War and Famine: An Urban Fantasy Novel (Revelations Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

toward Sabastin’s distant headquarters in the sky.
    “Me too,” she tried to say, but found it impossible because her body had broken down into teeny, tiny bits of light.
    A split second later, the world snapped into focus. They stood in Sabastin’s control room, but it didn’t look like anyone had been there since she’d last come to visit a week ago. The big screens belonging to the super computers Sabastin lovingly called the fates, were dark. It made them look like lava lamps with the light out and all the wax congealed into a sludge at the bottom.
    “Looks like Sabastin’s really been keeping up the place. It totally seems like he’s on top of the whole ‘my mission in life is to save the world from horrible monsters’ thing,” Ian said, releasing her hand and taking a few steps into the room. The motion sensors caught him, and the lights flickered on, filling the room with their sterile white glare and illuminating the dust on the consoles and the cobwebs in the corners.
    “He’s been sitting next to his daughter most of the time. I don’t think he’s even looked at these monitors since you brought her back,” Amy replied, trying to ignore how cold her hand felt now that he’d let her go.
    “I wouldn’t look at them either,” Ian said, glancing back at her and smirking. “Even if it was my job, and I didn’t have an excuse to ignore them.” He pointed at the middle screen. The one that belonged to Lachesis. “The only thing those things can tell you is where you should go to die.”
    “So instead, no one is looking out for the world.” Amy sighed. “It’s his job to locate threats and send people to stop them.”
    “Maybe the world doesn’t need his protection. Maybe we never did. This planet has been spinning for a while despite all the ancient vampires and such. Maybe a bunch of people living in the sky, trying to look out for us is the height of arrogance.” He shook his head, holding up his hand like he wanted to stop the conversation from proceeding. That was good. She had no desire to get into an argument with him about metaphysical philosophy. Especially since Sabastin had come to the same conclusion and disbanded his people, disregarding their millennia old mission to fight monsters and save the world. “It doesn’t matter anyway. Where is he?”
    “Probably in his daughter’s hospital room. Follow me.” Amy moved across the room and pressed a button embedded into the steel wall. A concealed door slid open with a whoosh of compressed air, revealing a hallway lit only by two glowing green strips along the floor.
    “She still hasn’t woken up?” Ian asked, following her into the hallway as she made her way through its maze of twisted passages. The first time she had treaded across this path, she’d gotten hopelessly lost and Sabastin had come to fetch her when alarms started going off. The memory still made her shake with embarrassment.
    “No. We all thought she’d awaken once she healed from the wounds she suffered when she was possessed by the Nose god Jormungand during our battle, but she has been healed for a couple of weeks, and she’s still asleep. Something is definitely wrong.” Amy shook her head, remembering how the girl had beaten all four of them within an inch of their lives. If Malcom hadn’t sacrificed himself, there was no way they’d have stopped her. Even then, it was a near thing.
    “And how do we know that thing inside her is really gone?” Ian asked, reaching out and touching her on the shoulder. She stopped, stiffening. “Maybe it’s still inside her, still in control, and the second she wakes up… well, I don’t need to tell you how hard it was to beat her with all four of us.” He dropped his hand back down to his side. “Now Malcom is gone and Kim? Who knows where Kim is.”
    Amy shook her head, trying to ignore the sensation of his touch. “Sabastin says Jormungand is gone now, and I believe him. He’s run more tests than I even