Dying Light Read Online Free PDF Page A

so different
if you were here?” I ask.
    Her nostrils flare. “You won’t get
pushed out of a burning building, for starters.”
    “ Jesse would never do
anything to hurt me.”
    “ She pushed you out of a
40 th floor window!”
    “ 34 th ,” I correct her. “And she shielded me from the fall. You saw
that part too, right?” Though I’m not sure how it looks on
tape.
    “ Her shield collapsed the
second she died. What if she’d died on the way down? What if she’d
had a heart attack or was shot? Your brains would be all over
Wacker Drive.”
    “ That didn’t
happen.”
    “ It could have.” Her eyes are wide,
fearful. “I don’t like how easily she’s willing to take your life
in her hands. I really don’t like how willing you are to let her.”
    My anger blooms red behind my eyes. “I
trust her.”
    She swallows whatever she
plans to say next. What could she say that wouldn’t make me
mad? I don’t trust her. She’s reckless.
She endangers you and I won’t have it. No.
Nikki is too smart to walk into that trap.
    “ You’re okay,” she says
and crushes me against her, kissing along my jawline. “That’s all
that matters.”
    She’s warm and soft. My mind goes
fuzzy around the edges and my limbs grow heavy. I fold into her,
and try to relax. And while my body is thrilled she’s returned, my
mind won’t sit still. I want her to explain why Jeremiah has such
an interest in Jesse and why he seems invested in her actions. If
anyone would know his motivations, it would be Nikki. But I don’t
press her for answers.
    I have my own secrets after all, so it
makes it difficult, given how much Nikki has grown on
me.
    Nikki doesn’t know about Brinkley’s
journals. I’ve read them through twice now. While it answered a lot
of questions I had about Caldwell, it left me with more concerns
than ever. Maisie, for example. Does Caldwell really have a second
daughter? If he does, she’d have to be sixteen now—if she’s alive.
Brinkley didn’t seem to think so, but I’m not so sure. Caldwell
might want to kill Jesse for her gifts, but if Maisie isn’t partis
too, she may not be a threat. How would Jesse react to the news of
a second younger sibling?
    Her thirteen year old brother is safe
with his aunt and uncle in Illinois, growing up on a farm far away
from all of this. But Maisie, if she’s alive, must be in the thick
of it. I suppose Caldwell could use his mind tricks to hide
her.
    I haven’t shared any of this
information with Jeremiah or Nikki. I haven’t told them about
Gabriel or the fact that Jesse believes he is the source of her
powers either.
    She’s kissing me on the neck again and
an alarm sounds somewhere in the building. The snail-shaped
intercom in Nikki’s ear blinks to life, casting blue light across
her cheek. She groans. “Just one night off. Is that too much to
ask?”
    She presses the button on her ear.
“Tamsin here.”
    Her brow furrows.
    “ Yes, why?” she asks the
person on the other end. Her eyebrows shoot up.
“Understood.”
    I come up on my elbows. “What’s
happening?”
    “ Jesse’s having a meltdown
on the roof.”
    I throw back the covers and yank on my
shoes. My coat is on the back of the chair until I tug it
on.
    Nikki catches up to me at
the elevator and we ride up to the 65 th floor. Everyone must be up
there already.
    32, 33, 34.
    “ Something happened.” I’m
certain of it.
    “ She needs to get better
control of her emotions,” Nikki says, checking the guns on either
side of her hips. I shoot her a withering look, and she immediately
takes her hands off her metal. “I’m just saying, she has a lot of
firepower. She has to be more careful.”
    54, 55, 56.
    “ She doesn’t lose control
without a reason. She’s reactive.” I don’t take my eyes off the
ascending elevator numbers, willing them to go faster. “Something
must’ve happened.”
    65.
    The doors slide open, and all I can
see is black Kevlar. Bodies covered in full armor block