Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
That much she did know.
“Remember, I can’t get inside. I’ve had no access to Third Floor since Walter joined forces with King Louis. I won’t be able to protect you.”
“I won’t need protection,” Kierse said. “I can handle myself.”
Graves leveled her with a look. “It’s a monster market, and the currency is humans. You may not be human, but they don’t know that. Weapons are only going to get you so far.”
“All right. I hear you.”
“So, if we can get you safely inside, the next important step will be to get the lay of the land without being noticed. Then you can start looking for another exit from Third Floor.”
“This is the part that I’m good at,” she assured him. “I know how to play this.”
He looked dubious but acquiesced. They set out on foot, taking the back entrance out of the property through the garage tunnel that deposited them a few blocks southwest on Amsterdam. They trekked down to the 72nd Street subway entrance and took the stairs two at a time. A subway troll snoozed in a chair at the bottom. Kierse was thankful that she didn’t have to deal with him today.
“Monsters,” Graves muttered with disdain as if he weren’t one himself.
They bypassed the troll and headed toward the turnstiles. Graves touched the reader with his bare hand and then gestured for her to go ahead.
She listened for the satisfying click as she passed through. “How’d you do that?”
“Magic,” he said casually.
“I didn’t think you took the subway.”
“I don’t.” He started off across the dingy platform. “This way.”
“Where are we going, exactly?”
“Times Square.”
She blinked at him. “Really?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
Times Square was one of the last places that she wanted to be in the city. The once glamorous locale had been demolished in the first wave of the Monster War. A major battle between two factions had rendered it useless. There was a push to restore it to its former glory, but monsters had claimed the area and it was a slow progress. She hadn’t been there in at least a year. Avoiding it was high on her priority list.
Still, she was safer with Graves than she had ever been alone. So, she followed him onto the 3 train that rattled noisily into view. For the time of day, it shouldn’t have been busy, but it was New York, so . . . it was swamped. Graves wrapped one hand around a pole at the center of the car. She placed hers under his and braced herself as the train rolled south toward Times Square.
“What’s in Times Square? Besides chaos.”
Graves’s mercurial eyes flicked around the crowded subway. A group of nymphs lounged on top of one another in the seat across from them. A haggard array of humans took up many of the other seats. She noticed a goblin against the far wall. No one here with advanced hearing, but it hardly mattered anyway.
She could sense the noise distortion as Graves flicked his hand, using his powers in public, and no one was the wiser for it. No one even looked up. The subway-goers were too concerned with themselves to think that magic was happening just around them.
“An entrance into Third Floor.”
“There’s one in Times Square?”
“Under,” he corrected. “This is the most direct route underground. It takes us to a checkpoint that bottlenecks into the underworld.”
Kierse shivered with excitement, that wrong smile returning to her face. Graves could only shake his head.
“Little thief,” he murmured.
The train rolled to a screeching halt at the Times Square—42nd Street station. The nymphs burst from their seats in a riot of color. Kierse followed them out of the train and headed toward the exit. Graves directed her out of the flow and toward the S platform. She had no intention of complaining that they weren’t headed through the frothing madness up above.
When they reached the S platform, Graves waited for the train to appear and all the other passengers to enter. Once the platform was entirely empty and all that lay before them was silence, Graves hopped onto the tracks.
He held his hands up as if he meant to catch her. “Come on.”
“I’m no damsel, Graves.”
She landed easily on her feet, crouched like a cat on the tracks. She rose to her full height, arching an eyebrow at him.
“Right,” was all he said with a ghost of a smile. “This way.”
Then he set off into the darkened gloom of the subway tunnel.
She jogged to catch up. “What if a train comes?”
“The shuttle shouldn’t swing through here for another five minutes. We have time.”
“Lovely.”
Kierse kept looking down at the time on her cell phone. Five minutes wasn’t that much time. Already four minutes had passed since the last shuttle. Things weren’t always on schedule—in fact, they hadn’t been on schedule before monsters—but she didn’t want to bet on it.