“You can’t tie us up and leave us here,” theman said. “Just kill us. It would be kinder in the end.”
“Tempting, but I promised someone I would trynot to kill humans anymore. Maybe leaving you here is a deathsentence, but maybe it’s not. Not my problem either way,” Ireplied. “Hands out.”
Wren tilted her chin up further but didn’tmove her arms.
“Either do it willingly, or I’ll knock youout and tie you up. I think you have a better shot of surviving ifyou’re not unconscious,” I told her.
She hesitated before thrusting her hands outbefore her. Taking hold of her wrists, I tied them together beforewrapping the other end of the rope around a tree and binding herthere while Shax and Bale worked to tie the man up. Retrieving therifle, I propped it against a tree.
“We are not all monsters,” I said to her.
She jerked on the rope and lifted her handsinto the air. “Are you sure about that?”
A cruel smile twisted my mouth as I leanedtoward her. “You have no idea what monsters truly are, but if wefail, you will. If that happens, you will look back on this momentandknowI was right.”
“Fail at what?” she demanded.
“I see you again, Iwillkill you,” I told her, ignoring her question.She glowered at me but didn’t say a word. “Let’s go,” I said to theothers. “We’ve already wasted too much time.”
A sense of urgency drove me as I ran throughthe woods to the waiting trucks. I had to get to River before itwas too late.
CHAPTER 21
River
“Shit,” Corson muttered as he stared at theghosts floating above and swooping toward us.
“Please don’t piss them off,” Erinwhispered.
“This way,” Daisy said as she hovered beforeus.
I tried to take them all in, but there wereso many various ages, eras, and races of ghosts, that I couldn’tquite process what I was seeing. They clustered against us, causingthe air to grow colder from their nearness, as Daisy led the wayacross the concrete floor of the vast warehouse.
None of the ghosts touched me, but the hairon my arms stood on end. The temperature couldn’t be more thantwenty degrees at the most, something for which my thin, brownshirt was completely inadequate. I understood why this place hadbeen so bright now though; there were enough apparitions in here tolight the entire barrier wall.
“Is this her?” one of them asked as hefloated by my face, peering at me far too intently for my likingafter what I’d put up with from Pervy and freaky Pompadour.
“Shh,” Daisy murmured. “They’re being hunted.We must get them to safety.”
“Is it her?” he asked again.
I realized as we continued forward thatghosts really had no concept of manners, life or death urgency, orbeing discreet. Daisy disappeared through another set of swingingdoors and I hurried behind her, eager to escape from the thousandsof ghosts staring at us.
One of the doors squeaked when I pushed itopen, but not loud enough to carry far. I assumed we’d be outsideonce we left the warehouse; instead, we entered another room fullof more ghosts. There was absolutely nothing else in what I assumedwas another storage room except for the ghosts and us. We werenever going to escape them, I realized. Even if we could lose thedemons, we would never be free of all the freaking ghosts.
“Is it you?” my new persistent stalkerdemanded of me.
“I am me,” I replied, wishing I could hide ina vat of salt right now.
He zipped around so he was floating less thana foot in front of me, causing me to stop abruptly. He didn’t lookmuch older than I did and the military fatigues he wore resembledthe cut and design of this time period.
“I can’t talk to angels,” I said inexasperation before he could ask.
He hovered in front of me before darting awayto join the mass of others forming a circle no more than five feetaway. It was like being enclosed in a blurry, gray bubble as theyzipped back and forth all around us. I couldn’t tell if they wereagitated or excited, but I wanted out of here and away fromthem.
“Maybe you should tell them youcantalk to angels,” Vargasmurmured.
“I’m not going to lie to them,” I said.
