Read Online Dance of Ashes and Smoke (Age of Monsters Book 1) by Harley Gordon - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Harley Gordon
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Was it still there? Or had it been ripped from the wall and burned for being too subversive? In other words, too hopeful.
The monsters wanted us downtrodden and hopeless, no spark fueling us to rise up. But it would be generations before we forgot the stories and beauty we’d spent our lives seeing and hearing and reading. The spark would take a long time to die off and fade and we just had to keep the flame lit.
It’s what Alcott wanted. He was determined to do whatever it took to heal our world, to inspire others.
And the only way I knew how to start was making sure the sorceress could never hurt anyone again the way she’d hurt us.
I put his treasures in my pack and reached for the packet. Whatever was inside better be worth my brother’s life. I frowned at the stack of papers. The top sheet called it The Book of Thoth . It rang a bell from research long ago, but I had a hard time placing it. I turned the page where a small synopsis was typed.
This is all the information we could gather from the long lost Books of Thoth. Only a few spells remain, useful but mostly incomplete. Little information beyond Thoth’s philosophies remain. Many believe that Thoth was the writer of the Book of the Dead so the list of spells is included.
What use did we have for spells? We had no magic, and I had no interest in playing around with it. Magic was for monsters and I refused to sully myself with it.
I flipped through the rest of the pages, skimming parables and spells and runes littered throughout in no clear order. Most of it was nonsense or useless unless we found ourselves in the underworld. Which I wasn’t certain we weren’t trapped in already.
Nothing in it would help us with the sorceress or the chimera.
I tossed it in my bag, figuring we should take it along just in case. At least the C-4 would be helpful.
Olivia and Jackson burst back in the bedroom, excitement brimming in their eyes. “Someone just posted on the message board asking for help. There’s a small town in Virginia the monsters missed and they said a magic arrived and is causing trouble.”
“Are you sure it’s her?” I asked.
Jax grimaced. “No, but the timeline fits. They didn’t go into detail, the message seemed hurried.”
“It’s worth a shot. It’s the only lead we have.” Liv sank to the floor beside me.
“We were planning on busting out of here anyway, so at least we have a place to start. And Tashia moves on fast, so it has to be tomorrow.”
“How are we going to manage that?”
I grinned, slow and big. “I have just the thing.”
T he C4 set off a massive explosion, billows of flames and smoke rose to the darkening sky. A grim smile unfurled on my face as the church burned. They’d have to find a new place to defile, a new place to watch the puppets perform.
We zoomed through the streets on the motorcycles, Jax driving Al’s. We were mostly ignored as everyone ran for or away from the church which was what we counted on.
A dragon shifter shrieked overhead and dove for Jax. I pulled my gun from the thigh holster and shot at it. Guns wouldn’t kill it, but the force of the bullet knocked the dragon off-course and it crashed into a skyscraper, giving us a chance to get away.
We screeched to a halt under the cover of trees a couple blocks from the church, where Liv already waited for us. She leapt onto the back of Al’s bike behind Jackson since I’d made sure my bike carried all the bags, and we burned rubber towards the fence.
Werewolves came at us on all sides, snapping teeth and sharp claws desperate to rip our flesh from us. Liv slashed at them with her sword while I fired my gun, glad the bullets were dipped in holy water. The reek of burnt flesh and blood filled the air as the bullets seared through them.
One got a lucky slice in, ripping a hole in my jacket, but thankfully not my skin. I shot it point-blank in the head in response, taking a dull satisfaction from his crumpled body as I ran right
The monsters wanted us downtrodden and hopeless, no spark fueling us to rise up. But it would be generations before we forgot the stories and beauty we’d spent our lives seeing and hearing and reading. The spark would take a long time to die off and fade and we just had to keep the flame lit.
It’s what Alcott wanted. He was determined to do whatever it took to heal our world, to inspire others.
And the only way I knew how to start was making sure the sorceress could never hurt anyone again the way she’d hurt us.
I put his treasures in my pack and reached for the packet. Whatever was inside better be worth my brother’s life. I frowned at the stack of papers. The top sheet called it The Book of Thoth . It rang a bell from research long ago, but I had a hard time placing it. I turned the page where a small synopsis was typed.
This is all the information we could gather from the long lost Books of Thoth. Only a few spells remain, useful but mostly incomplete. Little information beyond Thoth’s philosophies remain. Many believe that Thoth was the writer of the Book of the Dead so the list of spells is included.
What use did we have for spells? We had no magic, and I had no interest in playing around with it. Magic was for monsters and I refused to sully myself with it.
I flipped through the rest of the pages, skimming parables and spells and runes littered throughout in no clear order. Most of it was nonsense or useless unless we found ourselves in the underworld. Which I wasn’t certain we weren’t trapped in already.
Nothing in it would help us with the sorceress or the chimera.
I tossed it in my bag, figuring we should take it along just in case. At least the C-4 would be helpful.
Olivia and Jackson burst back in the bedroom, excitement brimming in their eyes. “Someone just posted on the message board asking for help. There’s a small town in Virginia the monsters missed and they said a magic arrived and is causing trouble.”
“Are you sure it’s her?” I asked.
Jax grimaced. “No, but the timeline fits. They didn’t go into detail, the message seemed hurried.”
“It’s worth a shot. It’s the only lead we have.” Liv sank to the floor beside me.
“We were planning on busting out of here anyway, so at least we have a place to start. And Tashia moves on fast, so it has to be tomorrow.”
“How are we going to manage that?”
I grinned, slow and big. “I have just the thing.”
T he C4 set off a massive explosion, billows of flames and smoke rose to the darkening sky. A grim smile unfurled on my face as the church burned. They’d have to find a new place to defile, a new place to watch the puppets perform.
We zoomed through the streets on the motorcycles, Jax driving Al’s. We were mostly ignored as everyone ran for or away from the church which was what we counted on.
A dragon shifter shrieked overhead and dove for Jax. I pulled my gun from the thigh holster and shot at it. Guns wouldn’t kill it, but the force of the bullet knocked the dragon off-course and it crashed into a skyscraper, giving us a chance to get away.
We screeched to a halt under the cover of trees a couple blocks from the church, where Liv already waited for us. She leapt onto the back of Al’s bike behind Jackson since I’d made sure my bike carried all the bags, and we burned rubber towards the fence.
Werewolves came at us on all sides, snapping teeth and sharp claws desperate to rip our flesh from us. Liv slashed at them with her sword while I fired my gun, glad the bullets were dipped in holy water. The reek of burnt flesh and blood filled the air as the bullets seared through them.
One got a lucky slice in, ripping a hole in my jacket, but thankfully not my skin. I shot it point-blank in the head in response, taking a dull satisfaction from his crumpled body as I ran right
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