The Devil's Backbone (A Niki Slobodian Novel: Book Five) Read Online Free PDF Page B

could almost imagine the man he had once been. “I guess it’s hard to be mad at you when you’re hurting just as much as I did once. I forgive you, Niki. And maybe if I do this thing for you, you’ll trust me again. One day.”
    I studied his face. I couldn’t make out any emotions there. His expression was as stony as his skin.  
    “How do I know you’re not planning to just kill me while we’re in the Wastelands?” I said slowly.  
    Eli shrugged. “You don’t. Be ready at sunrise. Do everything that needs doing before then. I’ll meet you at the gates of the city.”  
    I watched him go, breezing through the thick double doors, his rough skin scraping on the stone walls as he went. After a moment, Ash appeared in the doorway.
    “What’s happened?” he said.
    I looked at him, taking longer to focus than it should have. I tried for a smile and failed.
    “I think I agreed to let my enemy lead me into the wilderness,” I said.
    He watched me, pushing a clawed hand across his hornless head. “Well I suppose you’d better get ready then,” he said finally.
    “I suppose I should,” I said. Ash turned to go. “Ash,” I said, “what do you know about the Devil’s Backbone?”
    “Only superstitious nonsense,” he said.“They say that it is haunted. They say there are voices calling through waves and waves of nothing. They say there are visions that disappear in a moment.”
    “Ghosts?” I said. “I can do ghosts.”
    “No, not ghosts,” said Ash. There was an odd haunted look in his eyes. “It’s more like things calling from…somewhere else.”
    “Other worlds?” I said, barely daring to breathe.
    “I suppose so,” he said, as if he’d never thought about it before. “Yes, perhaps. Like they’re trying to claw through the surface. It’s an evil place.”
    “You’ve been there before?”
    “As a very young man,” he said. “I did not last the night. I’ve never been what you might call brave. I’m better off indoors. Lucifer went there?”
    “Apparently,” I said.  
    “If anyone can bring him back from that forsaken place, it would be Death herself.”
    “I’ve got to find him, Ash. He has to be okay.”
    He nodded. “I know. You’re going to need help.”
    “Would you?” I said. “I have some errands to run.”
    “I will find the most loyal of Lucifer’s guards. They will protect you with their lives.”
    “I’m afraid that this is a trick,” I confessed. “If it is, I might have to kill Eli.”
    “That may be best in the long run,” he said.
    “I know,” I said. “But he used to be such a good man.”
    “You cannot think about the past in these matters. Where Lucifer is concerned, you have to do what it takes to bring him home.”
    “It doesn’t mean I have to like it,” I said.  
    “No,” he said. “It never has to mean that.”

CHAPTER FIVE

    Despite preparing myself, the pull of the souls was overwhelming when I touched down in the World. I tried not to scream as I staggered in the street, the dead trying to tear me apart from the inside. Sucking air through my teeth and clenching my jaw, I took a step toward my destination. One foot in front of the other, I made it to the door of Gage’s apartment and entered without knocking.
    He was sifting through a large, leather-bound book, glancing up when I came in. He looked right through me and shook his head, going back to his book. Remembering I had not made myself visible, I took a mental step into the World, and Gage cried out, startled.
    “Jesus, Niki. You scared the shit out of me. Don’t do that!”
    “Sorry,” I said, my voice strained. I pressed the palm of my hand over my sternum, as though that would keep the pull inside and not drag me away before I was ready. I gasped as the feeling intensified. It was growing stronger by the minute. Something was going on.
    “What is that, your Death invisibility superpower?” said Gage. He seemed to really see me for the first time, and his smile