Chase the Dark Read Online Free PDF

me. At all. Got it?”
    Lyre watched her silently, his stare intent and oddly calculating. He glanced at Ash, who shrugged and tilted his head in a way that made Piper instantly suspicious. It looked too much like an “I’ll tell you later” tilt. Were Ash’s secret-digging skills that good?
    A sudden crash shook the whole house. She jumped, grabbing the wall as the floor rumbled. Lyre staggered backward and Ash dropped into a half crouch, Zwi clinging to his shoulder. Dust sifted down as everything went still and silent.
    “What . . . was that?” Piper whispered.
    Lyre slowly crouched, matching Ash’s ready stance. “That was an explosion,” he growled.
    “Magic?” she demanded in a hiss.
    “Think so.”
    “It has a haemon signature,” Ash said, his voice clinical. “Not daemon.”
    She snapped straight. Her father?
    Ash flowed to his full height, his movements shifting into something sleeker, more predatory, as he moved across the living room toward the stairs. Zwi slid from his shoulder and darted down the hall ahead of him.
    “Wait!” Piper cried.
    Ash glanced back at her. His normally gray eyes were dark, almost black.
    She swallowed hard. “You’re not allowed downstairs,” she whispered. “I can’t let you go down. He said no exceptions.” Panic twisted in her stomach. Something had gone wrong with the meeting. Really wrong.
    “You plan to wait here, doing nothing?” Ash asked flatly. “What if your father is hurt?”
    She clenched her hands to hide their tremble. “No exceptions,” she repeated, choking the words out. Responsibility. It hung on her like the weight of chains. If she let the two daemons downstairs when she’d been told explicitly to keep them upstairs, her father would never overlook it. He expected her to make sure they stayed put no matter what.
    Ash looked at her for a moment more, then turned and started toward the stairs again.
    “Ash!” He didn’t even hesitate. “I said stop,” she yelled, her voice high with panic. If he went downstairs, she would lose her apprenticeship for sure. She launched after him.
    “Hold up!” Lyre grabbed her arm.
    She spun, contorting her arm until she had his wrist in her grip. A yank, a twist, a shove, and Lyre went down with a yelp, his arm bent painfully behind his back. She sprang off him and charged for Ash, who hadn’t so much as paused when his friend fell.
    The daemon turned as she reached him and her roundhouse kick slammed into his open hands. He stepped back with the force of her kick, pulling her off balance. Hopping and flailing, she bared her teeth. Flinging her arms out to create more momentum, she flipped her whole body, her other foot leaving the floor as she rolled in the air, breaking his grip on her foot. She landed hard on her stomach and kicked out with the other foot, slamming her boot into Ash’s unprotected ankle. His foot went out from under him but he pivoted on the other with impossible grace, recovering with barely a bobble.
    “You’re not allowed down there,” she yelled. Oh God, she was attacking a draconian. She was so dead. She flung out her foot again anyway, trying to hook his ankle and pull him off his feet. He kicked back and her foot hit his heel with a jarring impact.
    “Stop it!” Lyre jumped right over Piper and slammed into Ash, shoving the other daemon into the wall. “Hurt her and you’ll never set foot in a Consulate again, you idiot.”
    Ash snarled, the animal sound deep and menacing. Piper blanched but Lyre’s face hardened with grim determination. “Cool it, Ash.”
    Slowly, Ash relaxed. He cast a menacing look at Piper, still on the floor, before crossing his arms over his bare chest. Lyre let out a long breath and stepped back. He looked at Piper but she jumped up before he could offer her a hand. Tugging her clothes straight, she glowered and hoped neither of them noticed how much she was shaking.
    “Just—wait here. For two seconds. Okay?” With a warning look at