Nigh - Book 1 by Marie Bilodeau Read Free Book Online Page A

Her father had
loved the two-door feature of the muscle car, but Al didn’t always
find it the most convenient. And now was definitely one of those
less than
convenient times.
    He nodded. “Get ready.”
    Al kept her foot on the gas pedal, ignoring the
burning smell of her tires skidding uselessly.
    Hector reached into his pocket and pulled out what
looked like sand. He carefully took some and divvied it up between
all of them. Al let go of the gas to take it. Molly looked at
Hector with big eyes. “You expect us to go out to put that under
the wheels?”
    He shook his head quickly. “Just let it drop by your
window. It won’t be a perfect circle, but it should be enough to
get us off the bridge.”
    The horses neighed loudly again. They were circling,
looking for other victims. So far, they were ignoring Percival and
her passengers. The gossamer creatures were more solid now, their
cloaks dark and brown as they held the bloody clothing. They headed
to the edge of the bridge and seemed to jump or fall off. The
horses were slick with blood. They looked around, snorting; their
stamping hoofs making the whole bridge shake.
    “As soon as we open the window, they’ll get our
scent.” Hector instructed. “They can’t get far from the river, so
we just have to slam it and go.”
    “Okay,” Al said. She looked at Gruff and Molly.
“Molly, can you handle Gruff’s window?”
    Molly nodded and leaned forward. She still looked
terrified, but she was holding it together. Gruff looked grim in
determination, and exhausted.
    “On three, we lower the windows, and throw down the
sand. Close your window as soon as it’s done.”
    All took a deep breath, trying to ignore the blood
splattered on her window, or the flank of a large horse as it
stomped by.
    “Three, two, one…” She lowered her window with two
quick cranks of her left hand, threw down the sand and started
cranking it back up. The horses screamed and one of them slammed
its massive flank against Percival’s right side, the car sliding
sideways. Al slammed on the gas, muttering prayers under her
breath, and the car took off, the tires skidding just a bit. The
horses seemed momentarily startled by the car’s quick movement and
didn’t give chase right away, which was probably what saved them.
They slammed into the mists and Al was grateful for its cover.
Grateful for the blindness, if it stopped her from having to
witness more atrocities like that.
    “Al, slow down,” Gruff said from beside her. She was
well above the speed limit and forced herself to slow down. They
were on Main Street now. If help was to be found, it would be here.
And more people, hopefully. The chances of smashing into someone or
something became very real.
    Main Street stretched quietly before them. Al went
slowly now, looking for people. She thought she heard the sound of
a siren, but it was quickly swallowed by the mists.
    “We need to find help,” Al said to no one in
particular. She was just trying to break the silence before it
crushed them all.
    “No one can help you now,” Hector said. “I have to
fix the watch. Buy us time.”
    “Buy us time from what?” Al said as she looked up.
Something dangled over the car from a lamppost. She slowed down a
bit as feet hit the windshield and gently slid up, the bare skin
sliding on the still slick blood on Percival. Al started her
windshield wipers without thinking.
    “Time to get ready, I suppose. Or maybe even stop it
completely.”
    Something jumped on her right, smashed against her
side window and jumped away. Everyone screamed. The window wasn’t
broken, and Al accelerated.
    “It’s going to get worse,” Hector mumbled.
    “We’re not far from my place,” Gruff said. “We can
get shelter there while we get our bearings.”
    “What?” Al said, looking to Hector. “What exactly
are we trying to stop?”
    “What’s going on?” Molly whispered. “Those people on
the bridge… those horses… that’s not even… how does