Apophis by Eliza Lentzski Read Free Book Online Page A

the fallen bandits who still hadn’t moved.  I didn’t want to check if either of them was still alive or not.
    The passenger side door creaked open. The sun was shining right in my eyes, and I had to cup my hand over my face like a visor to get rid of the glare.
    “Stay in the car, Nora,” the salt-and-pepper man instructed.
    Whoever was in the passenger seat seemed not to hear the man or was ignoring his command.  I could just make out the slight curves of a woman’s silhouette, accentuated by the bright sun behind her.  She stooped and picked my gloves off the ground where I’d hastily thrown them to better shred some man’s face apart.  She walked over to me, her feet making small, careful movements as if she was afraid she might slip on ice even though the road was only covered in snow. Wordlessly, she handed me my gloves.  With the sun now at her back and it no longer blinding me, I could finally get a good look at her. 
    Locks of strawberry-blonde hair poked out from beneath her white knit cap.  Her peach skin, dotted with a light spray of freckles, was tinted rose at her cheeks.  I couldn’t tell if the blush was from the cold or from unnecessary makeup.  Her eyelashes were black and long, framing a pair of aquamarine irises a vibrant shade I’d only ever witnessed in my mother’s flower garden.  Her lips looked too soft for this world, and I found myself self-consciously licking my own.  My lips felt cracked and dry from extended exposure to the cold.  In her winter boots she was maybe an inch or two shorter than me.  She was bundled up in snow gear like the rest of us, but similar to the salt-and-pepper man’s clothes, it was newer and nicer than anything I owned.  She looked like she was ready to go downhill skiing rather than outlast an apocalypse. 
    “Thanks,” I said, taking the gloves and stiffly shoving my frozen hands back inside them.
    “I suppose I should be the one thanking you.”
    My head snapped up at the tenor of her voice.  It was low and velvety, the kind of low burr that always made me weak in the knees.  I didn’t know what it was about women with lower register voices, but their hypnotic element always ensnared me.  It wasn’t fair.  God was most definitely punishing me with this girl’s voice for every wicked thing I’d ever done.
    I stared at her and she stared back, her face emotionless.  It was like a game of chicken, neither of us looking away. I found myself once again staring at her mouth.  Her lips were generous, thick and soft.  It was the kind of mouth celebrities spend a fortune on trying to achieve.  The carefully manicured eyebrows. The gentle slope of her well-proportioned nose. It was too much perfection to be contained on one face.
    When my father spoke again, we both finally broke our staring contest.  “What the hell were you doing in a car?  It’s idiotic using one of these things.  You just attract attention to yourself.”  He kicked at the useless tire of the SUV.
    The salt-and-pepper man grimaced.  His head looked like it was still bleeding from a nasty gash across his forehead.  “I guess I underestimated the weather and how much gas it would take to go cross-country.  We’re kind of stranded.  I’m hoping you can help us.”  He leaned against the hood of his car.  It looked like it was taking all of his efforts to stay standing up. 
    “I’m sorry,” my father started.  I didn’t think he sounded truly apologetic – it was just force of habit.  “We can’t help you.  We’ve got to worry about ourselves.”
    “I know how to get to Eden,” the man wheezed.
    My father stilled.  “Say that again.”
    “The rumors are true.  Eden exists,” the man said, still coughing.  “And I’ll take you there and get you inside if you’ll help us.”
    My father’s icy blue eyes narrowed in suspicion.  “How do I know you’re not just making this up so we don’t leave you two for dead?”
    “The company I own