Shutter (Courtney Alameda) by Courtney Alameda

Author:Courtney Alameda [Alameda, Courtney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781250073884
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Published: 2015-02-03T00:00:00+00:00

SATURDAY, 3:48 A.M.

JUDE CAUGHT UP TO us as we jogged back to the Humvees.

“That was wicked,” he said, one arm skinned, face flushed, eyes sparking. Adrenaline did that to boy brains. “You guys okay?”

“Never better,” Ryder said, his grin fierce. He spoke too quickly—my world twirled around me, the streetlights kaleidoscopic. I told myself it was shock, but I wasn’t about to assign it a cause, not with the horrors I’d seen, not with the entity still at large, not with the massive download of adrenaline still running my body.

Not with Ryder’s kiss still stinging my lips.

If Jude sensed anything between Ryder and me, he didn’t let on. I examined him as he fell into step with us, waiting for a derisive remark, a raised eyebrow, a short laugh—Jude read faces as easy as he read the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle. Perhaps the shift in territory between Ryder and me wasn’t printed on my skin, even if I felt like it burned me up and dyed my cheeks scarlet. Maybe it wasn’t even visible in Ryder’s closeness, or the way our arms brushed as we walked.

Alarms wailed from the museum. Dust fell down in sheets, turning the air to sandpaper and my saliva to mud. I pulled my shirt over my nose and mouth. Bits and pieces of necro gore twitched on the ground, and I winced when I spotted a dismembered scorpion stinger atop a dumpster.

I scanned the PacBell’s windows for ghostlight and saw none. Where the ghost would take refuge now, I couldn’t know; and the thought of daring the Ouija planchette and map again made my arm ache. Could we risk going in a second time, since we had the ghost’s location?

My comm buzzed. “Move it, guys. Police are already on their way,” Oliver said.

Scratch that idea. Getting caught by the police would just land me back in my bedroom on Angel Island, walking on Dad’s mosaic of broken cameras.

“Glad to hear you’re alive, too, Einstein,” Jude said.

“Save your sentiments for later,” Oliver said. “I tipped off dispatch, so our people are on their way as well. We need to get out of here.”

Ryder shoved our parachute into the back of Jude’s truck. “Where are we headed?”

“St. Ignatius?” I said. “I think we need to talk to Father Marlowe.”

“I don’t trust the guy,” Jude said. “Why go have tea and crumpets with him?”

“Because Marlowe was the first responder at St. Mary’s, and maybe he’ll tell us something we weren’t able to pick up from the crime scene.” I didn’t want to concede a man I trusted like a father could hurt me, but my bruised cheek made anything seem possible. “And if Marlowe is responsible for the attack on St. Mary’s, you’ll know, won’t you?”

Jude hesitated, weighing the cost of what I was asking him to do. “Yeah, okay, I’ll try to get a read on him.”

In the distance, a siren roared. We revved engines and ran.

Ryder and I rode in silence. I didn’t know what to say.

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