Lay Me Down by Erin Kellison Read Free Book Online Page B

saying, “I love you.”
    Because Maisie knew Jordan meant it and wasn’t trying to manipulate her into anything, Maisie opened up a little. “Super Agent Steve can’t go charging in and fix what I messed up,” she said. “He’ll just end up another casualty. I have to do it. I have to fix it on my own.”
    So no one else would get hurt.
    “Maybe he could consult.”
    “Maybe he could back off and let me handle it.”
    “Maybe he could increase your chances for success. There’s a second old man to think about, and you don’t have the training to help him.”
    Raymond Blackman, Graeme’s hostage. He had probably already been taken into that bad dream, which meant there was no chance for his survival.
    “It’s evil, Jordan. You haven’t seen evil.”
    “I was dragged by my hair into and across the Scrape and had to fight a nightmare creature off both myself and Rook to get to safety.”
    Maisie rolled her eyes. “Okay, so maybe you have. But I have to do this. I have to go back to Graeme, fake him out that I’m still in with him, and find out what he’s doing. I have to find out why I was delivering a person and make sure no one else does it in my place.”
    “That’s your plan?” a male voice said behind them.
    God. The man had no respect for privacy.
    “How long have you been listening?” Maisie demanded.
    “Everyone’s been listening,” Steve said. “You’re leaning up against a column. You clearly don’t know how to use them.”
    Oh. Shit. Maisie’s mind raced. What exactly had she and Jordan said? And— hey!— why hadn’t Jordan warned her?
    Maisie shot her an accusatory look. Sneaky, sis.
    Jordan shrugged, unapologetic. “It’d only work once anyway.”
    Damn right it would. Maisie intended find out how the Agora columns functioned immediately.
    “You plan to go back,” Steve said.
    Since he’d been eavesdropping and had heard the gist of the plan, she saw no reason to answer him.
    Had she fessed up to Jordan that she liked him? Had she revealed that she thought he might be sexy, if he wasn’t such a suit? Because that would be mortifying.
    He can never know, she vowed to herself.
    “I’m not taking you with me,” she told him, which was the relevant point.
    Jordan began to argue. “Maisie—”
    Steve held up a hand to silence Jordan, but spoke to Maisie. “You’ll have to escape me believably.”
    “Easy.”
    He blinked at her for a second, and she thought he’d be angry, but he’d found his cool and that odd gleam had lit again in his eyes. “I have a reputation, you know.”
    “I never heard of you.” Simple truth, Steve-o.
    The side of his mouth twitched upward. “Well, I do. So it’ll have to be good, or Graeme won’t buy it.”
    “Don’t worry. I’ll make it good.”
    “ We’ll make it good,” Steve corrected.
    “Fine,” Maisie said. Just so long as after she ditched him, she was on her own. She didn’t want Steve in that evil dream. The thought made her panicky inside.
    “I have to make some arrangements,” he said. “You might want to float for a while. You need to be strong. I’ll meet you in the waking world.”
    Floating was what Revelers called non-REM sleep. Too much time Darkside, and Revelers had low energy in the waking world. In extreme cases, people started to get sick, some even seemed to age prematurely.
    It was the first time in two days he would be leaving her alone. They both knew she wasn’t going to run away again, not anymore. The old man kept her there. Jordan kept her there. The need to make things right kept her there. And weirdly, uncomfortably, Steve kept her there, too.
    She’d disappointed him, and she still kind of wanted him to try to recruit her for Chimera, though she’d never join, so the feeling was stupid.
    “I’ll be as fast as I can,” he said.
    She could’ve really used one of his Chimera pitches right now. She’d messed up, but she was still worth something.
    She watched as he dematerialized before her