Page 80 of Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World
That got my attention. “It can stop an Abomination?”
“That’s what the Conclave believes.”
I paused. “Then why aren’t they here, using it?”
There was silence at the other end of the line. “Because they don’t know it’s in New York,” he finally said. “I ‘borrowed’ it from our archives before I came here.”
“Seriously? Why?”
“I thought I might have to use it if things went sideways. But thatdoesn’t matter now. I got word less than an hour ago from one of our prophets who’s foreseen that Dark Enterprises is going to try something big. If she’s right, maybe you can get this weapon to your bosses. They’re going to need all the help they can get.”
Suspicion slowly crept over me. “You want to hand a Conclave weapon to Dark Enterprises. Your mortal enemy.”
“If it helps end an existential threat to the entire world, then yes, I’ll hand it over.” His voice softened a little. “I don’t trust them, Colin, but I do trust you.”
Before I could reply, there was a loud noise from the street below. Hurrying to the window, I peered outside. A car had driven up onto the sidewalk opposite and wrapped its front fender around a streetlamp. Steam escaped from beneath the crumpled hood as a tall, cadaverous figure straightened from the passenger window, both hands pushing a pair of kicking legs into the roiling shadows of its face. The rear door on the driver’s side swung open and a young boy stumbled out, face twisted with fear and pain as blood trickled from a cut on his forehead. Without thinking, I pressed my free hand against the window, silently urging the boy to run. It was too late, though. The-One-Who-Hungers flickered and jumped to the boy, then plucked him from the ground with ease, devouring him in a heartbeat.
Numb, I stared down at the Abomination as it straightened its suit jacket and rotated slowly in the air to face me. Lifting one hand, it gave me a jaunty wave before vanishing again.
Backing away from the window, I made a snap decision. “Fine,” I said to Eric. “Meet us outside Dark Enterprises in forty-five minutes.” Then I hung up.
Lex and Amira were standing at the window when I returned to the living room. “A car crashed outside,” Amira told me. “There aren’t any people, though.”
That made me pause. “You didn’t see what happened to them?”
Bemused, she shook her head.
The-One-Who-Hungers had arranged that little show just for me. My stomach writhed. “We need to leave. Right now.”
“And go where?” Lex asked.
“Dark Enterprises is the safest place in the city, at least for the moment.”
Moving closer to me, Lex lowered their voice. “Dude, you saw the email. They’ve closed the building. If they find us in there—”
“The-One-Who-Hungers was right outside,” I interrupted softly. “Itwavedat me.” Lex blinked at that, but I pushed ahead before they could speak. “You need to translate that tablet, right? That means using the Repository. I say we sneak in and find someplace to hunker down. If we’re careful, no one will know we’re there.”
Lex looked skeptical, but it was Amira who said from next to the window, “If you know somewhere safe, let’s go right now.”
Outvoted, Lex raised both hands in surrender, after which Amira and I quickly gathered a few essentials.It’s like a sleepover, I told myself as I dropped my toothbrush into a plastic baggie.A desperate, unauthorized sleepover at the end of the world. How fun.
Before we left the apartment, possibly for the last time, I returned to my bedroom and opened the desk drawer. There, blankly innocuous, sat the business card that had doomed us all. An idea came to me, and before I could question it, I grabbed the card and stuffed it into my pocket. I also took the seal that had once bound The-One-Who-Hungers, its surface stained with blood. Then I hurried after my friends, ready to save the world or die trying.
Twenty-Nine
The sun was low inthe sky when we piled into Lex’s crappy car and sputtered off down the block. Shouts and screams rose in the distance as we turned south onto Broadway, both sides of the street lined with broken glass and looted storefronts. Occasionally, a face appeared at a window overhead, watching us drive past. We managed to avoid patrolling military convoys and rampaging mobs alike on our way into Midtown, and it wasn’t long before we were cruising past Carnegie Hall on Seventh Avenue. “The company parking garage is probably locked down along with everything else,” Lex said as we neared 54th Street, “but there’s no way I’m leaving Charlie out in the open.”
“Who’s Charlie?” I asked, looking around as if I’d find another person sharing the back seat with me.
Lex stared at me through the rearview mirror. “The car, obviously.”
“Oh. Right. Obviously.”
It took some doing, but Lex eventually found an abandonedunderground garage where they could park their beloved Charlie. Then we had to backtrack a couple of blocks to Dark Enterprises. The skies over Midtown were sinking into shadow as we neared the building, and I almost didn’t see Eric when he stepped out of the narrow alley next to the Starbucks across the street. My steps slowed. Everything about him, from the way he stood to his leather jacket, was achingly familiar.
“Who’s this guy?” Lex muttered.
“Why is Eric here?” Amira asked at the same moment.
