Demon Derby Read Online Free PDF

make an official statement, okay?” the cop said. “But for now, I’ll drive you to the hospital. Unless you’re happy with Elvis here?”
    I looked over at Dylan. “I just need some Band-Aids, right?”
    “You should go to the hospital,” Kyle said. He threw his hands up when I shot him a glare. “Hey, I know I’m overprotective sometimes, but this is common sense. Remember when I burned myself on those fireworks and my hand got infected?”
    I did. It had been too gross to forget. To this day, the word “pus” made me shudder.
    “Could you do anything for them, Dylan?” I pleaded. “They’re just little burns.”
    “I don’t know if you’d be comfortable.…” Dylan shifted awkwardly. “I mean, you’d need to take off your shirt.”
    “Just give me something to cover up with.”
    “I’ll grab you a blanket.” He dashed out of the room.
    “See, Casey? I told you,” Rachel said. “He’s not such a jerk after all, is he?”
    I nodded. “Yeah. He’s been very nice.”
    A police officer with a long blond braid entered the house and walked over to us. Long hair could be used as a handholdin a fight; even before the radiation, I’d always kept mine short. Although it didn’t seem to have done much good. I’d just gotten my butt kicked, and I was bald.
    “Find anything?” the first cop asked.
    “Just this.” The blonde opened her hand.
    My lucky necklace sat coiled in her palm.
    I remembered the day Rachel had given it to me. I’d developed stage-four graft-versus-host disease after my marrow transplant, and even my eternally optimistic doctor had had to admit my survival chances were pretty slim. It got so bad that my parents even called in a priest to perform the Anointing of the Sick, and Rachel brought the little silver katana pendant for him to bless. He’d balked at blessing a sword, even if it was miniaturized, but she could be awfully persuasive. I could remember listening through a narcotic haze as the priest prayed over me. All three of my IV trees kept beeping because the alarms on the damned things were so sensitive. It sounded like the priest was being censored, and even though the situation wasn’t funny at all, I kept biting back hysterical laughter.
    When Rachel gave me the katana, though, I almost cried. I still remembered how it spun and glittered in the glare of the hospital fluorescents. I think that necklace might have saved my life because it helped me remember I was a fighter.
    “Recognize it?” the ponytailed cop asked.
    I blinked myself back to the present. The guy in the alley. The necklace had saved me twice now.
    “Yeah, that’s Casey’s.” Rachel held out a hand for it.
    “The chain’s broken. You’ll need to get a new one.”
    “I’ll take care of it.” My sister stuffed the necklace down her bodice because her costume didn’t have pockets. She and Kyle exchanged a look that was all too familiar. I was about to be coddled again, and I wasn’t entirely sure I didn’t deserve it. “Are we done now? I’d like to get her home so she can rest. She’s been sick.”
    The officers exchanged glances and nodded.
    “Great,” she continued. “I’m going to go light a fire under Dylan’s ass. Kyle, can you run to our house and get my car? You sit here and rest, Casey. We’ll get you fixed up and I’ll take you home. You’re safe now.”
    She put a cool hand on my forehead.
Safe
. I touched the burn holes on my shirt again and tried like crazy to believe it.

“How’d it go?” Rachel asked from her seat in the dingy police station waiting room the next morning. It smelled like old socks marinated in air freshener, and she had her sleeve pulled up over her nose to block out the reek.
    I shrugged.
    “You know, Casey?” She shook her head in mock exasperation. “Sometimes I wish you’d just shut up. You talk too much.”
    “Har har.” I pushed the door open, the abrasions on my legs pulling and stinging with each stride. My muscles had tightened