      At his words a tiny gasp sounded; a flurry of movement caught her eye, and she saw the back of Brain’s head disappear through a dingy flap in the far wall.

       Chapter Seventeen

      “From the cemeteries they came, from the battlefields long overgrown, from the forests and the lakes … the forgotten dead walked again and sought vengeance.”

      —The Book of Truth, Origins, Article 18

      Her heart threatened to pound out of her chest and her legs felt like someone had tied lead weights to them by the time they stopped running. It was impossible. Brain had disappeared into the twisted warren of alleys and buildings, and as darkness set in Chess almost started not to care. It was late, she hadn’t slept, the line of Nip had long since worn off, and she was starving and cold. Surely Brain would be safe for one more day.

      Terrible shook his head when his breathing slowed. “We keep looking, you want.”

      “I don’t know how we’d find him.”

      “Neither me, but we keep looking if you want.”

      “Shit, if you don’t know where to find him, how would I?”

      He smiled. “Ain’t you got them witchy skills?”

      “Oh, of course. Let me just send some magic dust into the air to find him.”

      His laugh didn’t sound as creaky as it had before. “Aye, you do that one. Like to see it myself.”

      They stood for another minute, letting their blood cool. Chess had no idea where they actually were. None of the buildings looked familiar and there were no street signs anywhere.

      “Do with some eats, Chess? We ain’t as away from my car as it seem.”

      Dinner with Terrible? Well, why not. They’d probably get faster service than she could get on her own, and she didn’t feel like being alone again quite yet.

      “Okay, sure.”

      He turned to his left and took a couple of steps, but Chess froze in place. Her skin crawled.

      Only one thing could make her feel that way.

      “Stop,” she murmured, reaching into her bag. After the other night with Lex she’d thrown some spare asafetida into her bag, along with generic graveyard dirt. It wouldn’t be as effective as the personalized stuff, but it would do. Where were all these ghosts coming from? Aside from Mr. Dunlop this was her second in three days, and that did not feel right at all.

      What СКАЧАТЬ