Shadow City Read Online Free PDF Page B

is inside the abyss. It is the city of shadows.”
    Max nodded as if that made sense. “OK. What are we going to do there?”
    “Exactly what you were made to do. We are going to Chadaré to hunt.”
    He smiled. The expression sent chills up Max’s back, and the Shadowblade inside her leaped instantly to a killing edge. Her mind flattened, and her senses sharpened as the predator took over. Her teeth bared in an animal snarl as her body tensed, ready to kill.

 
    A LEXANDER LEFT T YLER TO KEEP WATCH ON THE column of smoke, while he and Niko returned to the mountain fortress.
    Much of the surface of the main mountain had been melted from Xaphan’s battle fire and was frozen in a landscape of melted black ripples and bubbling pools. The trees were scorched for miles from the wildfires he had caused.
    Four weeks ago, he and Tutresiel had been sent by the Guardians to attack Horngate. Giselle had refused to serve in their war to destroy most of humanity and return magic to the world. To punish her, the Guardians had sent a rogue witch and the two angels to wipe out the coven. But then Max had tricked them. Using a magical hailstone, she had wished for the Guardians to forget all about Horngate, then had offered the angels a chance to join the covenstead and be free of their Guardian masters. Both had agreed—being owned by a witch was better than being owned by the deathless Guardians. Alton, the rogue witch, was imprisoned in the bowels of the mountain, still awaiting Giselle’s judgment.
    Since the attacks, Xaphan had been a great help. Giselle had been drained nearly to death, and the fire angel’s healing abilities had guaranteed her survival. Tutresiel, on the other hand . . . Alexander’s lip curled. That bastard could rot in hell for all he cared. He did not trust him in the slightest.
    “Whoa—what’s going on?” Niko asked as the power of Alexander’s Prime spiked and rolled off him in palpable waves.
    Alexander shook himself and pulled his Prime back down, grimacing at his lack of control. He was walking the fine edge between sanity and going feral. It would not take much to push him over the edge. He looked at his companion, one eyebrow quirking. “Are you sure you want me for a Prime? I may be more dangerous than not.”
    Niko shrugged. “It’s not like you’re going anywhere, so we have to deal with you one way or another. Besides, even without Magpie’s prophecy and Max wanting this, you suffer from the same terminal sense of responsibility she does. You’ll keep it together, if only because that’s your job. And oh, yeah, she’ll kill you if you don’t.” He grinned at Alexander and slapped him on the shoulder. “We have faith in you.”
    “That is comforting,” Alexander said dryly.
    “Remind me to send you a bill for the therapy. I’m not cheap, you know.”
    “Funny. Word is that you are both cheap and easy.” Alexander stiffened, his voice dropping. “Speaking of which . . .”
    They had come to the main entrance of the mountain fortress. Below, a quick-flowing river snaked through the valley. Across it were rows of greenhouses where a great deal of work had been going on in the last eight weeks. The Guardians’ war on humanity was turning the clock back to a fairy-tale time when magic ruled and there were no factories or tractors or grocery stores.
    In an effort to restore magic and magical creatures to the world, the Guardians had unleashed a torrent of wild magic and not-so-natural disasters, from hurricanes and tornadoes to earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes. The goal was to prune humanity back to nearly nothing so they could not crush out magic again. Already, most of California’s central valley had been turned into an enchanted forest, and chances were, every human caught up within had been transformed into some kind of creature or had been eaten by one. Enchanted forests were not safe places for anyone, least of all ordinary humans.
    There was little enough news about