The Soul Stealer: A Monster Slaying Urban Fantasy Adventure (The Geomancer's Apprentice Series Book 5) by Yin Leong

Author:Yin Leong [Leong, Yin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kampung Kreepy Books
Published: 2024-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Junie was yanked from sleep when her phone buzzed. Damn. She groped for the device and brought it close to her eyes so she could see who was calling. It was Noah.

“Guess who’s outside your stairwell again?” he asked.

Her heart swelled with relief. Hu was back! An added bonus was she hadn’t had any bad dreams.

She dressed quickly and flew out of the office and down the stairs. Noah waited outside the stairwell, the guardian in his arms.

“Hu!” she scolded. “Where have you been? I was so worried.”

Noah smiled. “I fed him, but he didn’t eat as much as he usually does. He drank a lot of water, though.”

“Thank you. He’s been gone for two days. I really was worried.” She averted her eyes from Noah’s face before he caught her staring.

Hu looked tired. She scooped him out of Noah’s arms and rubbed her cheek against his soft fur.

Noah’s smile vanished. “Junie, is that a black eye? Did someone hit you?” His voice was level, but she knew him well enough to recognize that he was furious.

She raised her hand to her face, to the spot where she was elbowed by the man in black. Most of the bruise had faded, but there was still some yellowing around her eye. Her sharp-eyed former boyfriend had spotted the trace of color.

“I, um, walked into a door,” she told him. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

That was lame, but it was the best she could come up with on short notice. She was startled when he grasped her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “You would tell me if someone was hurting you, right?”

“No one’s hurting me.” Which, technically, was a lie. The masked man had hurt her, but she gave as good as she got.

Noah must have caught something in her expression. “Even if you don’t feel comfortable telling me, you’d tell Joe, right? Or your family?”

“Noah, I’m fine,” she insisted. What had gotten into him? “Honestly, everything’s okay. Thank you for taking care of Hu.” She shrugged off his hands and turned back to the stairwell.

She glanced over her shoulder before she shut the door. Noah hadn’t moved. His fists were clenched, his lips a grim, thin line. She was glad he still cared enough to be concerned about her bruised face. His anger, however, was weird. It seemed an overreaction given her explanation that it was an accident.

The guardian moved in her arms and she turned her attention to him. “Where have you been?” she scolded. “You’re supposed to be recuperating, not wandering all over the city.”

He wriggled again. His eyes glowed with triumph. Junie, I found it. I found the thing you fought.

She stopped short. “What? Where is he?”

Near here, Hu told her. I can bring you to the place.

Her throat tightened at the thought of the masked man lurking close by. Had he been in the vicinity all this time, perhaps spying on her and Joe? She shivered despite the warmth of the stairwell. Her fear pressed in on her, cold and suffocating.

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