Black Widow (Elemental Assassin Book 11) by Jennifer Estep

Author:Jennifer Estep [Estep, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2014-11-25T00:00:00+00:00

17

For once, my slumber was peaceful and free of the dreams and memories that so often plagued me.

But the noises woke me all too soon.

Footsteps slap-slap-slapped back and forth through the alley. Shouts and yells and steady beep-beep-beeps bounced off the brick walls. The rattle-rattle and scrape-scrape-scrape of cars and heavy machinery rumbled at a steady level on the surrounding streets.

I opened my eyes and had to squint against the growing glare of the early-morning sunlight as it slipped in between the buildings and streamed down into the Dumpster, highlighting all of the filth that I was cocooned in. I didn’t know what time it was, probably a little after seven, but the fire department was getting an early start dealing with what remained of the Pork Pit, just like the fire chief had promised Madeline. Then again, I imagined that she had paid him or perhaps someone else even higher up on the food chain more than enough to kick everyone into high gear this morning.

One by one, people started trickling into the alley. The Dumpster was high enough to hide me from sight, although I did have a few tense moments when some giants walked by. They were so tall that they could easily have peered over the side of the container, but they strolled on without even looking in my direction. But I remained as quiet and motionless as possible, not wanting to attract anyone’s eyes or ears with a stray movement or an unfortunate squish of garbage.

More and more snaps, bangs, and rattle-rattles sounded. Even though I burned with curiosity to see what was going on, I didn’t dare rise up and peak over the side of the Dumpster. That was a sure way to be spotted. I’d recovered some of my strength and magic, but I had no doubt that Madeline was still lurking around somewhere, along with a large contingent of cops, all of whom would be more than happy to shoot me on sight.

Eventually, I heard enough noises and snatches of conversation to realize that the firefighters were using a metal saw and some crowbars to cut through the locks on the back door of the building. The banging got louder and louder, until a loud, violent screech sounded, and everyone let out happy cheers of relief and accomplishment.

The door was open.

After that, more and more footsteps sounded, moving back and forth and all around my position in the Dumpster. I held my breath, but once again no one bothered to look inside the container.

Finally, a shout rang out from the back of the restaurant. “We’ve got a body in here!”

“No!” The sharp, thin scream immediately rose up. “No! It can’t be!”

My heart lurched as I recognized Bria’s voice. My baby sister was here, and she thought that the body was mine.

She thought that I was dead.

Of course she was here. She’d probably been here all night, along with Finn and Owen and the rest of our friends. They’d probably watched the flames

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