The Demon Road Trilogy: The Complete Collection: Demon Road; Desolation; American Monsters. Derek Landy
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went down, Amber on top. The knife clattered against a stone somewhere.
Beneath her, Ralphie’s eyes were wide and blinking. He was trying to suck in air through his open mouth. Amber was kneeling on him. No, not on him. In him. She stood, removing her knee from the hole in his chest. Trails of blood and ink and rotten insides stretched between them like lines of spittle. She could feel it soaking through her jeans.
She reverted to normal without meaning to, and the cold realisation of what she had done washed over her. Milo and Glen were at her side now. The blackness was rising through Ralphie’s skin, leaking from his pores. It weakened his flesh, turned it mushy. His arms and legs lost their form, like the bones themselves had dissolved. His ruined ribcage fell in on itself. A stench rose. Human waste and rotting meat. Then his face caved in. In another few moments, all that was left of Ralphie McGarry were his soaking, black-drenched clothes.
THEY GOT BACK TO The Dark Stair a little before noon. The place was empty apart from Abigail, who sat on the bar with her legs swinging. Amber hadn’t said anything on the ride over. She’d changed her jeans, though.
“It’s done,” said Milo.
“Never doubted you for a moment,” said Abigail. “Did you encounter any difficulties?”
Milo took a moment. “You tipped them off.”
Abigail’s big eyes widened. “Me?”
“You led us right into an ambush.”
She giggled. “You got me! You see right through me! I just thought, hey, wouldn’t it be funny if Ralphie and Ossie got the drop on Milo Sebastian and his pals?”
“I don’t remember giving you my name.”
“I don’t remember needing it.” Abigail smiled. “I’m a huge fan of your work. I hope this doesn’t mean we’re not friends, though. I think we could all be great friends. Don’t you?”
Milo didn’t say anything. He just turned, walked for the stairs. Glen hesitated, then bowed to Abigail and followed.
But Amber stayed where she was. “What was his last name?” she asked. “Ralphie’s?”
Abigail fixed her big blue eyes on her. “McGarry. Why? You like to know the name of your victims?”
Amber went cold. “He’s not my … I just needed to know …”
“Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it,” Abigail said happily. “Are we going to be friends, Amber? I do hope so. From everything I’ve heard, you don’t have many friends left.”
“What … what have you heard?”
“Oh, sweetie, I know it all. I know all about your mean, mean parents. I know they’re looking for you. I know they got halfway to Toledo, of all places, before they began to suspect that someone had lied to them. They’re not very popular in places like this, with people like us, but they do have people who owe them, and people who are scared of them. They’re coming for you, Amber.”
“Are you going to tell them I was here?”
“I won’t have to,” said Abigail sadly. “Someone else will. It’s inevitable. They’re already looking for your car. A black Dodge Charger. That’s a car that sticks in the memory.”
“Can you help me?”
Abigail’s smile was impish. “Help you how?”
“Could you … could you stop them for me?”
“You mean … kill them? You want me to kill your parents and their friends? But … but I’m just a little girl. What could I possibly do against big, bad monsters like that?”
“I don’t want to kill them, I don’t, I just … I want …”
“I’m not in the monster-stopping business, I’m afraid. But I will do you one favour. When they ask where you’ve gone, I’ll pretend I don’t know.”
Amber frowned. “But you don’t know.”
That smile again. “Oh, Amber, I know everything.”
Amber left The Dark Stair, found Milo and Glen waiting outside.
“She says my parents are back on our trail, and they know the car.”
Milo nodded. “To be expected. Come on, then. No more detours.”
“So,” Glen said, chewing his lip, “here is where we part ways, huh?”
Milo said, “Bye,” and walked to the Charger.
“Bye?” said Glen. “Bye? That’s all I get, after everything we’ve been through?”
“Yep,” said Milo.
Glen turned to Amber. “What if there is no bye? What if I didn’t have to go?”
“But you do,” said Amber. “You don’t have the Deathmark anymore. You can go home.”
“I don’t have a home,” said Glen. “My dad is dead. Everyone else despises me.”
“Then explore America.”
“I want to,” he said. “With you.”
“Glen …”
“Now just wait, Amber, okay? Yeah, there are times when we’ve butted heads, all three of us, but that’s what makes us a great team. We each contribute. You’re the brain. Milo’s the muscle. Me? I’m the heart.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Then I’m the soul.”
“You’re not the soul.”
He frowned. “Then what am I? I’ll be anything.”
“You can be the appendix,” said Milo.
“Then I’ll be the appendix!”
“The appendix is a completely useless part of the colon.”
“Whatever!” Glen cried. “I’ll be the nose! I’ll be the nose of this team! But I do contribute, you can’t deny that. I helped against Shanks, didn’t I?”
“Kind of,” said Amber. “But Milo and me, we have to continue on this road. You don’t. You can stop.”
“I don’t want to stop. I want to help. Please, Amber. I’ve never belonged anywhere before. Let me belong.”
She looked over his shoulder at Milo.
“Don’t look at him,” said Glen. “He’ll only shake his head. He’s probably shaking his head right now, isn’t he?”
She paused. “He’s not not shaking it.”
“I know you’re shaking your head, Milo!”
“I want you to know that,” Milo responded, sounding bored.
“Amber, please,” said Glen. “We have something, don’t we?”
“I’m sorry?”
“You and me. We have a connection. You feel it, too, I know you do. Especially … especially when you change. Especially when you get horny.”
“Do not call it that.”
“You can’t abandon me,” said Glen. “Ever think that maybe when we met it was meant to be? Fate has thrown us together, Amber. The universe has decided that we are to be a part of each other’s lives from this moment on.”
“But