Read Online Dying Light by Kory M. Shrum - Free Book Online

giving orders to tail and observe us. A man steps
onto the adjacent train car at the next stop and glances at us
through the small door connecting the cars. I know instantly he is
one of Jeremiah’s men, though I almost never see their faces with
their black mesh full body armor.
    “ There’s a—”
    “ I know.” Gloria cuts me
off. “Don’t stare.”
    Of course she knows there’s a tail.
Gloria is like the closest thing to a ninja I’ve ever met. She
didn’t need some froufrou angel to tell her shit.
    We get off the train three stops later
and climb the stairs to the street. The wind hits me again and I
miss the slightly smelly streetcar. It really is the wind that
makes Chicago so damn cold. It cuts me right to the
bone.
    “ Here we are.” Gloria
stops in front of an unimpressive brick building. “Come
on.”
    We file into the lobby, bringing up
the rear behind Nikki and Ally. Instantly, I’m relieved that the
wind stays outside. My iced cheeks begin to melt and I’m hoping my
crunchy hair is next.
    Gloria leads us to the stairs on the
left side of the elevator.
    The foyer of this apartment building
isn’t as glamorous as Tate Tower. It has more of a vintage 1920s
feel to it with its dark wood walls, Victorian furniture, and large
chandelier. The three of them take the stairs while I linger at the
bottom, waiting to see the man from the train.
    No faces show up in the front window
outside the turnstile door, and when the lobby guard gives me a
suspicious look, I smile and follow the others up the
staircase.
    I reach the landing of Gloria’s floor
and see the three of them standing outside her apartment
door.
    “ We need to decide how to
proceed,” Ally is saying. She’s already slipping into action mode,
examining our problems and looking for a solution. I glance down at
her bag in my hands.
    “ I want to keep you away
from the tower,” Gloria tells her as she slips a key into the lock.
“In my sketch—”
    “ Wait, what exactly happens to the
tower?” Nikki butts in.
    “ There’s a picture that
Gloria drew,” Ally says, but I’ve stopped listening.
    If I’m going to sneak off and meet
Caldwell, now would be the best time. I drop Ally’s bag on the
stairway and slip down the staircase again. In the lobby, the guard
gives me another suspicious glare, and I force a smile.
    “ I forgot something in the
car,” I lie and quickly cross the lobby out to the
sidewalk.
    Gabriel unfurls his wings beside me.
God, if only he could block the wind. That’d be awesome.
    “ I don’t know how to find
him.”
    “ Call him.”
    “ Like on my cell
phone?”
    “ No,” Gabriel
says.
    Instantly, I know what he means. I
search the street, looking for the tail that could show up any
time, but don’t see anyone. A couple of people are walking on the
opposite side of the street toward some unknown destination, but
they don’t spare me a glance.
    My teeth start to chatter and the tips
of my fingers go numb. The remaining damp tendrils of hair ice on
my head. Again. I close my eyes anyway and try to focus my
mind.
    Caldwell ? I cast the thought out
into the wide expanse of the city. If he’s really watching my every
move, he might hear me.
    Caldwell , I think again. Come and get me.

Chapter 11
    Ally
     
    G loria slips her key into the lock of her apartment and we step into the small
living room. It’s a studio with a hotplate in one corner on top of
a cabinet and a water closet in the other. No doubt it is three
times the cost of my apartment back in Nashville, even if it is
only a fraction of the size.
    I turn to Jesse, but she’s
gone.
    It’s only the three of us—me, Nikki,
and Gloria.
    “ Where’s Jesse?” I have to
squeeze the words out of my throat over my pounding
heart.
    Gloria sits her bag on the bed and
turns to me. “She might be with Caldwell.”
    “ What?” Nikki and I yell
in unison.
    “ You’re kidding,” Nikki
says, dropping her bag on the floor of the apartment.
    “ Gloria!”