ARC: Crushed Read Online Free PDF

us to class and curtailing Jo’s waiting lecture, but apparently it’s feeling rather dull this morning, and slow. The road passes too quickly while time crawls too slowly. It’s not quite dawn when we reach the Templar community and Crusader home base.
    After the demons destroyed the last Templar community in their attempt to kidnap me, the Templars relocated to the mountains of West Virginia. It’s a little valley as far away from everywhere as they could manage while still being able to procure electricity and wide enough roads to bring in the trailers.
    Yes, I said trailers. The Crusaders take their vows of poverty seriously, or at least this branch does. Just my luck to get the Harley-riding, trailer-living clan.
    Jo and I stash our bikes under their tarps and re-hide the keys before starting the trek back toward our valley. Hidden escape vehicles, along with the rings of sentries we have to sneak past, are just a few of the new measures the Crusaders implemented after the demon attack in March. The improved security of the new school is something I appreciate most of the time, seeing as the whole host of hell wants me dead, but it does make it tricky to sneak out for a midnight snack.
    The school is housed in a hastily renovated timber mill, an enormous building made of crumbling brick that climbs up the mountainside from the river in a set of stair-steps. The mill was built about a hundred (million) years ago and has been abandoned for at least half that time, so is not quite up to snuff – what with the giant holes in the rotten floor, the crumbling brick, partially collapsed roof, etc. But when your kids train their whole lives to fight demons and have super-healing capabilities, minor things like collapsing buildings are ignored – extra-curricular survival training, really. Eventually the school will be moved into the new, highly fortified stronghold the Crusaders are constructing in the center of the valley, but, as yet, it’s only partially completed.
    Jo’s and my rooms are with the seniors on the top and most decrepit floor of the old mill, at the very end to isolate me somewhat from the other students. I reach the side of our building, and start scaling it. The crumbling brick is both helpful for providing and handholds, and not so helpful, for obvious reasons.
    I’m about ten feet up when I realize Jo doesn’t follow. I twist and look down. She waves me on and points around the side of the building, where there’s a door.
    Ah. Not such a big deal if the Crusader kid is caught out of bed in the early morning. But the half-demon? Clearly up to no good.
    Our windows are barred, pointless really, given the Swiss-cheese nature of the rest of the building, but they were here before us. I climb past my room and heave myself up to the shingled roof. Then I creep along to a busted eave and slip into an attic Jo, Chi and I claimed as ours back when we actually hung out. Then there’s only the trick of tiptoeing between rotten boards, then skipping down the steps to my room.
    I pause outside Jo’s room, but don’t hear any movement.
    Sweet. If it takes her too long to make it back, there’ll be no time for a lecture. I hum a little as I sweep into my room – then stutter to a stop.
    “Took you long enough.”
    Crap. Damn those Crusaders, and their refusal to let us put locks on our doors. “Darkness cannot live where the light shines,” I was told, which is a self-righteous way to say they don’t trust us.
    My happy hum turns to a groan. My buzz has long abandoned me to face her alone. The door knob is still in my hand and I’m tempted just to slip right back out.
    “Don’t even think about it,” she threatens, shoving to her feet.
    I hide my wince by turning towards the door as I close it, then give her an affronted face that says “I would never!” before creeping over to drop into my plastic desk chair. I brace myself for the coming lecture. I don’t have to wait long. The three hour drive