Twenty Palaces by Harry Connolly Read Free Book Online

little woman. Real. I wasn't going crazy or hallucinating. I was seeing this, and I had to come to grips with it if I was going to survive.
    Echo landed a kick on the woman's belt buckle, slamming her against the van. The woman grabbed the sliding side door and ripped it free, swinging the huge hunk of metal at Echo.
    Echo vaulted over it.  
    The woman let go of the door. It flew out of her hand, skidding across the asphalt in a shower of sparks, straight for Payton's body.
    I leaped at him and rolled him out of its path. It skidded by us, grinding against the asphalt. I stopped my roll suddenly--the exposed, sputtering wires of the shattered lamp post inches from my face.
    Echo kicked at the woman's legs, knocking her to the ground. The woman pulled a red ribbon from her vest and threw it into the air. It burst into a dazzling flash of light in front of Echo's face.
    Blinded, Echo staggered back, her hands like claws over her eyes. The woman rolled into a crouch and charged.
    Echo took a deep breath through her nose, then struck out with both fists. She hit the woman full on the chest, sending her tumbling backwards.
    She struck her head against the fallen metal lamp post and came to a stop two feet from where I was lying.
    "Dammit!" she said, more out of frustration than pain. Then she did the thing I feared most. She noticed me.  
    "Did you think I forgot about you?" she asked. She plucked a white ribbon and threw it at me. It struck my chest and flashed silver.  
    The woman was startled. "What the hell?"
    I threw the ribbon back at her. She caught it easily, and the design flashed silver a second time.
    Then all her tattoos and ribbons glowed silver, spilling out of her sleeves and cuffs--even through the fabric of her clothes, as though she was covered with glowing tattoos. For a moment, she shone like a star and was beautiful.
    Then the light faded, and she became shabby and merciless again.
    "Wait here for me," she said, then stood and whipped her coat onto her shoulders.
    Echo rubbed her eyes and blinked her vision clear. She and the woman charged each other. The woman threw a red ribbon at Echo.
    Echo ducked below it, charging forward on all fours for a moment. The ribbon passed harmlessly over her. Then she sprang back to her feet just as it exploded in a burst of fire.
    The force of the blast lifted Echo into the air. She collided with the little woman, her clothes burning.
    They fell backwards onto the asphalt. The woman wrapped her arms around Echo. "Gotcha!" she cried.  
    Echo went wild, frantically lashing out with her fists and nails at the stranger's face and neck, but the woman didn't let go. She drew back her fist and punched Echo once in the stomach.
    Echo collapsed against the asphalt, stunned. The woman sprang to her feet and shrugged off her jacket.  
    I ran toward them. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, but I ran anyway.
    The woman draped her jacket over Echo and pinned her arms beneath it. Lights flashed in Echo's eyes and mouth. She screamed like she was on fire.
    I charged at the tiny woman, lowering my shoulder down the way Payton had. But at the last second, I eased off--I couldn't bring myself to use my full strength against her, no matter what I'd just seen.
    She saw me coming and braced herself. I bounced off her as if she was a tractor tire and fell back on the asphalt. I moved my shoulder just to reassure myself that I could. I was useless.  
    "Dammit," the woman snapped. "I'm trying to cure her."
    That made me pause. Was Echo sick? Infected, the woman had said. Was Jon infected, too?
    Echo screamed again, but the sound was strangled as a bulge appeared at the top of her throat, moving toward her mouth. She looked like a snake vomiting an egg.
    Echo's mouth opened wide and a pair of long black filaments emerged from it. They twitched and wavered like long grass in a hurricane. Then a set of needle-sharp black points appeared, pushing out of her throat. They were all connected, I