Chapters (79)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Praise for Destroy All Monsters
- Books by Sam J. Miller
- Back Ad
- About the Publisher
“Basically,” I said. I didn’t have the heart to lie. “We just want to talk to you, that’s all.”
A sound from upstairs. Solomon fumbling around in the cabinets. “Solomon hates me,” Connor said.
“Solomon has never hated you,” I said. “And . . . I can’t explain it now. We’ll pick you up by the side cafeteria door right when the last bell rings, okay? Don’t get a ride with anyone else. Anyone.”
Especially your father.
“Fine,” he said, sounding small, sounding young. “I was gonna call you anyway. Got a few discussion topics of my own.”
I’ll add them to the meeting agenda, I started to say, but he had already hung up.
A whole lot of work was ahead of me. Two hundred and fifty exposures, five to ten of each player, with one frame of each circled in black Sharpie.
I poured out fresh chemicals, savoring the sharp stink of them, and got to work. Solomon came down, with two cups of tea and his transistor radio.
“Weird weather today, children,” Ms. Jackson said. She always called her listeners children, like she was older than absolutely everyone in earshot. “All that glorious warm sunshine seems to be fading fast, and the mercury is dropping along with it.”
I told Solomon about the call from Connor. We each took a long sip of tea.
Fifty-Four
Solomon
“Weird weather today, children,” Ms. Jackson said, on the radio perched on the table between us. “Might want to bundle up after all, wear a sweater or two under your Unmasking Day disguise.”
I opened my eyes. Maraud’s face was inches from my own, staring at me with great concern. Her real face, not that pathetic rusty thing she had been in—wherever that horrible place was.
“Hey, girl!” I said, with a laugh, and hugged her huge snout. “I went away for a second. But I’m really happy to be back.”
Pterodactyls squawked in the dockside air overhead. The smell of the riversea was strong. I breathed it in deep. I’d never have imagined I could be so happy to smell kraken ink.
Ash asked, “What happened to you?”
“I went somewhere,” I said. “Somewhere horrible. What about you?”
“I just saw a lot of weird shit.”
“Nothing that could help us find Niv and Connor?”
“A couple things might be clues. I have to go back under.”
Ms. Jackson continued: “News now on the story that has the whole city talking—the abduction of the Refugee Princess.”
“Shit,” Ash and I said at the same time.