dark faerie 06 - ever dead Read Online Free PDF Page B

given a six month probationary period to prove herself. By the end of those six months, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Luci was now a permanent fixture in the department.
    Hank thought through all of this as he lay in bed. He hadn’t slept well, and since it was a Saturday, he let himself rest for a few extra minutes. He was slightly stoved up from the fall yesterday, and the knot on the back of his head still throbbed, although not as bad as the day before.
    Suddenly, Luci was staring at him from the edge of the bed, her leash in her mouth. He always started their Saturdays with a run first thing, stopping at a park along the trail to put in some essential Frisbee throwing for Luci’s benefit.
    How she always knew when it was Saturday never ceased to amaze him.
    “Ok, ok, I’m up,” Hank mumbled as he threw off the sheets. Slipping on some shorts and a tee-shirt, he made his way toward the front door to find his shoes.
    The plague of people turning to ash had kept him from sleeping most of the night. It was the strangest thing that he had ever encountered; in fact, it was the strangest thing he ever heard of!
    He would have to wait until Monday of course to talk to Dr. Jacoby to see if the second ‘victim’ was also one of the other people, but he was fairly certain what the doctor would tell him.
    Unfortunately, knowing that they were different didn’t help him, not as much as knowing where they came from would.
    Or who was killing them!
    Hank sighed inwardly as he slipped on a shoe and started tying the laces. However, he had come up with a couple of thoughts during the night. He convinced himself that the green stone was surely responsible for him seeing the two men on the deserted street yesterday. And yet, when he tried it once again last night, it hadn’t affected him at all, neither he nor Luci.
    This fact had led him to the theory that maybe it only worked when it was close to one of the others. Maybe they gave off some kind of energy, and maybe that would somehow activate the stone.
    Hank shook his head, it sounded a lot crazier in the light of day.
    Slipping on his second shoe, he thought about the test that he’d decided to try later today. He and Luci would head back down to the riverfront, and he would once again don the stone. If his theory was correct, he should be able to discover something down there, where the activity seemed to be the greatest.
    He even devised a plan so that maybe Luci could be included in the test, sort of a test within a test.
    As he finally stood, he snapped the leash to Luci’s collar and grabbed the Frisbee. Remembering something else he had to do while he was out, he grabbed his debit card and pocketed it in his shorts. He would need to buy a few things at the hardware store to help test Luci’s inclusion when he donned the stone later today. If everything worked out like he planned, she would then be included when the magic happened.
    He giggled a little while he opened the door and led Luci outside, the ridiculousness of the word tickling him.
    Magic.
     
     
     

Chapter 8
     
     
     
     
    Four hours later, Hank and Luci were set up for the test. Finding an old abandoned factory building, they had made their way up to the second floor and were now overlooking the streets below from a large window.
    From this vantage point, they could see all four corners of an intersection. He figured that this would be the best bet to see someone if they were moving around.
    Hank then started to prepare for Luci’s test…as well as his own. Going on the assumption that the others let off some kind of energy that activated the stone, he bought some copper wire and some electrician pliers at the hardware store.
    Conscious of Luci’s comfort, he took a long time putting wraps of the wire around her collar, making it a conductor. Next, he painstakingly wove some more wire through her leash. Tying the end of the wire tightly to the clasp of the leash, he then also tied the