Read Online Curio by Evangeline Denmark - Free Book Online

exhaust from the turbines swished around her ankles. A deputy hollered, but she ran. She’d reached the street connecting her neighborhood to Pewter Hill when something snagged her right arm. A force tugged her backward, and she pumped her legs harder. Another yank, this one to her shoulder, nearly pulled her to the ground. Grey staggered then regained her pace. At the top of Pewter, she glanced back.
    The hulking craft plunged toward her on a seething fog of green. A spotlight illuminated the knife-thin figure of Adante rising from the front of the ship like a mast. His hair blew about his face, and his hands curled before him. A white-hot force like a ball of lightning barreled into Grey’s chest, squeezing out air and knocking her backward. The energy ball skimmed over her face, leaving behind sparks of green that snapped against her hair and clothes.
    She gulped a breath and rolled toward the curb on her right. The gravel reopened the scrapes on her hands, and the gash on her leg throbbed. But the alley connecting Pewter to Reinbar was only a few feet from where she’d fallen.
    The whirring of the ship’s engines filled her ears. Hot air whipped her hair. She dragged herself to her feet and ran for the alley, shouts following. Bricks buckled from the building on her right as a ball of energy missed her and slammed into the wall. A backward glance revealed the black vessel rocketing past the mouth of the alley. It’d take them mere seconds to turn around and follow. Or they might loop around and cut her off at Reinbar.
    She sprinted into the darkness of the alley. The thrum of the engines faded. Then grew louder.
    It didn’t matter. All she could do was run.

CHAPTER
    6

    G rey’s lungs burned. She searched for the Council craft as she ran, even as the drone of the engine filled her ears and jarred her teeth.
    The spotlight caught her just before she reached Reinbar. The ship swooped over the row of shops and bore down on top of her.
    Grey flung her arms over her head as the vessel’s underbelly neared. Noxious exhaust choked her. Any second they’d crush her. She ducked and caught sight of a flat object just beyond the beam of the light—a ration pallet. Yesterday evening’s incident here in this alley replayed in rapid detail.
    Grey lunged for the pallet. Thick, green vapor clouded her vision, and the pressure beneath the craft nearly pasted her to the ground, yet she reached until her fingers closed around one of the pallet’s slats. She hoisted it off the ground and heaved it up and back. A loud crunch broke the whirring pattern of the engines and shards of wood rained down on Grey, grazing her skin. She dove for the darkness outside of the shuddering ring of the spotlight.
    Shouts mingled with the sputtering engines.
    Grey pulled her body back into motion. She shot out of the alley onto Reinbar and careened toward the opposite sidewalk. After a near fall, she sprinted the length of the street. Colfax beckoned, quiet and empty. Behind her a booming thud filled the night. She’d brought down the craft. Yells and curses followed her as she rounded the corner onto Colfax.
    Frigid February air walloped her full in the face, stinging exposed skin and penetrating all the way to her bones. She’d never make it. They’d run her down before she got to the store.
    How could Haimon help her anyway?
    Something flickered in the shop window ahead, making Grey squint into the darkness. The storefront next to Granddad’s shimmered green. She slowed her pace, but it was too late. A form materialized on the sidewalk in a column of red and green smoke. She barreled into it, tangling with limbs not her own. With a crack she flew backward over the sidewalk and into a lamppost. The imprint of energy burned her chest.
    Adante stepped out of the vapor. An empty potion bottle rolled away from his feet and into the gutter. Scraps of material from one shredded sleeve dangled about