Free The Ravaging in Between (The Reanimation Files Book 3) by A. J. Locke Page B

would take to the Underground. I just worried that he would not find anyone there who would be genuinely kind to him. Someone was sure to recognize him as the ghost who was kicked out of his body and bound to me, and I didn’t want to think about what they would try to use him for.
    But I was getting ahead of myself. It didn’t have to be a worst-case scenario with Ethan’s whereabouts. He could very well be on a sunny beach somewhere, relaxing under a coconut tree.
    One place he wasn’t was his parent’s house though. I’d spoken to them a couple days ago and they were distraught that Ethan was missing and hadn’t seen him since the time I forced him to visit.
    I drove to Chinatown to start my search of the Underground. If I found nothing promising there, I’d head to the Underground in Brooklyn, then call it a day and hit the other boroughs tomorrow.
    It was mid-afternoon so Chinatown was bustling with activity. It was even more clustered and aggravating to maneuver through than usual because of all the construction that was going on. There were men in hardhats everywhere and the sounds of construction were deafening. Entire blocks were inaccessible because of the damage they sustained from Isabelle’s beastie. It left a sick feeling in my stomach to see just how much destruction had occurred because of Renton. Despite the ruin surrounding me, I could tell some good progress had been made toward rebuilding.
    I parked on a quieter block and continued on foot. As I wound my way down the narrow streets, I saw several ghosts flitting about. There were a couple ghost agencies in the area so hopefully they would get drawn to one of them, or maybe a necromancer on track and retrieval would pick them up. Right now they weren’t my concern.
    One of the ghosts I passed was dressed in an outfit that looked like it was from Jane Austen’s time. Ghosts wore what their human died in. This chick must have died during Halloween shenanigans. Or maybe she was an actress in a play and died of stage fright. Terrible joke, I know.
    I made my way to a small park where children were playing on the swings while their parents looked on. Others were gathered together nearby practicing tai chi. Next to the park was the entrance to an old subway station that had been abandoned in the eighties. It was badly boarded up, or rather, it had been well boarded up, but people using it to get in and out of the Underground had taken its toll.
    I slipped through the loose boards and carefully walked down the stairs. Once I was in the station, I hopped over the rusted turnstile and jumped off the platform onto the tracks.
    Only the smallest amount of light filtered down from the grates. The flashlight app on my phone would have to help guide me. I started walking, but didn’t come across any activity until I walked through two stations. In the third one, there were ghosts milling around, and ramshackle shops set up everywhere.
    The station was large and consisted of multiple platforms and tracks that were crammed with necromancers, dead witches, and probably a reanimator or two. Some were experimenting, some were attempting to help ghosts settle their affairs, and some were sitting with Leech Baby junkies helping them get their fix. What was it about having your energy drained until you were about to collapse from exhaustion that was a high? I had no idea.
    I meandered through the Underground workers and their customers, scanning all the ghosts and wondering if there was anyone worthwhile asking questions of. People who worked or sought help here were not keen on being questioned about anything.
    “Wanna try?” Someone grabbed hold of my wrist and attempted to tug me over to their table. I pulled my hand away and resisted the urge to wipe it off. Underground workers did not make showering a priority. This one was missing a few teeth, so he also didn’t make time to squeeze in his dental appointments. His head was wrapped up in cloth that was