Glittering Shadows Read Online Free Page B

be—some kind of protection on me,” Freddy said. “I never knew.”
    Nan’s focus whipped back to the revolutionaries.
    “Are you Nan?” asked Will. The eyes peering out under his cap looked deceptively friendly.
    Nan kept her hands steady around the weapon. She had never held a gun before, but this feeling was familiar. Like she had held weapons in other lives, held a man’s fate in her hands many
times before.
    “Sebastian would like to see you, too. He knows what you are. He wants to help you find the answers.”
    As Nan feared, Arabella must have told others about her. But Arabella got her information from other revolutionaries. What if Sebastian
did
know something? She still needed more answers
than she’d been given. She only knew bits and pieces—the strange song in her head, her defiance of death, her inability to see colors. She couldn’t stop thinking of the flash of
color she had seen from Sigi’s kiss.
    Green
. She had known its name, her gray world peeled back to allow a glimpse of beauty.
    “Don’t trust them.” Freddy stood up again. “They just shot me in the leg.”
    The men exchanged a more serious glance. Their eyes said
Whatever it takes
. Nan recognized that look. She probably had it, too. So it would be a test of who really meant it. She met
Thea’s eyes and looked up ahead at a break between buildings, a narrow lane leading back to the busier street. Thea nodded almost imperceptibly, acknowledging the escape plan. They had to
communicate with a look all the time when they worked together at the Telephone Club. Hopefully Sigi and Freddy would know to follow.
    Thea grabbed Freddy’s hand and started to run.
    Max fired again.
    A pained scream cut through Nan’s ears.
    Thea let go of Freddy’s hand. Her left hand was covered in blood. The bullet had cut through Thea’s hand and stopped when it reached Freddy’s protected skin. Nan registered all
of this in a split second, and then she fired back at Max’s knee.
    Anger pulsed through her hands. With a little less self-control, she might have shot to kill. But she’d be no better than Arabella, who killed Rory Valkenrath without giving him a chance
for redemption.
    The bullet struck. She heard the crack of impact, like it hit a wall. But Max didn’t bleed.
    So, he was protected like Freddy.
I should know how to get out of this
, Nan thought. Unknown magic thrummed inside her; she had started to use it with Rory, and she felt it now, but she
didn’t understand her power, didn’t know what would happen if she let it out.
    “Why did you hurt
her
?” Freddy lunged toward Max and grabbed his arm, shoving his hand toward the ground, trying to wrest away the gun. Will had his gun out too, but he had
taken a step back.
    When he saw Nan’s gun train on him, he held up his hands. “We didn’t want to hurt anyone. I swear.”
    “That’s hard to believe,” Nan said.
    Max dodged Freddy’s fists. He moved with the experience of training, his evasion as graceful as the way he used Freddy’s miss to knock him off balance and punch him back. Freddy
staggered, and Max kicked him to the ground.
    “Max!” Will looked as horrified as Thea, who was rushing toward Freddy’s fallen form, a stain of blood spreading on her sweater where her hand was tucked under the wool.
    “Please!”
she shouted, her voice wild with pain. “Please, stop!” She put her good hand to his bruising jaw.
    “Max, all these gunshots! What are you thinking? The police are going to come!” Will said. “We have to get them out of here.” His eyes implored Nan and Thea. “Your
hand will be all right, miss. We have a healer. You won’t want to go to the hospital. They’re already dangerously crowded with people wounded in the uprising.”
    Nan lowered her gun, and Max lowered his, too. There was still a gleam in his eye she didn’t trust. But Thea was badly hurt. And Will was right. If their fight alerted the police, that
would be worse.
    Freddy