City Of Ghosts by Kane Stacia - Downside Ghosts 03

Author:Kane, Stacia - Downside Ghosts 03 [Kane, Stacia - Downside Ghosts 03]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2011-01-14T19:14:11+00:00

Chapter Twenty-one

Remember you are known not simply by what you say, but by what you do. The Church requires Truth; your fellow man requires no less.

—The Church and You, a pamphlet by Elder Barrett

And what would happen in a world where the Church couldn’t defeat ghosts?

She surfaced from sleep to the kind of dull pewter light that told her it was either raining or about to. So much for the glorious early spring of the day before.

She didn’t pay attention, only noticed it, just as she didn’t pay attention to the vague memory of Lex throwing her tattered blanket over her before he left. Her thigh ached; her jaw ached where Vanhelm had hit her, but not as bad as she expected.

Not as bad as the pain in her mind and chest. If the Church couldn’t control ghosts, couldn’t Banish them, they’d lose everything. It would be Haunted Week all over again, only worse. Worse because there would truly be no hope, or worse because the Lamaru would step in, and the thought of a world where the Lamaru were in charge made her reach for her pills even faster than usual.

She stumbled to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. Her throat burned and ached from smoke inhalation; her entire body felt gummy and dirty, although part of that was because she hadn’t gotten those pills down yet.

And it was Thursday. She’d have to visit the City in two days. Ugh. Didn’t even want to think about that. Or about the look on Lex’s face when he’d realized she was ending their relationship, such as it was. Or about how she was going to have to visit the tunnels with him.

Or especially about whether she—of all people—would actually have the willpower to keep from falling back into his bed at some point, especially in the face of Terrible’s … He’d changed his number. And he’d done it recently; the last time she’d tried to call had been, what, ten days before? Nine?

Now the Lamaru posed a real threat. Psychopomp magic was the basis of the Church’s power, the reason they existed. They’d done something to Lauren’s ravens; who knew if any psychopomps were safe? Her paranoia the day before about the skull in her bag hadn’t been so far off the mark after all, and that was pretty fucking scary, wasn’t it?

No Church. No protection for humanity. No job for her—probably no life for her, because she had little doubt the Lamaru’s first act after taking over would be to kill every Church employee they could get their hands on. A world of darkness more complete than the one she lived in now.

And how had Maguinness gotten involved in all of this? He was fighting the Lamaru, great. But why hadn’t he come forward to the Church? Why had he gone to visit Madame Lupita, for that matter?

Shit. None of it appealed to her as a topic for contemplation, so she shoved a few pills down her throat and whiled away the time before they hit by playing with the tracker.

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