Sky Ghosts: All for One (Young Adult Urban Fantasy Adventure) (Sky Ghosts Series Book 1) by Alexandra Engellmann Page A

sisters and Marco exchanged heavy glances. There were not so many girls at the New York Ghosts Headquarters; in fact, there were only a few of them. Everybody loved Elizabeth: she was funny and sweet, the kind of person who always smiled. Most of her time she spent patrolling, but her partners said she hadn’t even killed a single soul.
    After a long, silent minute Peter got off the desk and came closer to the others.
    “Here’s what we’re going to do,” he said in a low voice, “I’ll send you off to a corporate apartment downtown. There wasn’t even one encounter with Eugene’s men anywhere around, so there’s hope he doesn’t know about it. You’ll go there at night, first through the tunnels, then you’ll use a new hidden exit and make a good detour on foot so the chances you meet someone in the air are small. Marco and Ryan will back you up at the tunnels exit so we can be sure that you got outside unnoticed. When you get to the apartment, you’ll stay inside, curtains drawn, lights off, until I find out what Eugene wants. Is that clear?”
    “Yes.”
    “No,” Pain said at the same time as her sister. “Why did I never know that we had a corporate apartment?”
    Peter rolled his eyes and got up, coming to his office door.
    “That’s exactly why I’m sending you there – this place has never come up.”
    “How are we going to live there? What if we have to stay there for a long time?”
    “This morning I’ll organize the groceries delivery. We’ll stuff the cabinets and fridges. If it’s not enough, then you’ll order something. The rest you’ll have to bring with you.”
    Out of questions, Pain sighed and got up, stretching. The day was beginning to feel endless, and she knew she would have the same feeling in the morning. It made her disoriented, and she hated it. Following her sister, she turned and headed to the exit, but at the threshold she stopped and looked at Peter.
    “And what are we gonna do in that apartment all day?” she drawled in a resentful voice. “Play Scrabble and Twister?”
    For a change, his face didn’t look stressed when he answered. Only irony colored his eyes.
    “Exactly,” he said and pushed the door behind him with his back. “At this time of darkness and chaos, you could use some simple Scrabble-joy.” He thought for a moment, then added, his voice serious again. “Go to sleep. You’re leaving tomorrow at midnight.”
    The sisters nodded at that and vanished behind the doors.
    “God, I’d play Twister with her,” Dave muttered, following them outside, and Chad chuckled quietly behind his back.
    Marco fell in step after them. The building was quiet and deserted, as if nothing had happened. They walked to their rooms in silence, nobody seeming to be in the mood for talking. The bodies were already gone, and the fighters were back in their rooms, doors closed, lights low. Chad wondered if any of this actually bothered the Ghosts: they seemed to have got back to sleep too soon, too easily. Or was it just the order of things here, and behind each of those doors two worried fighters were stressing over the situation? Blaming him and Dave for the danger that was now hanging over their heads? No one at Peter’s office mentioned or even hinted on it, and he wondered if they regretted helping them in the first place. But there was something in all this that made him think the Ghosts actually put their mission first, actually believed they had to save them. And not only them; their whole life was dedicated to protecting civilians, so maybe it was just another of their rules or something?
    The door banged shut behind them, bringing him back to reality, and Pain cursed, shooting Dave a stinging look.
    “No banging doors,” she snapped, reminding him of the rule.
    He cringed.
    “Sorry,” he said, and then added, “What’s with that rule, anyway?”
    Jane decided to interfere before anyone got hurt.
    “Fighters sleep after patrols or before them, so it has