Dread Nemesis of Mine Read Online Free Page A

says our former rulers were going to
come through the Gloom."
    We entered an alley and skidded to a halt. In
this very alley, we'd had our first encounter with gray men, the
creepy golems used by a man we called Mr. Gray for obvious reasons.
I'd discovered a large mural of him down in El Dorado and concluded
he must be an angel like Nightliss and Daelissa. He apparently
wanted me dead or captured, judging from my every encounter with
his minions.
    "Uh, why don't we take the scenic route?" I
backed up a step, remembering the ambush all too clearly. "Not that
I'm scared or anything." Yeah, right.
    "Let's go down another block," Elyssa said,
mouth set in a grim line.
    We walked down the street a little further
and entered a large marble-paved roundabout. A lush, green park
sprawled in the center of the huge space. Hardwood trees swayed
gently in the breeze, their tops reaching toward the sky.
Intricately shaped hedges adorned strategic places inside the park,
next to benches and statue fountains.
    We continued through the park. My gaze slid
over the bizarre buildings surrounding us—one seemingly made from
snow-white plastic with shiny stainless-steel balconies, and
another patterned in the crosshatch black used in so many carbon
fiber designs.
    "Why are we always in a hurry to do something
when we come here?" I complained. "I'd really like to take you on a
real date for once."
    Elyssa squeezed my hand. "How about after
your magic lessons today?"
    "Don't you have Templar duties?"
    She shook her head. "I'm still on recovery
leave."
    "Dinner and a show?" I'd seen a cool Chinese
restaurant the first time I'd been here, and Shelton had mentioned
a live-action theater he liked to visit.
    "How about dancing instead?
    Dancing wasn't exactly my forte, but so long
as it was with Elyssa, I was willing to give it a shot. "You got
it, babe."
    A bright smile lit her face. "It's a
date."
    We left the park and crossed the marble
street to the Orange store, bearing a stark white sign with a
partially peeled orange emblazoned on it. The building consisted of
a similar white material lined with liquid glass, rippling like the
surface of a crystalline lake. Across the road from Orange, almost
all three stories of the MagicSoft store were made entirely of the
liquid glass. I wondered if the floors were too. Unlike the last
time we'd been here, there were few people inside either store. We
walked up the glowing white stairs, passing a poster which
declared, Now you can compare Apples to Oranges!
    About a half-hour later, we emerged from the
store, my shiny new arcphone in hand. Apparently, smartphones were
considered dumbphones by Overworld citizens since they couldn't use
magic and were limited to traditional cell towers. Arcphones could
make use of just about any nom cell signal and the magical cell
network. My new toy was wafer thin and no larger than a credit
card. I dragged my thumb across the glowing Orange logo on the
screen, peeling the fruit and revealing a list of apps. I tapped
one of them to reveal a slider and slid it up. The phone expanded
until the edge-to-edge screen was nearly seven inches. I pulled the
slider down, shrinking the phone to five inches, then three, and
back up again.
    "Will you stop playing with that thing?"
Elyssa said, an amused grin on her face.
    "How did I survive all these years without
one of these?" I rubbed the smooth, polished surface of the device
like a pet. "Nookli, I love you."
    "You are the wind beneath my wings," the
phone replied in a mellifluous voice.
    I laughed. "Awesome!"
    Elyssa rolled her eyes.
    I played with my phone as we weaved our way
back through the Grotto to the parking garage. Despite the magical
origins of the new arcphone, it interfaced perfectly with my nom
email, and the salesperson had even ported all my saved texts,
pictures, and old phone number. I flicked through the few texts in
the list. Katie Johnson, my former crush, had texted me several
times over the past few days. Ash and