Read Black London 05 - Soul Trade for Free Online

again. Jack didn’t remember what had happened with the Morrigan, or so he claimed, and Pete figured it was best for allif it stayed that way.
    She felt the train grind to a halt, and her eyes popped open. Jack was snoring beside her, but when she turned back to the window nothing but green greeted her. The trees stretched away on either side, moss covered and ancient. She’d never seen trees like this, so gnarled and close in.
    Pete waited for a moment for an announcement from the conductor, but none came. Thetube lights in the ceiling of the car hummed, and she fidgeted until a flash of movement caught her eye.
    The raven landed on the closest branch, impossibly large and stony-eyed. It tilted its head this way and that, and then it leaned toward her.
    “ You should go home, Weir, ” it croaked.
    Pete started, but she didn’t react otherwise. “Oh, really,” she said. “And why is that?”
    The raven hoppeda bit closer, the moss-covered branch bending dangerously under its weight. “ You know this isn’t going to end well. You are not a meddler, Weir. Leave the mages to their schemes and the gods to their plans.”
    “I’m not,” Pete agreed. “And for that reason, I don’t appreciate the Hag sticking her nose in my business.”
    “ The crow woman shares your sentiment,” said the raven. “ This is no place foryou, Weir. Your presence will only make matters worse. Destruction walks in your wake, and you should stay away … for Jack’s sake as well as yours.”
    “That’s all very menacing and portentous,” Pete said, faking. “But I’ve got a better idea—how about you fuck off, and I’ll get on with my day?” Bravado was the only thing that worked on things like the Morrigan’s messengers. It was that or scream,and she would never give the Hag the satisfaction.
    The raven shifted, head tilting to the side. “ You are not afraid of us.”
    Pete snorted. “You think you’re the first old god to visit me in my dreams? I am the Weir. It’s practically commonplace.”
    She’d never get used to the dreams. Weirs had the power to dream the truth, which also made them a handy conduit for any entity that wanted to speakits piece to the daylight world.
    “ The warning remains, ” the raven said. “ The Morrigan will not be denied. She is death, she is—”
    “She is eternal,” Pete said. “Second verse, same as the first. Here’s a tip—if you want me to pay attention to anything that raggedy old crow has to say, tell her to change her fucking record.”
    The raven twitched, and then abruptly it took flight, a black shadow flickingacross the sun, gone in the blink of an eye. Pete exhaled. Fucking gods and monsters were all the same, thinking they could just tune in on you any time they liked.
    The train window, rimed with a thin layer of raindrops, cracked in a spider web pattern directly in front of Pete’s face, with a force that pasted her back in her seat. This time, when Pete looked, it wasn’t a raven staring back ather, but the glowing gold eyes of the Morrigan herself. Her face was pale, chased with black veins, and her hair was feathery and black, flying around her head as wind and rain lashed the train car.
    Pete felt the vibration of the Black down to her bones as the Morrigan manifested herself, placing one taloned hand against the glass, leaving deep furrows as they screeched across the cracks she’dmade.
    Jack can’t deny me, she hissed. What makes you think you can?
    “I helped you,” Pete said. She was quivering, and there was no hiding it, but she wasn’t going to start having a fit. “I helped you put Nergal down. And you got what you wanted—you left your mark on Jack.”
    What I wanted was my birthright, the Morrigan screeched. Lightning split the nearest tree, and Pete was momentarily blinded.When she could see again the Morrigan was inside the train car, standing before her. Her dress was a tattered shroud, stained with the blood of a hundred dead, and black