Dread Nemesis of Mine Read Online Free Page B

Nyte, two Goth guys who,
along with Elyssa, had befriended me at an especially low point in
my life, had also tried to reach me.
    At first, the messages showed up in typical
text lingo, with all the associated abbreviations and bad grammar.
Then the words shimmered and morphed into something resembling
normal sentences with proper punctuation. It was all I could do not
to kiss Nookli. What a smart little phone!
    I felt guilty about not replying to any of my
non-supernatural friends since returning from Colombia, but with
the forces of darkness out to kill me, I didn't want to put them in
any danger. They couldn't deal with vampires, fallen angels, or
hellhounds. I'd barely held my own against most of the threats I'd
faced, and I was half demon spawn. Still, didn't my friends deserve
at least some small reply? Or would I put them in harm's way
somehow?
    For what must have been the fifth time, I
pulled up Ash's texts and read through them again.
    Dude, you still alive?
    Seriously, man, holla back.
    Katie says you're okay. Me and Nyte gotta
show you something cool!
    Nyte's texts were similar, going on and on
about how he and Ash really wanted to show me some cool new
thing—probably a new nose ring or something Goth and gross. Katie's
texts were a bit more somber.
    Are you alive? Answer me!
    Your dad said you're okay. Thank god.
    Ash and Nyte keep asking about you. I told
them you're okay.
    Please, please, please call me when you can.
We need to talk!
    She'd talked to my dad? How in the hell had
she managed that? I wasn't exactly on talking terms with him right
now, given his decision to betray Mom and marry a succubus by the
name of Kassallandra. My finger hovered over Katie's number. If I
could contact anyone, it would be her. She knew about me and the
Overworld, thanks to bad timing on her part and a pack of
overachieving hellhounds who'd chased Elyssa, Dad, Katie, and me
all the way to downtown Atlanta. Maybe it would be okay to call her
and ask about my other friends. On the other hand, what if Mr. Gray
or one of my other enemies found out about my normal friends and
used them against me?
    I tucked the phone in my pocket and decided
to think about it.
    "Don't look now, but we're being followed,"
Elyssa said, using the shiny surface of her phone like a
mirror.
    Despite the warning, I almost glanced behind
us before turning the motion into a casual stretch of my arms. "How
do you know?" Though the walkways weren't teeming with people, they
were congested enough to hide any followers.
    "I took us through a few side streets we
didn't need to use, but the chubby guy with the long black coat and
bowler hat is still following us."
    I sighed. "We can't have whoever it is
trailing us back to Shelton's hideout. How long has he been
following?"
    "Since we left the Orange store."
    "Any idea what kind of super he is?"
    She shrugged. "Only one way to tell."
    My mind rifled through several plans—run,
turn and confront, or act casual. Between Elyssa and me, we could
handle most threats short of an angel or manifested demon spawn.
Using a nearby shop window as a mirror, I spotted the unkempt form
of a chubby man close to my height as he regarded us. His
expression verged on boredom.
    Elyssa led me through a wide alley. We
emerged in Founder's Square. Towering effigies of the supernatural
founders of the Overworld bordered the sprawling plaza. The massive
statue of a demon spawn drew my eye to it and its neighbor, an
angel with outstretched wings, hands held low to the sides as
though in welcome.
    Something seemed off about the two statues.
I'd only been to this place once, but the sight had etched itself
firmly into memory. "Wait a minute," I said. "The demon spawn
statue doesn't have horns anymore, and the angel's wings aren't
curled up."
    "And the statue of Ezzek Moore is now raising
his staff in the air," Elyssa said, pointing out the statue of a
man in robes. "These are life statues. They actually move into
different positions over