Free Infernal Father of Mine by John Corwin Page B

past.
Elyssa spun and saw the ninja who'd knocked her out before. It was
obvious from the contours of the skintight armor the ninja wore she
was female.
    "Guess you can't win a fair fight, can you?"
Elyssa said. She felt her lips peel back in a defiant smile. "Let's
see how good you are when your opponent is ready for
you."
    The mysterious opponent assumed a defensive
stance, but made no move to advance. Elyssa was tempted to move in
but caution held her back. If the ninja knew she was here, that
meant—she heard a click and rolled away as a dart hit the pavement
where she'd just been standing. The ninja took out a disc and
hurled it toward Elyssa.
    At first she thought it was a throwing star but
quickly realized it was something else. She slid a sai sword from
the sheath at her back and threw it. The disc shattered in mid-air.
A fiery circle with a cross burned for a brief moment before
vanishing in a pattern of smoke. Elyssa realized it must have been
the device the Exorcists had used to trap Justin and his
father.
    "Where is Justin?" she yelled, looking around.
She spotted small cross-shaped holes in the sides of the church.
Metal tubes protruded through the holes. Several of them spat more
darts her way. She dodged, but knew she couldn't avoid them
all.
    The darts bounced off an azure shield. "Get out
of there," Shelton yelled, holding his staff out to maintain her
protection.
    With a running leap, Elyssa flipped over the
fence. She and Shelton raced down the side of the church as more
and more of the cross-shaped holes spewed darts. Shelton huffed and
puffed, but maintained his shield. They crossed the road and ran
into the alley.
    Ivy and Bella gave them looks of
alarm.
    "We're getting out of here," Elyssa said, and
went straight through the portal and back into the mansion. Shelton
and the others followed her through, and deactivated it.
    "I think they're onto us," Shelton
said.
    Elyssa smacked a fist into her palm. "That
doesn't mean anything. We'll still get them." It had only been a
few hours since Justin's abduction. She hoped and prayed they
hadn't done anything to him. Somehow, she would figure out a way to
break through the Exorcist defenses and save him.
     
     
     

Chapter 8
     
    A nightmare? I didn't know what David
was talking about. I opened my mouth to argue with him when I
suddenly got a clue. The entire ordeal with the man, the train, and
the corpse bride had been surreal and nonsensical. And yet, if I
analyzed it as someone's bad dream, it made all the sense in the
world. It still didn't explain the falling houses, the shifting
terrain, or how the scene had appeared out of nowhere. It didn't
explain how the man had survived a direct impact between a train
and his car.
    Unless . "The Gloom is dreamland," I
said, not quite phrasing it as a question.
    "I don't know if that's completely accurate,"
David said. He pursed his lips. "When the tire hit you in the back,
it obviously injured you. That would suggest a physical
representation of a dream."
    "I couldn't move the car," I said. "I couldn't
even budge it."
    "Perhaps the representation of the dream was
immutable."
    "Maybe people's brainwaves recreate their
dreams here," I said.
    David tilted his head, as though listening for
something. "A moment ago, we were surrounded by minders. Now
they're gone."
    "I noticed that too," I said, embellishing my
situational awareness a bit since I hadn't even realized we were
surrounded in the first place, thanks to my futile heroics. I
snapped my fingers as a light bulb flickered on in my brain.
"Minders feed off dreams. The dream attracted them
here."
    "Very likely," he said.
    "Maybe that guy lives in one of these houses.
Maybe his dream caused the minders to create his dream in the
Gloom." It seemed too fantastical to be true. Then again, so did
most things when it came to magic.
    "It's possible," David said. "It also brings up
a troubling idea."
    I already had dozens of troubling ideas running
through my noggin.
    He