City of Dust

Chapter Nineteen

What, exactly, am I looking for again?

Pursing my lips, I tap the fingers of my right hand against my chin and scroll through what seems to be an endless series of files and folders. Nothing here seems to indicate involvement with demons or the Turning. Just quarterly financial reports, contracts, and other mundane stuff that has to do with customer service.

I sigh and rub my eyes. What was I thinking? No one in their right mind would keep files on demons on an employee-wide server.

Would they?

I'm almost at the end of the list when I find what I'm looking for—a simple file named "CLASSIFIED" hidden in revenue reports from twenty years ago.

This has to be it, right?

Scooting the chair around, I position myself so I can jump up easily should they bust down the door. One foot is hooked around the power cord, ready to pull it from the socket. One, two, three ... I double-click on the file, then immediately sweep the cursor up, ready toclose the window at a moment's notice.

Five minutes pass and no one is coming. Do they not monitor their employees' computers or do they think that my mother is accessing these files from wherever she and Dad are in Alaska? Whatever it is, I let another ten minutes go until I'm convinced that I'm safe.

There is only one sub-folder under the classified heading: PROJECT APOPHIS. I click on it and dozens of files appear. Oh, man, I sigh, briefly resting my forehead on the desk. This is going to be a long night.

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It's nearly 2 AM according to the little clock in the corner of the computer's taskbar. I've watched what feels like hundreds of hours of footage, growing more horrified with each passing second. All of my life, I thought that my parents were working on finding an alternative source of energy, but it seems that one of those sources involved harnessing demonic energy.

It's the Orcus Institute that is responsible for the Turning and making our lives hell on earth. I've watched the thirty-minute film of scientists chanting over a ring of ancient runes; a woman who looks like Kayleigh's mother stands at their head, holding what appears to be a heavy book. The camera is too far away for me to see what is on those pages, but I have a good guess as to what they do.

Crackling red energy emanates from within the circle as they continue to chant. I stare, transfixed, as they congratulate each other as massive batteries begin to charge in four corners of the room. And then Ehtab rises from the center of the runes, bellowing like an unchained bull and spilling an inky substance like night onto the floor. A whirlwind of dust and heat envelopes the room and the cheers turn into screams. A body thuds against the camera and the video abruptly cuts out.

Then there's a recording some two days later that shows Kayleigh's mother parlaying with the demon lord. Blood and dust cover the floor; the batteries are shattered, leaking fluid and mixing with everything else to create a grisly miasma.

"Serve me and you will be rewarded," I hear Ehtab say.

Under this file is one labeled NEPHILIM.

A massive yawn escapes my lips and I know I should sleep, but there's just so much for me to discover. There must be something here in the hundreds of files on how to stop them ...

My chin dips down as my eyelids slide closed.

A second later—or so it seems—I'm jerked awake by a hissing, crackling sound that comes from the empty bookshelves. Adrenaline surges through my veins and I jump away from the computer, shoving the chair in front of me as protection.