The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,201

should see the object passing overhead in approximately one hour," the newscaster said in her monotonously boring voice. "Again, NASA reports that the object should burn up in the atmosphere, with the main core impacting harmlessly into the Atlantic Ocean. This will be a sight to remember. We already have pictures pouring in from our - "

Hailey turned off the TV and rolled her eyes. It was a fireball, and from the tweets and videos already hitting YouTube, an impressive spectacle. She grabbed a hoodie - it was just getting cold enough at night to need one - and her phone, then headed out, trying to forget that Miles still hadn't called. Like everyone else, she wanted to see this thing. Unlike so many, she was not convinced the world was ending.

Naturally, from the moment the near-Earth object had been reported, that was what the freaks said. Religious zealots crawled from the woodwork, proclaiming the apocalypse. As it got closer, a subtle paranoia gripped everyone. What if it didn't burn up? What if it caused a tidal wave that wiped out New York and Florida? What if...

Yeah, and what if nothing? Jogging down the stairs of her apartment, she decided to walk to the overlook. It should be the best place to get a view over the ocean, and probably a lot less crowded than the beach. A few others had the same idea, but only the locals knew about it. Creosote soaked wood lined the dirt stairs and made a rough-hewn safety railing across the small ridge. To the south, the edge of the national park was marked with old trees growing unchecked. Brambles tangled around their bases and stray branches had gone unpruned. To the east, the beach was packed. Tourists had been streaming in for days, staking out their claims. Some had been waiting out there for hours.

She checked her phone for the time. Four more minutes, supposedly. A group of teenagers were making the most of the darkness. Multiple couples made out with the kind of enthusiasm only the young and carefree could accomplish. Poorly concealed bottles of liquor were intended to make the event into a party these people probably wouldn't remember in the morning. Hailey climbed the long, low stairs to the next rise, then the one after that.

Only a few people had made it this far off the beaten path. An older couple sat quietly on a blanket with a telescope set up beside them. A nerdy looking man a few paces away had every recording device possible pointed out across the water. Hailey just had her phone. There would be enough proof of the event that she wouldn't need more than a picture or two - if that. No one seemed to care that she was there. Hell, none of them even seemed to notice.

Minutes ticked past in silence. Only the crickets proved that time hadn't stood still. A few more passed, then another handful after that, but still no screaming fireball. A murmur began to swell from the beach below. Checking the time on her phone again, Hailey checked the direction this thing should be coming from. It was late. The asteroid - or whatever it was - should've been here seven minutes ago. If NASA was wrong about the time, what else were they wrong about?

Peering into the darkness, she looked for a strange star or anything that seemed to be moving. Just at the horizon, something glowed, but was it the fireball or simply the lights of town?

A bright light hit first, cresting the tree line, but it didn't take long for the sound to catch up as the object grew both closer and larger. It was loud! Roaring thunder, rhythmical and ear-shattering, thrummed above them, drowning out everything else. The glow of the object cast a deep red glare across the crowd. Dark shadows stretched toward the far side of the world, shrinking as it neared, and the thing seemed to pass directly overhead. The only problem? It wasn't streaking across the sky!

Pale blue jets of fire burst from the sides, and fear shivered down her spine. This was not an asteroid. This was not something normal. This thing was also really fucking close!

And it was going slower and slower.

It careened over their heads so near that she could see the patterns on the surface, large enough to block out the stars in the sky. It wasn't a rock. It was an entire city shuddering against the force