Darkening Dawn (The Lockman Chronicles Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page A

never accept the one about her dad. Wertz was talking out of his ass on that one.
    “I get it,” she said while she stared at her boots—the fairy hadn’t even taken those off. What a gent indeed. “You’re pissed. What else is new these days?”
    She heard a long breath slid out Wertz’s nostrils. “We’re not having this conversation here. Return the fairy and let’s go.”
    Jessie’s gut clenched. Wow, did this feel familiar. “He didn’t do anything wrong.”
    “I don’t care. He’s a liability now. That’s on you. Besides, from the looks of this place, you’ll be doing him a favor.”
    Jessie looked up at Wertz. Amazing how smug a man the same size as a ventriloquist dummy could act. “I’m not your puppet,” she said, and nearly added that he could pass as one, though. “I’m the Return. I decide who stays and who goes.”
    Wertz quirked up one eyebrow. “Really? Because according to prophecy, we’re all supposed to go eventually. The Agency is simply helping prioritize.”
    “Make me barf.” She rolled her eyes. “Can we go now so you can tell all about how much of a disappointment I am to you?” She held up a hand before Wertz could respond. “Oh, wait. I’m a legal adult now. I don’t have to obey you anymore.”
    The lines at the corners of Wertz’s eyes deepened, as did the ones around his mouth. He looked tired and old. Shaking his head, he said, “Your age is just a number, Jess. You’ve been forced to grow up fast. You’ve been an adult for a while now.”
    “Except you continue to treat me like a kid.”
    “No. I try to keep you focused. You are the Chosen One. You can’t shirk that, no matter how much you want to.”
    Jessie waved a hand as if trying to clear the air of a wicked stink—one worse than the apartment’s original rank smell. “We’ve talked this in circles. You obviously have no idea where I’m coming from. If you won’t listen, I’m not wasting my breath.”
    Wertz set his jaw. “Fine.” He nodded at one of the agents.
    The agent turned his aim back to the unconscious fairy on the floor.
    Jessie scrambled back to her feet. The few hits of adrenaline she’d gotten since Wertz’s team stormed the apartment had managed to numb her headache somewhat. But a dry taste, like chalk dust, coated the inside of her mouth. “What are you doing?”
    “Like I said, he’s a liability. If you won’t Return him, I have to make him disappear.”
    Cornered again. But this was different than the unicorn in a huge way. The fairy was still alive. She had no reason not to Return him. For all she knew, he’d be all for it if he could speak for himself at the moment. The real reason she didn’t want to do it was because Wertz had ordered her to. God damn but she was tired of taking orders.
    How long would she have to go on like this? Until she had sent back every supernatural on the planet? Seriously?
    Impossible.
    She’d go insane first.
    But that’s what the prophecy said, and to hell with what she wanted.
    “Whatever, dude.” She crouched down next to the fairy. He had a name, damn it. He had told her it last night, but the alcoholic haze kept it from her. She stroked his rosy cheek, watched the rise and fall of his flat chest. “Thanks for not being a creepazoid. Hope it’s nice wherever you’re going.”
    Then she sent him on his way to fairyland.

Chapter Seven
    E LKA DREAMED ABOUT HER FATHER again.
    The blood.
    The ravaged flesh.
    The firecracker smell thick in the air from gunfire.
    And the girl’s face. The one who stared right at Elka. The one Elka had been sure had seen her, or sensed her somehow through the glamour. The face of the girl who took everyone from Elka, not even leaving behind her father’s corpse for her to mourn over.
    Next came the girl, standing over her father, hands outstretched over his beautiful white form marred by spatters of red and the puckered holes oozing more of it. The sparks of blue light. The electric tingle in the