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She’d only just passed out of sight when I saw someone even more freakish: a man whose head was divided vertically into halves, one bald and burned to a crisp, the other untouched, hair moussed into a dapper wave If Emma noticed hienuine peculiars that peculiar-looking noristered But what if they aren’t norht What if they’re peculiars, and instead of the present we’ve ended up in so swords battling by a wall of vendingwith a thin plasticky thwack, and reality ca people weren’t peculiars They were nerds We were very much in the present

Twenty feet away, the elevator doors opened We poured on the speed and hurled ourselves inside, bouncing off the back ith our hands while Addison tuli out of the crowd and co at us in a full run, and back by the tracks where the train was pulling away, the hollowgast leaping fro like a spider fro at ently upward, and soed man stood in the rear corner of the elevator, costu His shirt was torn, his face was crosshatched with fake cuts, and strapped to the end of one arm, Captain Hook–style, was a bloodstained chainsaw

Emma saw him and took a quick step back "Who are you?"

He looked mildly offended "Oh, come on"

"If you really want to knohere the fire is, don’t answer" She began to raise her hands, but I reached over and stopped her

"He’s no one," I said

"I thought I wassuch an obvious choice this year," the man muttered He arched an eyebrow and raised his chainsaw a little "Name’s Ash You know … Army of Darkness?"

"Never heard of either," said E a character," I tried to explain, but she wasn’t hearing me

"Never ars can’t be choosers Where are the rest of your uys are funny Everyone’s in the convention center, obviously"

"He’s wearing a costuuy: "She doesn’t see a lot of rownus up and down "And who are you supposed to be? Walking Dorks? League of Extraordinary Dingleberries?"

"Peculiar children," said Addison, whose ego wouldn’t allow hier "And I a and illustrious line of--"

The ainst the floor with a clonk thatthat," Eht," said Addison "What a rude person Now quick, nick his wallet"

"No way!" I said "We’re not thieves"