Iced
Page 86
When were you in Christians bed, Ryodan says softly.
I gape. Dude, you got a serious case of selective hearing, the kind that bleeps out all the important stuff! Who cares when I was in his stupid bed? How the feck did you kill Velvet? You been holding out on me! You need to learn to share your weapons!
When.
Theres something in the way he utters that single word that makes me shiver, and Im hard to rattle. So, I didnt change in a convenience store! So, shoot me! I need my sword. What are you going to do to get it back?
Ive never seen Ryodans face go so smooth. Its like it got iced blank of all expression. Ive never heard him talk so soft and silky either. Take her back to Chesters and lock her down. Ill get the sword.
Shadow looks grim. Like my own personal grim reaper. Not.
I slip a hand in my pocket. Pull the pin on a grenade. Start counting because I got to time it just right. Im not getting locked down anywhere. No more cages for Dani Mega OMalley. A split second before it goes off, I lob the bomb to the pavement in front of them. It detonates with the brilliant, Shade-killing flash of light Dancer rigged up for me. My ass, you will.
I freeze-frame out of there with everything Ive got.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Cause Im one step closer to the edge and Im about to break
I think I set a personal best.
I had a lot of incentive. The look on Ryodans face was like nothing Ive ever seen. Worse than when I killed all those Fae in Chesters and he locked me in his dungeon. Way worse.
While Im freeze-framing, I think about how hes been screwing up my life since the sec he stepped foot on my water tower and told me he had a job for me. I think I got him figured out. I think the reason hes so pissy about both Christian and Dancer is because hes worried Ill get a superhero boyfriend who will kick his ass from one end of Dublin to the other and tear up that nasty little contract he made me sign. He doesnt want any other dudes too close to me because it would interfere with his ability to use me for his own purposes. Christians a physical competitor. Dancer could brainiac him dead.
He doesnt get that Im not interested in a superhero boyfriend.
Im going to be the superhero that can kick his ass from one end of Dublin to the other.
Oh, sweet fecking day, I sigh raptly around a mouthful of chocolate, anticipating it. Peanuts and chocolate get stuck in my throat and I almost cant swallow. I been eating too many candy bars lately because Im on the go so much and its all I got handy. Im having a major salt craving. Sometimes when I eat too much sugar I start obsessing about my moms corned beef and cabbage with her fresh rosemary bread and potatoes and chives andHoly Ashleagh Falls, my mouth is watering!
I whiz into a grocery store. Empty. I head north three blocks to Paddys Stopn Go. Empty. I dash ten blocks south to Porters. Also completely cleaned out. What I wouldnt give for a bag of chips! Useless for an energy punch but a hopping St. Pattys Day Parade on the tongue! Im practically drooling Im so hungry for something besides chocolate. A can of beans. Crimeny, even tuna would cheer me up!
I get over it. Wasted energy. There is no other food right now, and one thing I learned in a cage is you either pretend you have what you want or you dont think about it. And if you pretend, make it real, milk it for every nuance, every succulent taste, scent, touch. I dont have time for that kind of indulgence right now. I got a crazy Unseelie prince gunning for me with my own sword. I got a nutty nightclub owner out there who thinks he has a point to make with me and wants to lock me up to do it. I got a bloodthirsty exbest friend whos after my ass. I got an Ice Monster killing all kinds of innocents.
I can deal with the first three. Dublin needs to know about the last one!
I got several places in the city I can print a daily. It wont take Ryodan long to find them all, so I know I dont have much time. If I can print off even just a thousand and get them up, word will spread fast. Then Ill get down to the business of figuring out how to get my sword back from Christian.
I head for the old Bartlett Building on the south side of the river Liffey, whizzing over HaPenny Bridge, freeze-framing parallel to the water. Stars are twinkling on it, ice crystals on a silver slide. Its all kissed with the new lavender-metallic shade the Fae brought with them.
A few seconds later I blast in through double doors, dump my backpack on a table, and fire up the presses, blowing on my hands to warm them. I set up my little miniprinter and hook up my phone to print out the photos I been taking all day. My hands are clumsy with cold. I think the Iceman is starting to screw up our weather or something. Usually in May we run a low of forty, high of sixty. And I run hotter because, well, I run everywhere. But I been cold all day. Feels like no more than twenty-five or thirty outside right now. I wish this place had a fireplace like Mac has at Barrons Books & Baubles. I been avoiding that part of town for weeks. Cant stand the thought of seeing her coming and going, knowing Im dead to her. Knowing Ill never step foot inside BB&B again and laugh with her, feel like I fit somewhere. I wish I had a place like Mac has at Barrons Books & Baubles.
Wishes. Horses. Fecking waste of time. I was alone a lot as a kid, and at night sometimes there was nothing on TV and the silence would get ten times as big as our house. I used to talk to myself to fill it up. I was scintillating, too, always up on the latest news and stuff because I was stuck in a cage watching it all the time. Maybe thats where I got my love of broadcasting it. I had so much to say and nobody to say it to. Now I got the whole city! I keep up a running monologue as I work on my rag, mostly venting my irritation with current circumstances.
