Severed by Sarah Alderson Page A

done something to her that had made her black out. This time though he laid off on the Vulcan death grip, instead brushing the tip of her wounded ear with his lips. Her whole body shuddered in response and she stumbled against his side.
    Flic had lent her – well, thrown at her – a pair of black high heels which she was finding it hard to walk in. Together with the pair of borrowed black jeans, which were restricting her circulation, and the spaghetti-strapped black camisole top she was wearing, she felt as if she had left the house half-dressed, late for a dancing session with a pole.
    Another shudder suddenly rose up her spine, goosebumps chasing their way down her arms. It felt as if a million icicles were crystallising rapidly against her skin. She inhaled sharply. She knew it wasn’t the cold that was making her shake as if she had hypothermia, or Lucas’s arm around her. She was sensing what felt like thousands of unhumans close by. She squared her shoulders and forced herself to keep walking straight with her head held high. There was no way she was going to give Flic the pleasure of seeing her freak out.
    Lucas sensed her fear. ‘Nothing’s going to happen to you, remember,’ he murmured softly, his lips brushing the top of her head.
    She nodded absently. Didn’t he know already? It wasn’t herself she was worried about.
    ‘I have to disappear,’ Lucas suddenly said, giving her waist a squeeze before letting go.
    Evie turned to him, frantically grasping for his arm, but he had already vanished. She stopped in her tracks, shivering, staring in disbelief at the space beside her where he’d been just a moment before.
    ‘Keep walking,’ she heard him whisper suddenly in her ear. ‘I’ll just be a few steps away. I need to stay in the shadows.’
    She took a faltering step forward, rounding the corner and almost stumbling to a halt when she saw the mass of unhumans before her. A line stretched out ahead of them that was so long it continued all the way around the block. They were in what looked like a film studio’s back lot. Warehouses lined the street and stretched in every direction. The one before them had a metal fire escape criss-crossing it like an exoskeleton. A thin, uneven alleyway, like a knobbly spinal cord, ran between two squat-looking buildings and it was down this alley that the line snaked.
    Evie darted what she hoped was a casual glance sideways. They were passing a screeching group of unhumans dressed in shimmering neon. Just as they drew parallel, one threw back her head and cackled loudly, exposing her face to the dim orange street light above her. The girl’s skin was a pale shade of green. Evie eyed the others – also green. But even if Evie had been colour blind the halo of bare tarmac around them was signal enough that they were Mixen demons.
    Flic strode on past them without a second glance and headed straight towards the front of the line. Evie froze uncertainly on the sidewalk.
    Issa was beside her in the next moment, slipping her arm casually though her own. ‘Don’t just stand there. Walk!’ she hissed, dragging Evie forward while simultaneously raising her arm and waving at someone in the line.
    Evie clutched at Issa’s arm. ‘Was that the Olsen twins?’ she whispered, trying to look back over her shoulder at the two short blonde girls with enormous panda eyes, wearing purple kaftans, whom they’d just passed by. ‘As in, the real ones?’
    ‘Who knows,’ Issa shrugged, still walking, trying to keep pace with Flic. ‘Most of the time it’s Shapeshifters. They like to show off. Don’t stare like that,’ she warned, yanking Evie’s arm. ‘They’ll realise you’re not one of us. And besides,’ she said with a sigh, ‘it only encourages them.’
    As they neared the entrance Evie felt her heart rate upping and beads of sweat starting to slide down her back. ‘Is this going to work?’ she asked Issa nervously.
    ‘So far, so good,’ Issa answered. ‘But