Discount Armageddon
Page 42
The familiar mental static of Sarah’s proximity snapped on as soon as I got to ground level. Dominic grabbed my hands and pulled me off the top rung of the ladder, setting me on my feet before he returned to what he’d been doing: shoving the manhole cover back into place. A momentary chill washed over me as I realized that I’d been practically screaming “here I am, entomb me” to a member of the Covenant.
But he hadn’t. And judging by the quick, worried glance he cast my way before throwing all his weight onto the crowbar and forcing the manhole cover to move, he hadn’t been intending to. The screech of metal moving over blacktop would have been painful under normal circumstances. At the moment, it was music to my ears.
Telepathy gets harder the farther people are from each other. I was too tired to perform the internal gymnastics of trying to shout without using my mouth, and Sarah had to be as aware of my presence as I was of hers. Being a telepath means never needing to say “I’m lonely.” Digging my phone out of my purse, I leaned hard against the nearest lamppost and dialed her number.
She picked up before the first ring had time to finish. “How badly injured are you?” she demanded.
“I’ll probably never play the piano again, but my wounds are mostly superficial. I’m going to have some awesome bruises.” I could feel them forming across the back of my thighs where the lizard-man caught me with the rebar. “Not sure what Dominic’s status is. We were fighting pretty much blind.”
“Come back to the hotel. I’ll meet you in the lobby and walk you up to my room. Don’t argue!” The fierceness of her tone would have been comic under almost any other circumstances. “Aunt Evelyn would have my ears if I let you leave here without checking you over.”
“Technically, she’s your sister.” As attempts to tease go, reminding Sarah that her adoptive parents—my grandparents—are also Mom’s adopted parents was a pretty lame one.
It still seemed to reassure her that I wasn’t intending to bleed to death. “Get moving,” she said, much less fiercely, and hung up the phone.
I snapped my phone shut, shoving it into my bag and straightening up. Dominic had managed to get the manhole cover back into position. He was standing half-bent, hands braced against his knees and his feet apart. He looked exhausted. I shared the sentiment.
“You okay?” I asked, walking over and putting a hand on his shoulder.
His head jerked up, expression reflecting a startlement that changed quickly to concern. “You’re bleeding,” he said, eyes going to the cut in my forehead.
“Superficial,” I repeated. Comforting a cryptid and a member of the Covenant in the same five minutes. Who says the age of miracles is over? “What about you?”
“Some minor bruises and abrasions, and a possible sprain to my left shoulder.” Dominic’s expression darkened. “We could have been killed down there. Do you still want to insist that we befriend the monsters?”
“Not all of them. Just the ones smart enough to be on Facebook.” There was a shininess I didn’t like to the fabric on the right sleeve of his duster. I reached out, brushing my fingers against it. They came away slick and slightly sticky. “Your blood, or someone else’s?”
“Both.” Dominic glanced at the manhole cover. “I gave as well as I got.”
“So much for minor abrasions.” I stepped back. “Sarah’s going to meet us at the hotel. She can give us a once-over before we head out of here.”
He raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I would ever allow a cryptid to examine my injuries?”
“Your total inability to take them to a New York emergency room without getting the third degree.” That wasn’t true—he could probably just claim to have been mugged, and since he didn’t have any bullet wounds, it wasn’t likely they’d report it to the police without his consent—but he didn’t need to know that.
Dominic sighed. “I cede the point. Any hostile actions, however…”
“Hey, after the Sleestaks, I’m jumpy too. Don’t worry. She’ll be careful.”
“That reminds me.”
“Of what?”
“What, exactly, is a ‘Sleestak’?”
I made it halfway through my explanation of Land of the Lost before we reached the Plaza Athénée. Sarah was waiting for us on the sidewalk outside, eyes wide and bleached from their normal glacial blue to an icy blue-white. Her telepathic shields were down, leaving her an open receptor for anything in range. It was dangerous as hell, and not something she did very often, but I had to admire the sense behind her actions. If any of the lizard-men had managed to follow us out of the sewers, she’d “hear” them before they could attack us.
“Hey, Sarah,” I said, offering her a wave with one grimy, blood-mottled hand.
Her relief was visible. A small measure of the color bled back into her eyes, like ink spreading through blotter paper. “I can’t leave you alone for five minutes without you finding something horrible to get into, can I? Come on, both of you. I’ve got everyone in the lobby primed to ignore us, but I can’t keep it up for long.”
“You’re the one that sent us off to find a dragon,” I pointed out, and followed her, waving for Dominic to do the same. Moving stiffly, he came.
Sarah was true to her word: although the lobby was full of people, none of them even glanced our way as we walked past them to the elevators. We were unkempt enough to have been a spectacle in a place as ritzy as the Plaza Athénée, even if we hadn’t been covered head to toe in a delightful blend of sewage, blood, and slime. Somebody should have called the cops as soon as we crossed the threshold.
Dominic observed the oblivious hotel occupants with a dark scowl, shoulders going stiff beneath his duster. I realized, sickly, that Sarah’s little Jedi mind trick probably wasn’t doing anything to convince him that she wasn’t a danger to the human race. It wasn’t like he’d be able to find her after we left—not without me guiding him—but still. I made a note to remind her to change hotels again sooner rather than later.
The elevator came and we boarded without incident. From penthouse to sewer and back again in a single afternoon … and the day was nowhere even close to over yet.
