Read Iced: A Dani O'Malley Novel (Fever Series) for Free Online Page A

strains of some kind of music or conversation,24/7. At least some kind of white noise. This level is still as death.
    Third thing is how dark it is.
    Ryodan is waiting for me outside the elevator.
    “Can you actually see out there?” Does he have another superpower on me? I see good in the dark, but not in pitch-black.
    He nods.
    I hate Ryodan. “Well, I can’t. So, turn on some fecking lights. Besides, Shades much?”
    “They don’t bother me.”
    The Shades don’t bother him. Shades eat everything. They don’t discriminate. “Bully for you. They bother me. Lights. Pronto.”
    “The lights aren’t working down here.”
    Before I can dig one out, he removes a flashlight from his pocket and hands it to me. Coolest one I ever seen, shaped like a bullet. It’s tiny, sleek, silver, and when I turn it on lights up the hallway beyond the elevator like the sun came out.
    “Dude,” I say reverently, “you got the best toys.”
    “Off the elevator, kid. We’ve got work to do.”
    I follow him, my breath frosting the air.
    I used to think there were only six levels in Chester’s. Now I know there are at least twenty; I counted on the way down. The level we’re on holds three very different subclubs. I glimpse things through the open doors of clubs that no fourteen-year-old should see. But then, that’s been the story of my life.
    The cold is getting worse the farther down the hall we go, as we make for a pair of tall doors. It slices through my long coat, cutting into my skin. I shiver and my teeth start to chatter.
    Ryodan glances at me. “How cold can you get before you die.”
    Blunt and to the point. That’s Ryodan for you. “Dunno. I’ll tell you when I think I’m pushing it.”
    “But colder than most humans.”
    As usual with him, it’s not a question, but I nod anyway. I can take more of everything than most humans.
    Still, by the time we stop outside the pair of closed doors at the end of the hall, I’m hurting. I’ve been stamping my feet with every step for fifty yards. I begin to jog in place, to keep the blood from icing in my veins. My throat and lungs burn with each breath I take. I can feel the cold pressing at the other side of those doors like a presence. I look at Ryodan. His face is frosted. When he raises a brow, ice shatters and hits the floor.
    I shake my head. “Can’t.” No way I’m going in there.
    “I think you can.”
    “Dude, I’m awesome. I’m even All That sometimes. But I have limits. Think my heart’s getting sludgy.”
    Next thing I know his hand is on my chest like he’s feeling me up.
    “Get off me!” I say, but he’s manacled his other hand around my wrist. I shake my head and slant my face away like I can’t even stand to look at him. I can’t stop him. Not with words or actions. I may as well let him do it, and get it over with.
    “You’re strong enough.” He drops his hand.
    “Am not.” It’s been a rough morning. Sometimes I like to test myself. Now isn’t one of them. Not after my earlier stutter.
    “You’ll survive.”
    I look up at him. Weird thing is, as mad as he makes me, as unpredictable as he is, I believe him. If Ryodan thinks I can take it, who am I to argue? Like he’s infallible or something. Figures I’d put more faith in the devil than any god.
    “But you’ll have to do it at your top speed.”
    “Do what?”
    “You’ll see.” The double doors are tall and ornately carved. They look heavy. When he touches the knob and pushes the door open, his fingers are instantly encased in ice. When he takes his hand away, chunks of frozen skin are left on the handle. “Don’t stop once you’re in there. Not even for a second. Your heart will last only as long as you’re moving. Stop and you’re dead.”
    He could figure all that out from a palm on my chest? “And I’m going to go in there
why
?” I can’t see a single reason to take such a risk. I like living. I like it a lot.
    “Kid, Batman needs Robin.”
    Dude. I go all