I let Max lead me out of the door and backto the waiting car. I didn't say a word to him as he drove me home.Instead, I planned my escape.
Chapter 5
He’d told me not to run. So what was I doing?Of course I was running.
Hello, what choice did I have?
There was no way in hell I was going tohelp with that murder. Because there was no way inhell I was a real clairvoyant. I didn't care what Maxsaid, I didn't care what that book said – I was just an ordinaryfortuneteller. And by ordinary, I meant fake.
I won't deny that there was a slightshake tomy hand as I ran down thestreet. I’d decided to ditch my car. Though it would have beenquicker than running away on foot, the car was parked right outsideof the house, and though Max wasn't technically in, somehow I justknew the fairy would have attached some kind of magical locator toit.
No, it was safer on foot.
Safer.
That word kept echoing through my mindlike a drum beat. Andevery time it repeated, I felt heavier and heavier.
Because this was the rightdecision, right?
God, I was covered in sweat. It was earlyevening, and for some reason, it wasgoddamn dark already. Point was, though, it was cool, with a brisk breeze whistling down thestreet. I should not be covered in sweat. But I felt like I wasdrowning in the stuff. And my heart? Oh, god, I won't even botherdescribing that to you. It felt like I was seconds away from acardiac arrest.
With one hand squeezed against my chest,fingers hooking over my collar for support, I continued to run downthe road.
I still knew absolutely nothing about thistown. Hello, I'd only arrived here several days ago. And for mostof those days, I'd been trying to desperately hide from the fact mygrandmother had been a true clairvoyant who had a fairy fora bodyguard.
Now I found myself wholeheartedly wishingthat I'd planned this escape better. My phone wasn’t even properlycharged. The damn thing barely had enough battery to send textsthese days, let alone access Google Maps.
I swore to myself under my breath over andover again, sounding like a seriously pissed off putteringengine.
The plan was to find some niceout-of-the-way bus stop, get on said nice out-of-the-way bus, then head back to the airport. Fromthere, I'd scrape together my meager savingsand hightail it out of this town, never to return again. I’d putgrandma’s house on the market remotely, and I'd slam the door inMax’s face if he ever tracked me down.
I tried to smile at thatthought, because it was a pretty good plan,right?
Well, as long as you forgot his direwarning about monsters. I could still see how stretched his facehad been when he’d leaned in, that tight frown pressing hard acrosshis face. “They’ll track you down and tear you apart, Chi,” he’dpromised.
Tear me apart. God, did that bring up prettyimages.
I suddenly shook my head in such a franticmove, I almost gave myself whiplash. I did not, however, stopthrowing myself down the street.
Seriously, though, it was freaking dark.For some reason, it felt as if even the streetlights I passed weredimmed. As I flitted past them, I realized their light barelypenetrated the shadows. In fact, if I had a paranoid mind – andlet's face it, right now I did – I'd say that the shadows weresomehow growing. Billowing like storm clouds.
I gritted my teeth so hard I could havefractured them into shards.
I suddenly came to a fork in the road. Oneoption led down a narrow, tightly pressed, winding alley. The otheralong what appeared to be a wide main street.
I snorted as I took one look at the creepyalley and pushed along the main road instead. I wasn’t an idiot.Run down an alleyway on a night as dark as this, and I sure wouldbe attacked. Not by monsters, mind you, but by the thrifty whoprefer to steal other's fortunes than make their own.
I sped forward and reached the mainroad.
It took me about 10 meters down the wideravenue until I realized one seriously important fact: there were nocars. Heck, as I swiveled my head from left-to-right and I lookedat the various houses and buildings that lined the street, Irealized they were all dark. No lights on, anywhere. What made itworse – what made it far worse – was that the streetlights dottedalong the road were all starting to dim. One to my left suddenlyflickered and turned off completely. One across the road turned offwith a pop as the globe shattered, sending a fine dusting of glassall over the pavement beneath it.
I ground to a stop. Seriously, it was like Iwas trying to dig my shoes into the pavement.
My heart sped up to a million miles anhour, my breath lodged in my throat as if it were two hands tryingto choke me.
I took a staggering step back, turned hard on my heel, andsprang back towards the mouth of the street.
No, I didn't honestly believe that monsterswere about to pop out of the darkness and attack me. But I was anordinary girl, and any ordinary girl would be seriously freaked outabout this suddenly dark and deserted street.
There was a problem. Though I threw myself towards the mouthof the alley, I never reached it. The last streetlight above meexploded. It didn't turn off with a flick, didn't dim with a lighthum. Oh no, it exploded like someone had shot it with aGatling gun.
I screamed, jerking to the side, throwingmy hands over my head, and bumping into the lamppost. My shoulderslammed against the metal, sending even more glass showering down from above and covering my hair,exposed hands, and cheeks.
The smell of burnt metal and heated glassfilled the air. A second later, it was replaced with somethingelse. Something so strong, it scoured the inside of mynostrils.
It smelt like sulfur. The only reason I knew this, wasbecause I'd visited a volcano in New Zealand once. The smell wasunmistakable. It was as if a hole