Sarah’s eyes returned to their normal shade of slightly-alien blue as soon as the elevator doors closed behind us. When we reached the penthouse, she went straight for the kitchen, saying, “I’ll get the first aid kit. You two figure out which of you is hurt worse, and just let me know where I’m starting.”
But he hadn’t. And judging by the quick, worried glance he cast my way before throwing all his weight onto the crowbar and forcing the manhole cover to move, he hadn’t been intending to. The screech of metal moving over blacktop would have been painful under normal circumstances. At the moment, it was music to my ears.
Telepathy gets harder the farther people are from each other. I was too tired to perform the internal gymnastics of trying to shout without using my mouth, and Sarah had to be as aware of my presence as I was of hers. Being a telepath means never needing to say “I’m lonely.” Digging my phone out of my purse, I leaned hard against the nearest lamppost and dialed her number.
She picked up before the first ring had time to finish. “How badly injured are you?” she demanded.
“I’ll probably never play the piano again, but my wounds are mostly superficial. I’m going to have some awesome bruises.” I could feel them forming across the back of my thighs where the lizard-man caught me with the rebar. “Not sure what Dominic’s status is. We were fighting pretty much blind.”
“Come back to the hotel. I’ll meet you in the lobby and walk you up to my room. Don’t argue!” The fierceness of her tone would have been comic under almost any other circumstances. “Aunt Evelyn would have my ears if I let you leave here without checking you over.”
“Technically, she’s your sister.” As attempts to tease go, reminding Sarah that her adoptive parents—my grandparents—are also Mom’s adopted parents was a pretty lame one.
It still seemed to reassure her that I wasn’t intending to bleed to death. “Get moving,” she said, much less fiercely, and hung up the phone.
I snapped my phone shut, shoving it into my bag and straightening up. Dominic had managed to get the manhole cover back into position. He was standing half-bent, hands braced against his knees and his feet apart. He looked exhausted. I shared the sentiment.
“You okay?” I asked, walking over and putting a hand on his shoulder.
His head jerked up, expression reflecting a startlement that changed quickly to concern. “You’re bleeding,” he said, eyes going to the cut in my forehead.
“Superficial,” I repeated. Comforting a cryptid and a member of the Covenant in the same five minutes. Who says the age of miracles is over? “What about you?”
“Some minor bruises and abrasions, and a possible sprain to my left shoulder.” Dominic’s expression darkened. “We could have been killed down there. Do you still want to insist that we befriend the monsters?”
“Not all of them. Just the ones smart enough to be on Facebook.” There was a shininess I didn’t like to the fabric on the right sleeve of his duster. I reached out, brushing my fingers against it. They came away slick and slightly sticky. “Your blood, or someone else’s?”
“Both.” Dominic glanced at the manhole cover. “I gave as well as I got.”
“So much for minor abrasions.” I stepped back. “Sarah’s going to meet us at the hotel. She can give us a once-over before we head out of here.”
He raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I would ever allow a cryptid to examine my injuries?”
“Your total inability to take them to a New York emergency room without getting the third degree.” That wasn’t true—he could probably just claim to have been mugged, and since he didn’t have any bullet wounds, it wasn’t likely they’d report it to the police without his consent—but he didn’t need to know that.
Dominic sighed. “I cede the point. Any hostile actions, however…”
“Hey, after the Sleestaks, I’m jumpy too. Don’t worry. She’ll be careful.”
“That reminds me.”
“Of what?”
“What, exactly, is a ‘Sleestak’?”
I made it halfway through my explanation of Land of the Lost before we reached the Plaza Athénée. Sarah was waiting for us on the sidewalk outside, eyes wide and bleached from their normal glacial blue to an icy blue-white. Her telepathic shields were down, leaving her an open receptor for anything in range. It was dangerous as hell, and not something she did very often, but I had to admire the sense behind her actions. If any of the lizard-men had managed to follow us out of the sewers, she’d “hear” them before they could attack us.
“Hey, Sarah,” I said, offering her a wave with one grimy, blood-mottled hand.
Her relief was visible. A small measure of the color bled back into her eyes, like ink spreading through blotter paper. “I can’t leave you alone for five minutes without you finding something horrible to get into, can I? Come on, both of you. I’ve got everyone in the lobby primed to ignore us, but I can’t keep it up for long.”
“You’re the one that sent us off to find a dragon,” I pointed out, and followed her, waving for Dominic to do the same. Moving stiffly, he came.
Sarah was true to her word: although the lobby was full of people, none of them even glanced our way as we walked past them to the elevators. We were unkempt enough to have been a spectacle in a place as ritzy as the Plaza Athénée, even if we hadn’t been covered head to toe in a delightful blend of sewage, blood, and slime. Somebody should have called the cops as soon as we crossed the threshold.
Dominic observed the oblivious hotel occupants with a dark scowl, shoulders going stiff beneath his duster. I realized, sickly, that Sarah’s little Jedi mind trick probably wasn’t doing anything to convince him that she wasn’t a danger to the human race. It wasn’t like he’d be able to find her after we left—not without me guiding him—but still. I made a note to remind her to change hotels again sooner rather than later.
The elevator came and we boarded without incident. From penthouse to sewer and back again in a single afternoon … and the day was nowhere even close to over yet.
Sarah’s eyes returned to their normal shade of slightly-alien blue as soon as the elevator doors closed behind us. When we reached the penthouse, she went straight for the kitchen, saying, “I’ll get the first aid kit. You two figure out which of you is hurt worse, and just let me know where I’m starting.”
