Read Online Nick: Justice Series by Kathi S. Barton - Free Book Online Page B

exited the house, Joel could see things he’d never noticed before. Not just the colors, which seemed to be brilliant, but the people milling about. There were so many of them that he had to tread carefully.
    “Are these people like us?” Dane turned and looked at him, then continued walking without speaking. “They’re dead too? Like we are?”
    “They’re dead, but not like us. They’re the ones that will drop everything to go and help others, the living, for some reason. Me? Not so much. I got me my own rules to fly by. You will too when this thing with that bastard is done.”
    “What is his name? Perhaps it will help me help you find him.” Dane stopped and turned to look at him. “You said you knew Addison. What does this have to do with her and him?”
    “They’re together. The two of them. He’s one of them necromancers. They try and kill us.” Joel knew what the word meant, but never thought of it as being a real thing. “There are a bunch of them living up there in that house. Got them a real nice place too, but you and me, we can’t go there. We have to wait until it’s time.”
    “Time? Time for what?” Dane turned and walked away again. And no matter how many times Joel asked him, Dane refused to answer. Joel decided that for now, he’d let it go. He was going to get to Addison, and that was forefront in his mind right now. Then he was going to see about killing her, so they’d live the rest of their days together. Just as they were meant to do.

Chapter 5
     
    Nick watched her sleeping. It wasn’t like him to remain idle for so long, but he found it peaceful to just sit and watch her. The nurse had told him that she was doing well. He hoped so; they’d taken a great chance getting her here. When Carlton came into the room with him and Aster, Nick got up and left to stand in the hall to talk to him. Nick knew that she was in good care with Aster with her.
    “I’m sorry, my son, but your stepfather is around.” Nick felt like Carlton had slapped him, the information was so hard to take. “He’s hooked up with another like him, and the two of them are plotting. I have heard from my sources that the two of them are looking for your dead mother and another woman. Your mother is…if you do not mind me saying, she is as bad as she was when she lived. Sad woman, she is.”
    “My sister? Have you heard about her?” Nick had no idea why it was suddenly so important for him to make contact with his family. His stepfather he wanted nothing to do with…nor his mother for that matter. But his sister was all he’d had in the world back then, and now she was about all he had thought about lately. “Her name is Ana Stark. Any word on her?”
    “She is lost to me. I have done what I could, but I do believe that she is with someone that is keeping her…safe, I think. I do have my feelings out there.” Nick corrected Carlton. “Feelers. I have my feelers out there. Should you need anything else? I have a reading lesson with Miss Kari. And her baby, she does talk to us, and it is such a joy to hear her.”
    “No, you go ahead. But when you find out anything, just let me know.”
    Carlton assured him that he would. Standing in the hall, Nick looked at the pictures that were lining the walls and wondered if any of them had this much trouble with their relatives. As he made his way into the bedroom again, Connie, Steele’s grandmother, appeared. She looked in a fine temper, as Carlton would say.
    “I should have known you’d have that old buzzard helping you. Should you like the information I have?” Nick smiled and told her he was just coming to find her. “Don’t try to kid an old woman. I’ve been around a good deal longer than you, and can spot a lie when I see it. A good one, but a lie all the same.”
    “I’m sorry. I knew that you were helping Aster with Addie, and I thought that she might be safer with you and not Donny.” She smiled at him. “He’s only twelve, but I think he