Elysium Girls by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2020-04-14T00:00:00+00:00

In the cave he had slept in, Asa rolled over and yawned a too-wide, sharp-toothed yawn. His clothes were folded neatly with his hat and shoes and glasses on top of them. Taking the human part off, he expected to feel the way Atlas felt handing the sky to Hercules for a moment’s relief. He’d expected to feel sad, of course, taking off the illusion, but as he stretched his limbs in the light, he found that being just him felt strange too. Like his daemon form also wasn’t the real him.

He sighed. Though this human body wasn’t rightfully his, having it, being at home in it for so long had taken a toll on him. He had been changed, irreparably changed, and he knew it. Even if a miracle happened and he was allowed back into Her service, would he ever be the same? Would he ever be himself again? And what was he now? Daemon or human? Ugh, he wasn’t sure. But he was sure that he didn’t like the emotion that he was experiencing. It felt as though it was dragging him down, spreading from him like blood in water.

He thought of Sal, what she could be doing now. Sal had been nice to him. No, not nice. She had been kind to him, and she hadn’t had to be. He’d had a hand in burning the Sacrifice building too, after all. And what about their search for whatever it was out here that could save everything? The search that had led them toward the train, toward the girls. He couldn’t leave it all to Sal. He had to fix things too, not just hide out here in a cave, waiting.

Olivia’s face rose in his mind then, beautiful and dangerous. She could disarm his plan. But wasn’t his plan already disarmed? And what if he was able to disarm her, neutralize her Cardness with his own Cardness? Level the playing field?

The sound of human voices out in the ravine interrupted his thoughts.

He threw on his human form and human clothes and looked out through his cracked glasses.

It was the Laredo Boys, the same ones from before, ragged and tattered, their sunburned white skins painted with those disconcerting black designs. They reminded him of the designs the Picts had painted on themselves before they went to war a thousand years ago. The men had a dangerous coarseness to them, even worse now that he could watch them, their bodies slung with rifles, machetes, axes, clubs. They were far away, but even with his human ears, he could hear words like “metal,” and “trucks,” and “before they do.”

Asa could tell that whatever they were doing, they were up to no good. He started out of the cave after them, then thought better of it. He let his fingers extend into claws, let his back grow arched, let his eyes go daemonic. He tapped his teeth and they went back to the long black needles that they usually were.

If they catch me, he thought, they’re not going home without a nightmare.

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