Servants of the Storm

Servants of the Storm by Delilah S. Dawson Read Free Book Online Page A

Book: Servants of the Storm by Delilah S. Dawson Read Free Book Online
Authors: Delilah S. Dawson
remember why I wanted my emotions back, when all I feel is anger and loss.
    As I push past the counter, I see dark fingers with hot-pink fingernails pulling the back door closed. Recognition jolts through me: I was right. It’s her!
    I take off running, shoving past Rudy and through the door into the evening shadows of the alley. The door clicks shut behind me and, oddly enough, locks. An unfamiliar figure stops just ahead and turns to face me. It’s not Carly—the girl has a similar complexion, but her hair is straightened and she’s wearing velour track pants, which Carly would never do. But the way she’s just standing, head canted unnaturally, makes me step closer, squinting. In her hand is a brown glass jar identical to the one that arrives every month with my pills. The hairs on my neck rise up for the second time today. Something’s definitely off. The girl takes a clumsy step back, and I realize that her eyes are black—dead and empty. I shudder and look down, feeling like I’ve just stared into an abyss I can’t quite escape.
    In that moment she spins and gallops away.
    “Wait!” I yell. “Stop! Please!”
    She slips in a puddle and then lurches back to a run. I takeoff too, but she’s gone before I can grab her. I know it’s not Carly, but I can’t stop myself from following. This was the last place I saw Carly, and Carly ran away too. It’s just so weird, that this girl would have the exact same pill bottle, which doesn’t look anything like the usual plastic prescription bottles from normal pharmacies. And there’s something seriously wrong with the way the girl is running clumsily without ever looking back. Something bizarre is going on, and I want to know what it is.
    I pound after her, my boots splashing through the puddles and screeching over the broken glass and bits of trash in the oily alley. She’s faster than me, but I’m unstoppable, and I’m not letting her go. In addition to the curiosity and drive to find Carly, it’s got me more than a little pissed that this girl wouldn’t even stop to talk to me. That’s just plain rude. Whoever she is, she’s going to answer my damn questions.
    I hear the rasp of sneakers on chain link, and as I round a corner, she jumps down on the other side of the fence. My fingers curl into the mesh. As I climb, she looks back at me, and I’m struck again by her eyes—it’s like no one is home. Part of me wants to drive back to my house and hug my mom and hide under the covers, but the stronger part of me is determined to finish what I started and find Carly, even if I have to chase some freak girl through dirty alleys until I get answers.
    I ignore the pain of the rusted wire and drag myself over the top of the fence. By the time I land on my feet on the other side, she’s skidding around the corner at the end of the alley. I’m hot onher heels, panting from my first real exercise in months. My lungs burn, my heart’s going to explode, I’m terrified of what I saw in her eyes, and I won’t stop running. Not until she does.
    I round the corner. She’s pelting down a dark sidewalk into a bad neighborhood, one I would normally avoid. All the streetlights are out, the windows are boarded up, and the flood line is still marked on the crumbling walls. My boots crush old newspapers and branches as I run, furious and panting in her wake. Night finally descends completely, as heavy as a blanket.
    When she ducks into another alley, I follow. To hell with it. If she can go there, so can I. It smells even worse back here, dank and dark, like dead rats. But I’m getting closer. I’m just a few yards behind now. I don’t know where we are, but everything is trashed and gutted, like Josephine struck just yesterday instead of nearly a year ago A single light shines up ahead, but the street is oddly empty. Still, it feels like someone’s hunkered down behind the boarded-over windows, watching me.
    The girl flings herself through a door on the left, and I

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