Grim Tidings by Caitlin Kittredge Read Free Book Online Page B

two days is not going to help us,” I said. “Now get your stubborn ass indoors.”
    Leo grinned at me. “Yes ma’am,” he said. Even with the bloody mess the reapers had made of his face, I felt myself smiling back.
    I was headed for the strip club—at least they had booze in there—when a beater pulled up to the curb, spewing black smoke and Motown. The driver threw open the passenger door. “Get in!” she shouted.
    Across the highway, I saw the first signs of movement outside the big gray box that the reapers called home. I nodded at Leo and helped him onto the big front seat. The inside of the car was as wide and plush as a champagne booth in the strip joint behind us, and I barely got the door shut before the driver hit the gas.
    â€œYou don’t want to be standing there when they get their act together,” she said. “Trust me.”
    â€œ They would be . . .” I said, trying to gauge whose car we’d just gotten into.
    â€œReapers, stupid.” The driver pressed her foot down to the floor, roaring through corridors of snow punctuated by streetlights and burned-out warehouses. Aside from the eye shine of the occasional bum or very, very determined hooker, we were alone in the blackout. “Well, some of the reapers. Who d’you think?”
    â€œThe Easter Bunny, maybe,” I said, and she shot me a glare.
    â€œGuess you think you’re pretty funny.”
    I returned the look. “Guess I do.”
    â€œLadies,” Leo muttered, his voice gravelly with pain. “Can we keep it down to a dull roar?”
    The driver shook her head, dislodging a few pitch-colored strands from her short Mohawk. They fell in her face and she huffed angrily. “Typical. I risk my ass to get you out of there and y’all are just as pathetic as the rest of us.”
    â€œThe only thing you’re risking now is a busted axle.” I winced as the car bounced over a mound of dirty ice cast off a truck tire.
    â€œYou just hush until I make sure none of those suits is following us,” she snapped. We drove around for another twenty minutes, taking random turns through the wasteland and finally getting on the interstate, heading north.
    â€œAre we being kidnapped?” I said. “Surprise party? Where are you taking us?”
    â€œHe’s the one, right?” the driver said. Her eyes never left the road, and her knuckles were so tight on the wheel I could see the bones. “The new Grim Reaper?”
    â€œI sure hope so,” I said, watching as the speedometer climbed past 70. She showed me her teeth in that masking smile that never really hides fear.
    â€œMe too.”
    â€œSo where are we going?” I asked again, trying for a softer approach. She was so twigged I was half-scared we’d go flying off the shoulder and end up in a snowbank until some unfortunate state trooper found us come spring.
    â€œSafe house,” she said. “The empty suits at Headquarters might not have been happy to see you, but we are.” She turned her eyes to me, and there was white all the way around. “We all are.”

CHAPTER
5
    BUCHENWALD CONCENTRATION CAMP
    DECEMBER 1944
    Jacob was the one who finally moved, pulling the door in a swift motion and hopping back. A sobbing man fell into the room, blood splashing the front of his brown uniform like a sash on a beauty queen.
    I didn’t move until Jacob slammed and locked the door again; then I nudged the sobbing man with my foot. “You know him?”
    Jacob nodded. “He’s a soldier. He’s a bad soldier. That’s why they keep him here sitting at a little desk signing the party members in and out.”
    I kicked the soldier again. “Stop crying!”
    He clearly didn’t speak English, but the kick got the message across. He gulped and looked up at me, looked to Jacob. “ Wer ist sie? ”
    â€œAll right,” I said, going back to my