Owl and the City of Angels Read Online Free PDF Page B

at the bone protruding from his face.
    The Roman Pharaonic cult hadn’t bothered removing the organs.
    He fell back into the shallow water, still batting at the bone. As he floated out, I heard the first high-pitched squeak. Rats, apparently flooding out of thin air and shadows, began swimming towards his body as it drifted towards the deep end.
    Hunh, apparently humans aren’t the only species who like a little revenge.
    And time to get the hell out of here.
    I made sure the gold Medusa head was still safely taped to my stomach, then rechecked the grappling hook to be sure it wasn’t going to come loose and clock me in the face. Once that was done, I shimmied up the rope and climbed the hell out.
    No one had come looking for us. The chamber was empty.
    I glanced back down the hole. Caracalla wasn’t going to be getting up anytime soon, and I could always send someone else in for Mike as soon as I reached the stairs . . .
    I started for the main hall and stopped. Damn it, why can’t I ever be the bad guy? Because then I’d be just like them, that’s why . . .
    I looped the rope through my hook and used a pillar as a lever to pull Mike out.
    “That was amazing—” Mike called up when I started to pull on the rope I’d secured around his waist earlier.
    Fantastic, he was conscious. Blood streamed from his nose as I helped him over the ledge, but his eyes were wide, almost manic.
    “I can’t believe you took out a mummy with a stick—”
    Bone, actually, and one of Caracalla’s victims at that. And I’d really been hoping on Mike being unconscious for that part. “Yeah—well—adrenaline does wondrous things.” I reached into my backpack, wrapped my hand around the bottle of chloroform I kept for emergencies, and dunked it over the sleeve of my shirt. I hesitated, but only for a moment. I did not need Mike conscious so he could tell people how I took out a mummy single-handedly. For one, it was against IAA rules to engage supernaturals. Granted, there are no protocols for when they try to eat you—IAA mediated or not—but they still get in a bunch about breaking rules to save your own neck. More importantly though I was ready to blow this popsicle stand.
    When I went to knock Mike out though, he grabbed my wrist. “ That wasn’t from the IAA handbook,” he said. “You’re not a grad student, you’re the Owl.”
    You know, it’s always when they’re safe and sound that they remember I’m the bad guy. Why is that?
    Well, at least I didn’t feel bad about what I was about to do anymore. “You know what, Mike? After trying to trade me to the mummy, you should have quit while you were ahead.” I elbowed him in his broken nose—no such thing as fair in a street brawl—and rammed my chloroform-soaked sleeve in his face.
    His eyes went wide, but he passed out before he could make a half-assed attempt at swiping my arm away.
    “Sleep tight,” I said. And by that I meant he should have horrible nightmares filled with supernatural monsters for the rest of his archaeology career . . .
    I ditched my one remaining boot and slipped on my runners, which were, miraculously, still dry in my bag. I weighed the pros of losing the jacket too but decided not to waste the time.
    I thought about calling Rynn, but he’d only yell at me about Egypt some more, so I sent him a text instead. Ditched mummy . Running for border . He’d get the message. I called Nadya next. And yes, my phones are now heavy duty and waterproof. Another one of Rynn’s changes as part of Mr. Kurosawa’s security . . . God, I hated his new job . . .
    “Alix?”
    “I’m still in the catacombs. Mike tried to play supercop—don’t worry, I knocked him out, but he made me when I shoved a chewed-off bone through Caracalla’s eye socket. I’m leaving now—I’ll tell them there was a cave-in and bolt for the hostel,” I said, as I jogged down the narrow passage towards the spiral stairs. All I had to do was run to the guys