Shadowborn by Jocelyn Adams Read Free Book Online Page A

sickness. Yum. Fluorescent lights buzzed and flickered. A nerve below my eye twitched.
    Six beds dotted the white tile. Three against one wall and three on the other. The two Mounties and Gallagher stood next to the bed nearest the door.
    “This is the first one we found not far from here,” James said. “He was lying on the steps of his apartment building with a suitcase in his hand.”
    The man’s vacant grey eyes stared at the ceiling, blinking once in a while. His dark hair had been shaved close to his head. IV lines snaked out of both of his strapped-down wrists.
    Gallagher sat on the edge of the mattress and placed his palm on the man’s forehead. Eyes closed and shoulders relaxed, Gallagher remained motionless. “The body is intact, but the mind and soul are gone. There’s an echo of a tremendous moment of fear there, but the image is blurry.”
    “How do we know for sure this is the Shadowborn’s work?” I asked.
    “Any disease that would leave a human in a coma would not feel the way this one does. The organs function. The brain works in a primal state.” Gallagher stood and faced James. “Can they feed themselves if given food?”
    James nodded. “Most of them can, yeah.”
    Gallagher pinched the man in the bed. He cried out and jerked on his restraints.
    A nurse came running in, glaring at us as she spoke soothing words to the man. She tightened the leather strap holding his IV hand down.
    “Their survival instincts remain,” Gallagher said. “I have no doubt this man’s soul now serves the Shadowborn.”
    I walked the length of the room, chewing my fingernail. Of the people in the beds, I couldn’t detect a pattern. A plump woman. An old man. A skinny lady with tattoos. A young, bearded man, and a little girl in the last bed with pale white skin. Her black hair held a sheen of dark blue under the light.
    Before I turned, I caught the child’s icy blue eyes blink open, stare right at me and close again. I met Gallagher’s gaze and thought hard at him. The kid’s faking. Why don’t you ask the Mounties to take a hike?
    Gallagher gave a subtle nod. “May we have a moment alone, James?”
    “No!” Bethany stared razors at me.
    “Outside, Lieutenant.” James ushered her to the door, leaned close and whispered. “These people are trying to help us.”
    “So they say,” she muttered.
    “What’s her problem?” I jammed my thumb in the direction they’d gone.
    Rubbing his finger under his eye, Gallagher said, “She’s threatened by you.”
    “Pfft. Why would I hurt her? We’re on the same side, aren’t we?”
    “Never mind.” Shaking his head as if I were being thick again, Gallagher went toward the little girl. We sat on either side of her bed.
    I searched the minds in the room, and other than Gallagher’s, I found only one other. Hers.
    “My name’s Lila, and this is my friend, Gallagher. The others are gone now.”
    Her eyelid parted but closed again. The acrid scent of fear rolled off her in waves. Her tiny fingers trembled.
    “She’s been waiting for someone to come.” Gallagher turned to me, the lines around his eyes pronounced under his frown. “She has a message from someone named Alastair.”

5
    “What’s your name, sweetheart?” I covered the girl’s hand with my own. “Nobody’s going to hurt you.”
    Gallagher leaned toward me, his brow arched as high as it could go without sliding right off his head.
    I recoiled a bit, my cheeks heating. “What?”
    “I’ve just never seen any sort of maternal instinct from you before.” His lips twitched into a grin. “I find it rather … refreshing.”
    “Whatever.” I went back to the girl whose eyes had cracked open again. “Did you see what happened to any of these people?”
    She darted a glance to Gallagher and squeezed my hand. Her audible swallows and eyes tinted with fear stuck a skewer through me.
    I bent close and offered a genuine smile. “He’s my friend.” Even though he can be a pain in the ass.