Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) by Mitchell Olson Page A

felt like an anvil in his arms and his legs buckled.
    “You do something to piss this kid off?” Aura asked his friend. Ash shook his head no, the best reply he could manage at the moment.
    "Look kid, we don't know why you're pissed at Ash. Frankly, we don't care." Aura put a hand on his hip in defiance. "We've had a long day of battling demons. Some in the form of cards, and some were actual demons . We'd like a little R&R between nuisances, you know? So why don't you buzz off now and only come back if you have a hot sister you wanna introduce me to."
    "Shut up, turd-breath!" the boy snapped. "I've got you now! There's nowhere to run!"
    " Turd-breath ?" Aura repeated, suddenly concerned. "I don't have bad breath, do I Ash?" The death toucher turned to his friend and breathed a big burst of mouth-air in his face.
    Ash fell over. The unconscious Vashi Tansa fell with him.
    “ That bad, huh ?” Aura said in disbelief. When his friend didn’t move to get up, he grew concerned. "Ash?" Aura said, taking his attention off the annoying kid and turning to help his friend.
    " Now’s my chance yo !" the boy cried. He tossed his skateboard down and jumped on, kicking his way toward the group.
    Aura's instincts were conflicted. He turned to address the incoming threat, but the kid blew past him aiming for his fallen comrade instead. By the time Aura knew what was truly going on it was too late.
    The sneaky kid dodged around Aura, his wheeled contraption giving him some unexpectedly amazing maneuverability, and swooped in on Ash and Shiva. There was no attack; he seemed to merely scrape by the pair, only grazing them, and kept rolling away.
    The sneaker turned the next corner and was gone without another word. Aura looked on, skeptical, then dropped to his knees beside Ash. He put a gentle hand on Ash's shoulder and lightly shook him.
    "You okay, man?" he asked. "Did that demon squeeze you a little too tightly back there or something?"
    Ash stared into his friend’s eyes, his vision and hearing slowly returning. He was cooling down as well and felt okay enough to speak.
    "I... I don't know what just happened," he admitted.
    "You fell over just as that weird kid blew by," Aura said. "Now I wonder what that was all about…"
    “I just felt sick all of a sudden…”
    Ash looked over at Shiva, still out of it. She'd been unconscious for almost an hour now with no signs of waking. The boy shrugged and tried to stand up. His knees trembled and ached, but with Aura's help he managed to lift Shiva and stand.
    "I feel lighter," Ash said. With his free hand he patted down his pockets. A sudden realization of terror came over him.
    "Oh man! The cards are missing!" he said, frantically patting all his pockets to make sure.
    "He took your cards ?" asked Aura.
    "Wait a minute," said Ash, pulling out a handful of cards from one of his pockets. "This is my deck. But Vashi Tansa's cards are missing! I just had them, I know I did!"
    "That kid..." Aura said, connecting the dots. "He must have picked your pocket. He said he wanted revenge; he was probably trying to steal your cards and ended up taking Vashi Tansa's by accident. Lucky break."
    Ash thought about how Shiva might react to him losing her deck.
    "Oh man, I gotta go track that kid down! Which way did he go?”
    Aura shrugged and pointed.
    “Here, hold this," Ash said, handing Vashi Tansa over to Aura.
    " Ugh , I have to touch him?" Aura asked, offended.
    Ash took off without responding. He still felt a little jittery, but adrenaline flowed through his body and gave him the oomph he needed to get moving. As he dashed away, hoping the sudden bout of sickness he felt would not return, Aura stood deathly still.
    He started thinking about all the fun he could have with an unconscious Noble. Maybe I could paint some hilarious drawings on his face. Or I could set him in the gutter with an empty bottle of booze and make people think he’s a lush. Or what if I took off some of his clothes and