Jeremy Chikalto and the Demon Trace (Book III of The Hazy Souls) Read Online Free PDF Page A

were standing in a back room, watching news on the TV.
    "Got it. I hate the way sneakers look on me,
though."
    Jeremy lifted up a pair of zebra-striped
high-tops. "These look like you."
    Maren smiled but then noticed that an old
man in the back was staring at her. She was horrified to realize
that more people were staring. "I don't actually need shoes."
    "You do. And you will get shoes."
    Maren backed towards the store exit.
    Jeremy sighed and grabbed a pair of gray
high tops. A single, purple paw print was sewn onto the side of
each shoe. "These are you. Size, Maren?"
    "I don't need it."
    "Size," he repeated louder, more stern. When
she didn't respond, he walked over to her, yanked her shoe off and
located the size. She hobbled uncomfortably on one foot. Jeremy
walked irritably to the counter and paid for the shoes. The clerk
was distracted. As he turned to walk out of the store, a man
grabbed his wrist.
    "Hey idioto!" shouted the man, black hair
curling out from under his bandana. "You good? Comprende?" he
called back to Maren.
    "Yes, good." Maren's voice was a little more
singsongy than she'd meant.
    Jeremy squinted viciously at the man and
jerked his arm back. "You've no idea what we've been through."
    "Has visto las noticias? News?" The man
jabbed a finger to the TV. The customers in the store seemed to
swell in size and stature.
    "Yes, I get it, something bad happened,"
shouted Jeremy. "I'm sorry you feel the need to take it out on me."
He backed out of the store.
    "Adios,” said the shopkeeper. “Go home to
families! Adios!” he repeated. He waved everyone out of his store.
“La tienda esta cerrada!"
    Maren ushered Jeremy towards her. "Gracias."
She grabbed Jeremy's hand. "Let's just go." She led Jeremy quickly
down an alley.
    "Smart, Maren," said Jeremy. "People are
acting all weird and you want to go down a shady alley."
    "Do you hear yourself, Jeremy?" Maren
crossed her arms and leaned against the brick wall of the store.
"They are no threat to you."
    "But — "
    "Something's going on and we have to find
out what. Come." Maren took his hand and led Jeremy through to the
other side of the alley. The clouds were dispersing, and the sun
shone brightly in the sky. The street was swarming with talking
people now, and the fear was audible.
    Then there was a great rumble, and the
ground began to shake violently, knocking the crowd to the ground.
Glass was shattering all over the place, and people were screaming.
A building down the street crashed down. And then it was still.
    Jeremy and Maren hopped to their feet, and
people around them began to moan. There was blood and glass shards
on the ground. A siren pierced the air, blaring from a speaker in
the shopping district, and Jeremy and Maren covered their ears.
Then another building collapsed down the street, and someone fired
a gun. The shot seemed to freeze everyone for a time, and then the
stampede began. Men and women screamed and fled in every direction.
Jeremy and Maren ducked into a nearby art gallery and rushed into
the back. “I just need a second to think!” began Jeremy. An old man
with dark skin and white whiskers hobbled over to them from behind
huge canvasses. He massaged the beads of his rosary and spoke to
them in a thick accent. "But of that day and hour no one knows, no,
not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." He had sad,
bloodshot eyes. “All the good ones are gone now. Gone!”

Chapter 5
    The Violence of Each
Wave
     
     
    Maren gasped. "The missing people on the
news."
    "The Rapture?" asked Jeremy.
    The old man nodded and limped into a side
room behind a curtain. The lights in the store flickered and then
went out.
    Jeremy looked down at the blue aura
emanating from his hands.
    An aftershock jolted the floor, and the
screams outside peaked. Jeremy and Maren walked through the artwork
over to the cracked windows, and a few men ran past them into the
store, grabbing as many canvasses as they could and running
out.
    “Revelations talks