I gape. Dude, you got a serious case of selective hearing, the kind that bleeps out all the important stuff! Who cares when I was in his stupid bed? How the feck did you kill Velvet? You been holding out on me! You need to learn to share your weapons!
When.
Theres something in the way he utters that single word that makes me shiver, and Im hard to rattle. So, I didnt change in a convenience store! So, shoot me! I need my sword. What are you going to do to get it back?
Ive never seen Ryodans face go so smooth. Its like it got iced blank of all expression. Ive never heard him talk so soft and silky either. Take her back to Chesters and lock her down. Ill get the sword.
Shadow looks grim. Like my own personal grim reaper. Not.
I slip a hand in my pocket. Pull the pin on a grenade. Start counting because I got to time it just right. Im not getting locked down anywhere. No more cages for Dani Mega OMalley. A split second before it goes off, I lob the bomb to the pavement in front of them. It detonates with the brilliant, Shade-killing flash of light Dancer rigged up for me. My ass, you will.
I freeze-frame out of there with everything Ive got.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Cause Im one step closer to the edge and Im about to break
I think I set a personal best.
I had a lot of incentive. The look on Ryodans face was like nothing Ive ever seen. Worse than when I killed all those Fae in Chesters and he locked me in his dungeon. Way worse.
While Im freeze-framing, I think about how hes been screwing up my life since the sec he stepped foot on my water tower and told me he had a job for me. I think I got him figured out. I think the reason hes so pissy about both Christian and Dancer is because hes worried Ill get a superhero boyfriend who will kick his ass from one end of Dublin to the other and tear up that nasty little contract he made me sign. He doesnt want any other dudes too close to me because it would interfere with his ability to use me for his own purposes. Christians a physical competitor. Dancer could brainiac him dead.
He doesnt get that Im not interested in a superhero boyfriend.
Im going to be the superhero that can kick his ass from one end of Dublin to the other.
Oh, sweet fecking day, I sigh raptly around a mouthful of chocolate, anticipating it. Peanuts and chocolate get stuck in my throat and I almost cant swallow. I been eating too many candy bars lately because Im on the go so much and its all I got handy. Im having a major salt craving. Sometimes when I eat too much sugar I start obsessing about my moms corned beef and cabbage with her fresh rosemary bread and potatoes and chives andHoly Ashleagh Falls, my mouth is watering!
I whiz into a grocery store. Empty. I head north three blocks to Paddys Stopn Go. Empty. I dash ten blocks south to Porters. Also completely cleaned out. What I wouldnt give for a bag of chips! Useless for an energy punch but a hopping St. Pattys Day Parade on the tongue! Im practically drooling Im so hungry for something besides chocolate. A can of beans. Crimeny, even tuna would cheer me up!
I get over it. Wasted energy. There is no other food right now, and one thing I learned in a cage is you either pretend you have what you want or you dont think about it. And if you pretend, make it real, milk it for every nuance, every succulent taste, scent, touch. I dont have time for that kind of indulgence right now. I got a crazy Unseelie prince gunning for me with my own sword. I got a nutty nightclub owner out there who thinks he has a point to make with me and wants to lock me up to do it. I got a bloodthirsty exbest friend whos after my ass. I got an Ice Monster killing all kinds of innocents.
I can deal with the first three. Dublin needs to know about the last one!
I got several places in the city I can print a daily. It wont take Ryodan long to find them all, so I know I dont have much time. If I can print off even just a thousand and get them up, word will spread fast. Then Ill get down to the business of figuring out how to get my sword back from Christian.
I head for the old Bartlett Building on the south side of the river Liffey, whizzing over HaPenny Bridge, freeze-framing parallel to the water. Stars are twinkling on it, ice crystals on a silver slide. Its all kissed with the new lavender-metallic shade the Fae brought with them.
A few seconds later I blast in through double doors, dump my backpack on a table, and fire up the presses, blowing on my hands to warm them. I set up my little miniprinter and hook up my phone to print out the photos I been taking all day. My hands are clumsy with cold. I think the Iceman is starting to screw up our weather or something. Usually in May we run a low of forty, high of sixty. And I run hotter because, well, I run everywhere. But I been cold all day. Feels like no more than twenty-five or thirty outside right now. I wish this place had a fireplace like Mac has at Barrons Books & Baubles. I been avoiding that part of town for weeks. Cant stand the thought of seeing her coming and going, knowing Im dead to her. Knowing Ill never step foot inside BB&B again and laugh with her, feel like I fit somewhere. I wish I had a place like Mac has at Barrons Books & Baubles.
Wishes. Horses. Fecking waste of time. I was alone a lot as a kid, and at night sometimes there was nothing on TV and the silence would get ten times as big as our house. I used to talk to myself to fill it up. I was scintillating, too, always up on the latest news and stuff because I was stuck in a cage watching it all the time. Maybe thats where I got my love of broadcasting it. I had so much to say and nobody to say it to. Now I got the whole city! I keep up a running monologue as I work on my rag, mostly venting my irritation with current circumstances.
