AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ignoring the question, I pull my phone from my pocket to check for messages but find none.
Pen and Darius had set out hours ago for the Bone Yard. Hours in which I was forced to sit and nod with a smile on my face while my people went into danger.
Darkness slithers through my thoughts about how I would like to deal with the new mayor, Chief Lynch, and especially Captain Bailey, who is the mastermind behind all of this.
My hand tightens around the bottle of antacids until my knuckles ache.
If I could just make them all disappear…
The tension around the antacids abruptly vanishes, my nails hitting my palm, and I quickly open my fist to find my hand empty.
Shit. This has been happening more and more lately.
I flex my fingers, then check my pockets and find the bottle next to my keys.
“Sir?” Mayn asks.
I pull the bottle out and study it before popping the top off to shake out two pills. “The city council wants to start a new project that will draw in tourists.”
“Tourists, sir?” Mayn comes up beside me. “Why would tourists come to Clearhelm? There is nothing here to see.”
“We’re ground zero for the Resurgence.” I toss the pills into my mouth and chase them with the rest of my coffee. “Now that people have settled down about the Others, they want to start capitalizing on this being where it all started.”
Mayn shakes her head. “I do not understand.”
I throw my cup into the wastebasket next to my desk, then turn and rest my butt against it to face my partner. “They want to open the Bone Yard to tourists.”
She blinks, her dual eyelids shuttering over her black eyes. “People will die. The city will be sued. This will be a revenue loss, not a gain.”
I pick up a pen from my desk and squeeze it in my fist, focusing on the dark slither inside me, and it vanishes from my hand with intention this time. “Not if we clean it up first.”
Her braid ripples in its tight coil on her head, and a pin bounces to the ground. “We, sir?”
“Yes,we.” I draw the pen from my pocket and toss it back onto my desk. “Pen and Darius have already gone to request an audience with Nickodemus to see if he’ll help.”
More pins bounce to the floor. “The king of boogeymen has no reason to help open the borders of the Bone Yard.”
“He won’t have a choice.” I clench my teeth as anger turns the coffee in my stomach to acid. “If he won’t share the Bone Yard with humans, then Pen and Darius will be tasked with destroying it. And if they do that, we’ll become the targets for every demon in Clearhelm.”
Mayn’s braid breaks free to whip around her shoulders.
“Either way, the JTFPI is expected to be outside the wall to back them up or capture any demons who try to flee the destruction.” I scrub a hand over my face. “We promised toprotectOthers, the same as any citizen of Clearhelm. How am I supposed to go out there now and tell my people we may be part of a slaughter?”
Mayn takes a step closer. “Pen and Darius agreed to this course of action?”
“Pen argued for negotiating a compromise. The mayor initially wanted the entire Bone Yard cleaned up, but Chief Lynch agreed to only a section if it can be made safe.” I pull out my phone and check it again for messages. “I was hoping to hear from them before we meet with Captain Bailey’s people.”
My partner stiffens. “We are working with Captain Bailey again?”
I understand her reticence over the idea. Every time we partner up with him, shit hits the fan. Bailey demands absolute loyalty from his officers, and he likes to counter my demands just to prove he’s still the one in power.
“Since this is a large task we were assigned, Chief Lynch has ordered Captain Bailey to loan us some of his officers.” I meet her eyes. “I’d like your help in sorting through the potential candidates. If we’re going to be forced into this merger, we might as well make the best of it.”
She snaps to attention. “I am at your service, sir.”
“I thought you’d say that.” I straighten from my desk. “The first wave will be here soon, so let’s go greet them.”
* * *
