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The idea of sitting for the next few hours oodies and headed back outside I kind of liked the wet s rained on wasn’t too bad It would be like a natural shower of sorts Munching on my chips, I headed around the terminal and past a rest stop full of truckers None of them whistled or propositioned me when they saw e of them

Across from the rest stop turnoff were ht out of a haunted house reality TV show--broken or boarded up eeds overflowing the cracked pave the walls Before Matt had decided I was a giant freak, we’d gone to one of those carnival haunted houses Come to think of it, I should have known he’d be a wuss He’d screauy had come out at the end and chased us with a chainsaw

S to myself, I followed a narrow path around the rest stop and tossedinto a trash bin The sky was full of heavy clouds and the loud purr of the tractor’s engines was co in an odd way In four hours I’d be in Nashville Four lass startledto be faced with a horde of daiuys One had thrown a rock through theof a ht

I moved my hand away from where I had the spade shoved into the back ofthem They weren’ta red beanie… in May I wondered if there was soaze drifted to his partner, whose eyes kept bouncing from his friend to me

And that made me nervous

Beanie boy s to his scrawny fra three square meals a day Neither did his friend "How ya doin’?"

I bit h-pitched laugh "We’re doing okay"

Knots began to fore around theles shot a quick look at Beanie Boy, and da in front of ht at my throat

"We saith the money back at those machines," said Beanie Boy, "and ant it"

I al robbed

It was official The gods hated me

And I hated them

CHAPTER 10

In stunned disbelief, I lifted my hands above my head and exhaled slowly

The one without the knife gaped at his partner "Man, what are you doing? Why’d you pull a knife? She’s just a girl She’s not going to fight us"

"Shut up I’rabbedthe tip of the knife under ued the guy who didn’t see at his partner, his hands opening and closing at his sides

Great, I thought, I’anized cri stabbed and it’s probably going to be me Instead of fear, I felt a hot stab of annoyance I so did not have the time for this crap I had a bus to catch, and hopefully, a life to reclai the food" He inched the tip of the knife down ht, John? Must be a lot of hooking to get that kinda money"

I wanted to kick myself in the face I should’ve been more careful I couldn’t pull out a wad of cash and expect not to be robbed Surviving a daimon attack only to have my throat slashed for a few hundred dollars? Dammit, people sucked

"Did ya hearI was about five seconds froers dug in oing to have to get it yourself" My gaze went to his friend "And I dare you to try it"

Beanie Boy motioned toward John "Get the money out of her pocket"

His partner’s eyes darted between his friend and ret it if he didn’t That wad of cash was all that I had In it wasthat

"Which pocket?" the one holding me asked When I didn’t answer, he shook me, and that was it

My bitch switch was flipped and, well, ht out theEverything--everything that’d happened boiled up inside stas actually think I was afraid of theoing to stohed in Beanie Boy’s face

Bewildered by my response, he lowered the knife a fraction of an inch

"Are you freaking serious?" I wrenched oing to rob me?" I pointed the knife at him, half tempted to prick him with it "Me?"

"Whoa, now" John backed up

"Exactly," I waved the knife around "If you want your bal--"

A shiver went downAn innate sense kicked in and every fiber ofI’d felt before I’d spotted the daimon from the balcony Panic punched a hole in my chest

No They can’t be here They can’t

But I knew they were The daimons had found me What I couldn’t wraphalf-blood I wasn’t even a snack pack to the to be craving aether again in a few hours Their ti down pures Not me Not a half-blood