Читать книгу The Demon Road Trilogy: The Complete Collection: Demon Road; Desolation; American Monsters - Derek Landy - Страница 23

A TANGLE OF BRIARS scraped across Amber’s bare shin and she grimaced, bent down to rub it, then continued on. Moving through this little patch of forest had been easier as a demon – her red skin, even without the scales, was a lot hardier than the pale flesh she usually wore.

She felt the damp unpleasantness of her clothes more acutely now, too, as she did the embarrassment over a stranger seeing her naked. Both these sensations were washed away when she remembered what she’d done to that woman in the restroom. She could have killed her. She had wanted to kill Glen.

Amber forced herself to move on.

Emerging from the treeline further up from where she went in, she walked along the road back towards the truck stop. She kept her head down, really wishing she’d thought to grab the baseball cap as she ran from the restroom.

The throaty growl of the Charger’s engine caught her by surprise, and she turned to watch it pull in sharply behind her.

Milo got out. He looked mad. She walked to the passenger side and he threw her the baseball cap. “Found this in the restroom,” he said. “It was lying next to a woman who swore blind she’d been attacked by the Devil.”

Amber put it on. “Um. Thanks.”

They looked at each other over the roof of the car.

“I got you a sandwich,” he said. “You can eat while we drive.”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Amber said as Milo ducked to get in. “I shifted and she walked in. She pulled a knife, for God’s sake!”

Milo straightened up. “She’s fine, by the way.”

Amber winced.

“A few nasty bruises. A dislocated shoulder. Maybe a fractured cheek. Definitely a concussion. But your concern over her wellbeing is touching.”

“I get it, okay? You can stop now. I feel guilty enough as it is.”

“I’m sure you do,” said Milo. “But it isn’t all bad. She’s going to have a great story to tell, about the time she was attacked by a genuine, bona fide devil. A red-skinned devil with horns, no less. She’s going to get some mileage out of that one. The cops have already been called, don’t you worry.”

Amber glared. “I just wanted to see what I looked like in a mirror. Is that so bad?”

“Not at all,” said Milo. “Doing that in your bedroom mirror behind a locked door, no problem at all. Doing it in a truck-stop restroom, however …”

“Can we just go? Can we? Before the cops get here?”

“Sure.” He hesitated, then looked at her again. “But I need you to understand something, Amber. This will catch the attention of your parents.”

She blinked. “I’d … I’d …”

“You hadn’t even considered that, had you?”

She frowned. “No. But I should have. What the hell?”

The expression on Milo’s face softened. “What did Imelda tell you? Your demon side is more confident. You can take that to mean arrogant. And you can take that to mean self-centred. You’re not going to be thinking too much of the consequences of your actions when you’ve got your horns on. That’s what makes it so dangerous.”

“Do you think they’ll come here themselves?”

“I would, if I were them.” A van passed on the road beside them. “We’ve lost our advantage. Up till now, they didn’t know you were running; they just thought you were hiding. Now that they know, they’ll be coming after you.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

He shrugged. “Come on, the sooner we get away, the better. At least no one here knows where we’re headed.”

Amber winced, and Milo froze.

“What?” he asked.

Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit. “Someone might know where we’re going,” she said.

Milo blinked at her. “I don’t understand. Who did you find to talk to around here?”

“A guy. His name’s Glen. I met him in the woods,” she said. Then she added, “He’s Irish.”

“Oh well, he’s Irish,” said Milo. “That’s okay, then. The Irish are renowned for how tight-lipped they are. What the hell, Amber?”

“I’m sorry, all right? I wasn’t thinking.”

“Some random guy in the woods?”

“He’s not random,” she responded, a little hotly. “He’s like us. He’s, you know … cursed by darkness.”

Milo actually laughed. “He’s what?”

“They’re the words he used,” she said, scowling. “And they’re not too far away from what you said about the blackroads connecting points of darkness, whatever the hell that means. And, y’know, he’s dying, actually. Glen. He’s got the Deathmark.”

“What’s a Deathmark?”

“I … I thought you’d know.”

“Edgar’s the occult expert, not me.”

“Well, the Deathmark is this thing that he has that’s killing him, and he’s on the Demon Road, too. He wants to see some real American monsters before he dies.”

Milo rubbed a hand over his face. “He’s going to get his chance.”

“What do you mean?”

Milo folded his arms on the car roof and leaned on it. “People travelling the blackroads tend to meet, Amber. I told you that. Whether they’re drawn to each other by some unconscious radar or it’s all down to recurring coincidence or part of some grand scheme straight from hell, the fact is travellers tend to meet. That’s why I’m confident of finding Dacre Shanks. But think who else is going to be on the blackroads. If your parents come here, and they will, and your new friend is still in the neighbourhood, the chances are they’ll find him. And if he knows where we’re going …”

“So … what do we do?”

Milo sagged. “We have two options.”

Her eyes widened. “The first is killing him, isn’t it? We’re not doing that. We’re not killing someone just because I made a mistake and said something I wasn’t supposed to. What’s the second option?”

“Convince him to come with us,” Milo said. “Go get him. We’ll take him as far as Springton and let him out there. If we have to tie him up and throw him in the back seat, we’ll do that, too.”

“I don’t think convincing him will be a problem,” said Amber. She turned, and started walking for the woods again.

“You have five minutes,” said Milo. Amber didn’t respond.

She retraced her steps until she found him. He was sitting on the same log she’d been sitting on, his elbows on his knees and his head down.

“Glen?”

He looked up quickly, but his hopeful smile vanished. “How do you know my name?”

She walked forward a few steps, and took off her cap. He regarded her suspiciously. Moments passed. His frown deepened, and then his eyebrows rose.

“You?”

“My name’s Amber.”

He jumped up. “But … but where’s … what happened to you?”

“I told you, the skin and the horns are new. This is what I look like without them.”

He couldn’t take his eyes off her, but for entirely different reasons than before. “But what happened?” he asked. The look on his face was pure dismay.

Amber flushed with embarrassment and hurt. “I changed back,” she said, putting the cap on again. “It doesn’t matter. If you want to come with us, you can.”

If she had asked him that while she was tall and red and beautiful, she knew he would have leaped for joy at the offer. As it was …

“Where are you going?” he asked doubtfully.

“Springton, Wisconsin,” she said. “I told you.”

He shrugged. “I’m terrible at place names. I forgot it the moment you said it. Couldn’t have remembered it at gunpoint.”

Amber stared at him. “Seriously?”

“I won’t forget it again, though. Springton, Wisconsin. Springton, Wisconsin. Okay, it’s embedded. Why are you going there?”

Anger coiled. “Because we are, okay? We’re on the Demon Road, you’re on the Demon Road, the Demon Road is taking us to Wisconsin, and we thought we’d be nice and offer you a lift that far. But hey, if you’re inundated with other offers …”

She turned, started walking away, and after a moment she heard his running footsteps behind her, hurrying to catch up.