The Pale Dreamer by Samantha Shannon

Author:Samantha Shannon
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781408884171
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2016-09-14T09:53:11+00:00

No Rest for the Damned

We hailed a cab to get us to West Street. My insides were racked by nerves on the journey back to our district, though I made sure to appear composed. The Pale Dreamer did not show fear. She was confident in her decisions. Her face was a mask.

Nick had said that this was my chance, but it was a chance I could so easily squander. I was trusting my gut, going on what I thought was most logical, but there were so many unknowns, so many mights. Anne and Metyard might not both consider the gully-hole the most important part of their story. The gully-hole might have been in the other Chick Lane. Hector might be one step ahead of us. He might know something we didn’t about Anne or Metyard. In short, I might be wrong about everything.

I felt ill at the thought of botching this. Nick could be putting too much trust in me.

When we got out of the cab, there was no sign of devastation. No hint that two enraged, three-hundred-year-old poltergeists had torn through the district.

‘Tell the others we’re here,’ Nick said. ‘I’ll wait.’

‘Do you know how we’re going to improvise our way to netting Metyard yet?’

‘I’m thinking.’

A dull sickness throbbed in the pit of my stomach. If I was wrong about this … I couldn’t imagine Jaxon’s anger. It would be the end of my career in unnaturalness. Yet again, I envisioned crawling back to my father, stifling my gift as best I could, and counting down the days until Scion apprehended me.

When I knocked on the door of the den, it was a wide-eyed Eliza who answered.

‘There you are.’ She pulled me into the hallway. ‘Where’s Nick?’

‘Outside. Might be an idea to get Jaxon out here.’

‘You chose West Street, then?’ When I nodded, she said, ‘I’ll get him. You stay with Nick. If all goes to plan, you make a spool and work with Nick to keep Metyard in one place – okay?’

Before I could respond, she was already rushing up the stairs, calling for Jaxon. I retraced my steps, letting the door swing shut behind me. I was halfway back to Nick when our quarry arrived.

I felt them in the æther. A creeping darkness, like a spill of crude oil on the surface of water.

They veered around the sundial pillar at the heart of Seven Dials. Anne, weaving and ducking wildly, racing towards me at breakneck speed – and the poltergeist in pursuit of her, Sarah Metyard. Both returning to the gully-hole. I was wary of Anne, knowing she was a poltergeist, but Metyard played havoc with my survival instinct. Her approach made me feel as if the sun had been swallowed.

I had been right.

They had taken me by surprise by coming so soon. I threw myself out of the rogue spirits’ path; my back slammed into a doorway. Metyard and Anne slashed past me, striking the side-mirror off a car, and careered around the corner into West Street. A man on the pavement let out a shout.

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