Anubis Nights Read Online Free

girlfriend these days.”
    “Am I missing something here?” Kelly asked. “What the hell is going on?”
    Sharon smiled. “You didn’t tell her? Hmm, I didn’t see that one coming.”
    “Nobody else needed to know,” I said.
    Sharon shrugged. “Whatever. It’s time to pay the Ferryman.” She smiled, picked up my Glock, and pointed it at me. “Or if you prefer, I can kill you now and find someone else.”
    Kelly stepped in front of me. “Don’t point a gun at my best friend.”
    “I don’t have time for this,” Sharon said and pulled the trigger.
    I tried to pull Kelly to the side, but there was no way I could possibly move fast enough. I caught her by the shoulders, and when she didn’t make any move on her own, I lowered her to the ground and knelt beside her. A Sekutar warrior can’t be killed with bullets, but Kelly hadn’t been herself lately, so I wasn’t sure the old rules applied. Normally she’d simply reach up and pluck the bullet from her skull, and the wound would heal in a few seconds.
    But Kelly remained on the floor, eyes open but unresponsive. There wasn’t a mark on her, but I knew I hadn’t been fast enough to save her and Sharon wouldn’t have missed from such close range.
    “What the hell?” I said. “Kelly?”
    I stared at her but didn’t see an entrance wound from the bullet, nor did I find an exit wound. Kelly’s expression didn’t change.
    “Kelly? This isn’t funny. Get up!” I looked up at Sharon.
    She stood with the Glock aimed at the floor, dangling by her leg. “Is there a problem, Jonathan?” she asked.
    “What did you do?”
    “I shot at her.”
    “She should be getting up already.” I checked her pulse at her throat. Nothing.
    Sharon sighed. “Get up and talk to me, Jonathan.”
    “You killed her!”
    “Did I? Look in the air above you.”
    I glanced up and, shadowed against the ceiling, I saw a bullet perched in the air. It wasn’t moving. I pushed myself to my feet, my blood pressure skyrocketing. I clenched my fists and stormed toward Sharon. I’m a mere mortal while she’s an immortal, but I was ready to punch her until the bones in my hands shattered.
    She raised the gun, aiming at me again.
    I stopped. It was instinct.
    She let go of the gun and lowered her arm, but the gun hung suspended in the air.
    “What the hell?”
    “Take a closer look,” Sharon said.
    I approached the gun. It didn’t move a millimeter. It wasn’t connected to anything; it simply remained motionless in the air as I walked around it, viewing it from every angle.
    “Just like the bullet. What time is it?” Sharon asked, pointing to the clock.
    Kelly had on the wall an old-fashioned clock with the minute and hour hands shaped like lighthouses. The time read 9:27, but then I noticed that the second hand wasn’t sweeping around the face. It sat pegged at forty-six seconds. It was battery operated, so it was certainly possible that the battery died, but I didn’t think so.
    “What do you think of the traffic outside?”
    I looked out the window at the traffic on Sheridan. It sat motionless. I noted, too, that it was unnaturally silent.
    “Kelly will be fine. You moved her out of the path of the bullet. I just had to get your attention. Walk with me,” Sharon said.
    She didn’t have this kind of power, so how did she accomplish this?
    She turned and walked out the door, holding it open for me. She gave me a look like my mother used to give Merlin, our Siamese cat, who could never decide whether he wanted to go outside or stay inside. Merlin died when I was sixteen, having outlived my mother by two years.
    “Any century now,” Sharon said.
    “I’m going to kill you,” I said.
    “Whatever. Come on.”
    It was pointless to hold out any longer, so I followed her out the door.
    Outside, nothing moved. The door remained open. Cars sat motionless in the street. A bird hovered in the sky as if it were simply a picture, and I’ll be damned if the little bastard