The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer Read Free Book Online Page A

we save who we can. You, for example. If it hadn’t been for us, that Parasite would have sucked you dry and no one would have ever known.’
    ‘They can suck us dry?’
    ‘Of course, it’s what they live for.’
    Cosmo shifted on the stool. ‘Then they could be here any minute.’
    Stefan’s good humour disappeared. ‘No, this is the one place you’re safe. We insulated the walls with hydro-gel. Parasites don’t like water. There’s even gel between the glazing.’
    ‘But as soon as we step outside?’
    Stefan shrugged. ‘Then we’re fair game.’
    ‘Things have changed over the past year,’ explained Ditto, opening a bottle of beer. He slugged deeply and belched. A blond boy drinking beer. It was a bizarre sight.
    ‘Ditto’s right,’ said Stefan. ‘It used to be that the Parasites would only show up at night. At the scene of accidents or at hospitals. They would find someone at death’s door and leech the remaining life force right out of them. The doctors never suspect a thing. It’s how they’ve stayed hidden for so long. That monster you had on your chest the other night, probably sucked five years off your life before we popped him.’
    Cosmo rubbed his chest instinctively. ‘But now?’
    ‘But now, nobody is safe,’ said Stefan bitterly. ‘For some reason there seem to be even more of them. The rules have changed. They can strike any time, anywhere, at anyone. The Parasites come calling if they sense even the slightest injury.’
    Cosmo swallowed. ‘So how do you fight something like that? How do you kill ghosts?’
    Stefan pulled a lightning rod from inside his jacket, spinning it between his fingers like a cheerleader’s baton. ‘With one of these. They want energy, I give it to them.’
    Ditto snatched the rod. ‘Show-off,’ he said. ‘There are various projectile options on this thing, depending on which cartridge you choose. A certain kind of slug sends the Parasites into overload: you saw the results. It is called a Shocker, a slug initially developed by a weapons company as an alternative to the taser. Even if we miss, the charge isn’t enough to injure the smallest person. Unlike the shot Stefan gave you, which could have barbecued a wild boar.’
    Cosmo remembered the creature on his chest exploding into a cloud of blue bubbles.
    ‘Or you can choose regular non-lethals: gumballs, shrink-wrappers and so on,’ continued Ditto. ‘The last thing anyone wants to do is hurt someone. But sometimes we need to buy a little time, and non-lethals can really help us out.’
    Cosmo blinked. ‘I understood about sixty per cent of that.’
    Stefan stood buttoning his coat.
    ‘That’s more than most people understand. Ditto, would you give Cosmo the tour? I have to go out for a while.’ He tucked the bouquet inside his overcoat, heading for the elevator.
    Cosmo called after him. ‘One question.’
    Stefan did not turn around. ‘Make it quick, Cosmo.’
    ‘I know what you’re doing, but why are you doing it?’
    ‘Because we’re the only ones who can,’ said Stefan, tugging the cord on the elevator grille.
    I’m inside a cartoon
, thought Cosmo.
This is all a graphic novel. Someone is turning the pages right now and saying:
‘
This is too weird; who could believe something like this?’
    ‘Stefan was a police cadet three years ago,’ said Ditto, tossing his beer bottle in the recycler. ‘His mother was on the force too. She was one of the city’s chief trauma surgeons. After she died, he spent a year in the widows’ and orphans’ home. When he got out, he spent every dinar of the insurance settlement on this place.’
    Cosmo glanced around. The building was not luxurious, even by an orphan’s standards. The cots were army issue, the paint was bubbled with damp and the windows hadn’t seen a cloth in years.
    ‘Not exactly the Batcave.’
    ‘The what cave?’
    ‘Never mind.’
    The blond boy pointed to a bank of mongrel computers stacked on a workbench. The latest