All The Pretty Ghosts (The Never Series Book 1) Jamie Campbell (best life changing books .TXT) 📖

times. My shoes were a size too big, flopping with every step and making it worse. What I wouldn’t have done for some fluffy slippers – comfortable and stealthy.

The set of stairs that led into the underground tunnel came into view in the distance. I hadn’t noticed it the day before but it was almost completely circled by buildings. The district looked to be some kind of commercial area before the Event. Whatever offices the buildings once held were long departed.

I snuck as close as I could while staying sheltered by the debris and remaining walls. If I were to go any further, I would be too exposed, potentially sacrificing myself again. Another beating would be a lot more painful than the previous one with all my fresh bruises.

Trying not to use my sore arm, I climbed up to the second floor of the nearest building and sat on the edge. My feet dangled over the ledge as I positioned myself so I could see the tunnel entrance.

What I had wondered yesterday while being dragged underground was how had I been surrounded so quickly by the mole people? They hadn’t come up from the tunnel or I would have seen them. So they had to have a secondary way of getting in and out of the underground.

No matter how many times I scanned the area, I couldn’t work it out. There had been dozens of people around me when I was caught. They had to come from somewhere. If I was going to find Jet and catch him unawares, I was going to have to figure it out. I did not fancy the idea of being captured again just to speak with him. He might not let me go another time.

“Hey, you’re the girl from yesterday.” The female voice startled me, sending me vicariously close to the edge of the building. I went to jump up but she sat beside me before I could. Blonde hair instantly caught the midday sun as she moved, her bright blue eyes surveyed me curiously.

“What do you want?” I asked, keen to get it over with. Just because she looked friendly, it didn’t mean she was. I had been caught out before and suffered the consequences.

The girl shrugged. “I don’t want anything. Why, what do you want?”

“Nothing.”

She smiled before holding out her hand. I looked between it and her eyes, wondering for a moment what she was up to. I couldn’t work it out. My hand met hers cautiously, shaking it.

“I’m Aurelia,” she said before releasing my hand. “Jet said your name is Everly. Is that right?”

“Everly, yes.”

“It’s nice to meet you. Although… I didn’t think I’d see you back here again. Not after what Perry and her friends did to you.” She pointedly looked at my arm. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

My hand was rubbing my sore shoulder before I realized I was doing it. My eyes searched the area behind us, not only looking for an exit but to make sure Aurelia was alone. “I didn’t exactly make friends with Perry.”

Aurelia laughed, it seemed genuine. Her wispy golden hair shook with the movement. “Nobody makes friends with Perry. I think Jet is the only one she tolerates.”

“She mustn’t know him very well then,” I said before I could stop myself. I wasn’t going to engage in conversation with the girl. I was planning on being polite and then leaving.

“Perry knows Jet very well. He’s not that bad. He let you go, after all.” She nudged me with her shoulder, making my body go rigid. She must have noticed as she pulled back quickly but didn’t say a word about it.

Perhaps she wasn’t as bad as I thought.

“Jet only let me go because he didn’t know what else to do with me,” I pointed out. It wasn’t like he had any rope to tie me up with that time.

“Now it sounds like you don’t know Jet very well. He doesn’t ordinarily let people leave the underground. He knows what would happen if someone said something they shouldn’t.”

“So there’s been others that were taken down there?”

Aurelia nodded. “A few. Perry puts them to work… unless she doesn’t like them. Then I’m not sure what happens exactly. But we never see them again.” She said the words so casually it was difficult imagining she was talking about murder.

Death had a different definition these days.

So did denial.

“Were you one of those people? One that was allowed to stay?” I asked. Aurelia didn’t seem like the kind of girl to live in an underground cavern. She seemed too full of sunshine.

“Kind of. Perry is my sister.” She laughed at my stunned reaction, the sound echoed in the destroyed office block. “She tolerates my presence. As long as I don’t get in her way, she doesn’t bother with me.”

“Have you lived in the tunnels since…”

“Yeah. Perry and I were home when it happened and we just… started running. We hated leaving our parents but they were gone, it was too late for them. We ran down into the tunnels in case worse was coming. We never really came out again.” Her eyes drifted off to the sky as if she could see the memories playing out above us. They probably were, for her.

She was lost in a silent reverie, it seemed wrong to interrupt her private memory. I stared out too, waiting for her to return to me and our conversation.

I kept an eye on the tunnels, watching for movement. Nobody came or went down below.

“So how do you know Jet?” Aurelia suddenly asked.

“He kidnapped me once,” I said bluntly. There was no point sugar coating it. I was certain Aurelia wasn’t oblivious to his dishonorable activities. She probably knew more about them than I did.

A smile spread across her lips, revealing her white