Lies Ripped Open Read Online Free PDF

shutters. Closing the shutters is a slow, loud process, and one that was liable to gain the attention of their captors very quickly.
    The ceiling space actually ran for another few hundred feet, but that would have taken me opposite the hostages and I didn’t want one of them to react to seeing me drop down, and give the whole thing away. Besides, I doubted the ceiling was built to support a person, and I didn’t want it to give way while I was directly above them.
    A year ago I’d been taught a rune that overrode magic- blocking security systems, allowing me to use my magic for a certain length of time. As a void was basically a walking, talking version of those systems, it made sense to think that it might work. But it didn’t. I’d used some dust on my hand in the crawl spaces to try and get it to work, but it had no effect. Apparently the rune only worked to bypass nonorganic security systems, something that it would have been nice to know about before I’d needed it.
    Fortunately, it appeared that while this particular void was strong enough to project a field that encompassed several dozen feet, he wasn’t strong enough to pick out individual targets. That explained why the elemental didn’t just throw fire at me. If the void wasn’t skilled enough to pick out one target, he’d have to blanket the whole area, including his allies, which meant no fire ability for the elemental. That made me feel a little better, but not much, because at the end of the day they had guns. And griffins couldn’t be killed, or even seriously hurt, by magic. My renewed optimism about my situation was rapidly dampening.
    My magic returned after I managed to get myself a few feet away from my attackers. I used my air magic to project a thin cushion between the ceiling and me so I didn’t accidentally put my arm through the thin tiles. The art of stealth does not normally include falling through ceilings and making shitloads of noise.
    After looking around the stationery shop I found myself in, I discovered that I had a choice of truly dangerous weapons, such as felt-tips and Post-it notes. The pen might be mightier than the sword, but it’s probably not going to end well for you if you bring one to a gunfight.
    I had to get the three of them to separate. If I could nullify the void, I figured the elemental would be an easier target, with or without his weapons. The griffin, well, that was a whole different level of trouble. One I could hopefully leave for last.
    The trick was figuring out what would split them up. Fortunately , a little bit of luck shone down on me when I heard the sound of footsteps coming my way. There was no way to quietly get back into the ceiling, so instead I crouched down behind a shelf of journals and notebooks, peering through the small slats in the shelving unit to see who was approaching.
    It didn’t take long before the elemental stepped into the mouth of the shop, gave the store a quick scan, and stepped back out again. “I’ve got this one,” he shouted to his allies, and then walked cautiously into the store.
    The shop itself was made up of several displays toward the front, along with a till and some glass cabinets to show off the more expensive objects. About a quarter of the way into the store, it changed into shelves stocked with all manner of writing aids and stationery. There were three paths he could take, the center one took him right past me, but he decided to pick the left-hand one, and quickly checked behind the till before making his way down the shop.
    He didn’t speak while he worked, his concentration was total. I created a small ball of air in my hand, and was immediately grateful I could still access my magic, although I wasn’t going to count on it staying that way.
    I crouched behind the shelves three rows back, giving me an excellent view of his approach. He’d be unable to see me until he reached my row. But on the downside, it gave the adrenaline longer to build up. I took