Read Dark Realm, The for Free Online Page B

hinge. “We should be safe - they usually don’t go much outside their territory.”
    “They?” She clasped her hands tightly to make them stop shaking, and concentrated on getting air back into her lungs.
    “The Jackals - local gang. Good thing they didn’t get a closer look at you, or we’d still be running. There’s a black-market demand for wrist chips, and they wouldn’t be gentle about taking it out. They have knives.”
    She pulled her wrist against her body. “That’s… horrible.” Would the gang really have taken a blade to her flesh and cut her chip out? She shuddered.
    “Welcome to the Exe.” There was a flash of sympathy in his eyes.
    “Nice place.”
    All told, she preferred the dark places in Feyland. Though with his real-life skills, she had no doubt Tam would be great in-game, too.
    “Ready to go?” he asked.
    She drew in a deep breath, let it out. Disappointment curled cold in her belly, but he’d made his point. She was in danger here, and it was better for both of them if she left. She’d have to find another way to see him play.
    “All right.”
    Steps dragging, she followed him down the street. At the next intersection, he paused. A low, liquid groaning sound, like something dying, floated down the street. Tam leaned close, his lips almost brushing her ear.
    “I’ll count on my fingers,” he whispered. “When I hit three, run straight across - right for that alley. Don’t look back.”
    The cold in her stomach moved up to her throat. She nodded.
    He listened a moment more, then held up his hand. One finger. Two. Three.
    They bolted across the street. She got a confused impression of figures clustered around an oil-can fire, and then they were in the alley. Tam put his hand on her back, silently urging her to keep going, though there didn’t seem to be any outcry behind them.
    What a fool she’d been, to follow him into the Exe. Good thing he’d figured out she was there, or she’d be in severe trouble. But now she was completely lost. Tam had doubled back so many times she had no idea which direction the school was. She just had to trust him, and keep following.
    Finally, he stopped. “Here we are.”
    Jennet blinked. This wasn’t Crestview High - they were still in the Exe. Cautious hope unfolded inside her. “Here?”
    “Yeah. Home sweet home.”
    Tam tilted his head to the flat-roofed building in front of them. It looked like an abandoned mechanic shop, with rickety exterior stairs going up the side. On the roof was a smaller box - a little apartment maybe, repaired with old boards and pieces of salvaged metal. At least there were windows, though a blue tarp covered most of the roof.
    Jennet blinked. “This is where you live? I thought you didn’t want me to—”
    “I didn’t have much choice. The Jackals were between us and school.” Unhappiness edged his voice. He turned to her, his mouth grim. “Do not say a word about my place. Ok? Nothing.”
    She nodded, swallowing back the questions crowding the tip of her tongue. The fact that he’d brought her here at all - that was key. She tried not to glance up at the shack on the roof. It looked like it could fall down in the next big storm.
    Ignoring the stairs, he led her around the building and unlocked a big metal door in back. It scraped open across the concrete floor with a low groan. Inside, the single huge room was dim and cold, light straggling in through high, grease-filmed windows. It smelled like old machines.
    “I’ve got an hour til the Bug gets home,” he said.
    “The Bug?”
    “My kid brother.”
    “All right. I’ll call my dad’s driver and—”
    “No.” He frowned, clearly uncomfortable with the idea of a grav-car skimming up to his front door. “The Jackals will have gone to ground by then. I’ll take you back to school and you can get picked up there.”
    Without waiting for her agreement, he moved to the far wall and waved his hand in front of the light plate. It took three tries