A Prison of Worlds (The Chained Worlds Chronicles Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

yet.”  I am sure
they exist, but they hide far better than the other supernaturals I had found
in this world.
    “Not
officially, but anyone who's not a halfwit can guess some of what's offstage
ready to come into the spotlight.  Besides, can't you…” Jeremy tapped the side
of his head suggestively.
    “Bah,
you can't take magic by force... well unless you're some whack job of a blood
mage.” Agitated, my handed gestured to try to get the point across.  I had seen
Italian mafia in movies do it and it seemed cool.
    Jeremy
barely ducked my swinging hands, muttering curses under his breath.  It's his
own fault, he was the one that insisted I see The Godfather .
    “Well,
wizards would have books about magic, right?  You're bound to get better stuff
that what you’re combing through.”
    That
thought stopped me.  He was right.  Anything had to be better than the useless
time-wasters I was looking at now. 
    “So
are you interested?”
    “Okay,
this seems a good lead.”  Getting down to business I continued. “Five hundred credits
in your account now.  If this pans out, one thousand more credits.”
    “Great. 
She is staying at this address,” Jeremy said, while pulling a stained folded square
of nupaper from his pocket. I gingerly took the rather abused sheet between my
thumb and pointer finger, and noticed rather fresh traces of blood on it.
    “Okay...”
Slightly nonplussed at the tattered state of my directions, I unfolded the cheap
plastic textured sheet and began to read.  “She's at the Hotel Riviera?  That’s
across town in one of the upscale neighborhoods.”
    “Well,
not everyone stays at the YMCA when they first visit the city.”  That earned
him a glare.
    “By
the way, I assume you took care of the problem you had?” I asked while
gesturing at his side where the bullet wound had been.
    “Yeah,
it was just a misunderstanding over a client's possession,” Jeremy said nonchalantly,
waving away my concern.  “Anyway, I have to head home, I need to sleep.  We can
watch Mad Max later.”
    “You
should get some better protection if you won't let me show you a few tricks.”
    “I
was wearing protection. That coat you ripped off me kept that thing from
tearing me in half.”
    Looking
guiltily at the coat lying on the floor in pieces, I glanced back at him.  It
hadn't felt that armored.  “Okay, buy another one.  On me.  Maybe have a force
field built in it.”
    He
snorted.  “That is restricted military technology.  I'll have to settle for
armored coats.  These days it seems the only time the military lifts a finger
to do anything is if they find someone using their tech.”
    I
walked him to the door and looked out as he rode off in his old beat up blue car. 
It was such an old piece of junk that I don't think anyone ever tried to steal
it despite it being an antique.  He had once extolled me with a detailed
description of its history and why it was such a fantastic find.  I think I
purposely blocked out that memory.  Hardly anyone used street cars these days,
although with the recent renewed interest in 20 th -century fads that
may change. 
    The
sun was well up and the city around me was now active.  I suppose some people
just like working at night.  Just to stretch my legs I walked out and made a
leisurely tour around the block.
    The
mostly deserted neighborhood was squarely middle class in appearance and well
laid out, which most likely was one of the reasons the crime rate was so low. 
The streets were wide and empty of cars on the surface; there were no hidden
nooks and crannies for criminals to hide.  The other reason may have been that
I had bought most of the houses around me so there are fewer potential
victims.  A piercing, high-pitched whine came from the distance, and I saw a
mag-lev commuter train barreling by on the tracks several thousand feet away,
so fast that it was almost gone before the noise reached me.  I frowned.  I
came from a city full of magic