Noah's Boy-eARC Read Online Free PDF Page B

desperately trying to reach them. He and Kyrie owned a greasy spoon together, The George, on Fairfax. The fryer had probably exploded, killing their cook and splattering several employees and diners. The damage charges alone would put them out of business and—
    But his nightmarish scenario was interrupted by Kyrie, who’d picked up the phone and listened attentively for a few seconds, then covered the mouthpiece, and looked up—her eyes solemn. “It’s Rafiel,” she said, naming their best friend, one of Goldport’s finest. “He says there’s been a death at the amusement park.”
    “And?”
    “He thinks it’s a shifter. From the look of the things, wild shifter.”
    “Wild?”
    “You know, feral? One who has no clue he shouldn’t kill or eat humans.”
    Tom rubbed his hand down his face and groaned. In some ways a lawsuit and being put out of business was a less scary scenario.
    * * *
    “What does he mean by feral, I wonder” Tom said, as he got behind the wheel. They’d showered very fast and at the same time, which was a triumph of love over solid geometry, since the shower in the house they rented was maybe comfortable for one skinny person, and okay for two people if they were both very slim and close friends. Kyrie and Tom were, for those purposes, very good friends. But it was a trial to get out of the shower without wasting time in anything but showering.
    Now, they were in the car, their hair still wet, Kyrie giving directions from the text message that Rafiel had left her. “He couldn’t believe we don’t know where Riverside is,” she said.
    “He grew up here. And besides, I hear he has a life that includes days off and vacations,” Tom said, not resentfully. “He doesn’t work at a diner. But what does he mean, feral? Did he tell you?”
    “He thought there might be some impairment,” Kyrie said. “Some form of mental issue, in addition to the shifting.”
    “How would he know that?”
    “He said the witness thought the human form looked more…feral and desperate than the shifted form.”
    “Oh,” Tom said. As he headed towards the highway, he added, “Witness?”
    “Apparently. To both the animal and the shift to human. I didn’t ask, because Rafiel was in a flap, but that’s what I gathered.”
    “Joyous,” Tom said, and tried not to think too much about what that might mean. Sooner or later shifters would be outed, but perhaps they could avoid making it today? Or not. And asking Kyrie for more details would only cause her to worry more, which wasn’t fair. Her entire conversation with Rafiel had lasted maybe two minutes. She didn’t know any more.
    They’d have to wait till they got to the amusement park, and then they’d know.
    Tom resisted the impulse to close his eyes and pray, mostly because he couldn’t really drive with his eyes closed, but also because he’d never been very good at the praying thing. Once, in the worst possible circumstances, he was fairly sure his prayers had been answered. He didn’t have the nerve to bother whoever was up there again just now. It didn’t seem right. He should be able to deal with most things without bothering God about it.
    They left the highway in the least fashionable end of town and wound their way amid narrow streets with houses as small as theirs, but less well kept. Kids played in some yards, and sullen teenagers stood around street corners.
    The park was at the end of that neighborhood, where a larger street bordered it. There was a bodega, and then, with surprising suddenness, a six-foot-tall dilapidated white wall, in desperate need of a good paint job, with the letters Riverside Amusement Park, stencilled on it in reddish brown.
    At one end, a tower of vaguely oriental design presided over what was clearly an entrance, and a sign painted on splintered wood said PARKING LOT with an arrow pointing west.
    It was a parking lot, if you wanted to call it that, or really more a large expanse of sandy beaten dirt, hard