The Demon Road Trilogy: The Complete Collection: Demon Road; Desolation; American Monsters

“The biggest,” said Grant.

The others nodded and smiled their understanding – only Imelda appeared annoyed. More than annoyed, actually. Practically agitated.

Amber was too tired to care about that now. She stood, noticing for the first time that no one else had even touched their dinner, and smiled and said, “Goodnight.”

She got a hearty chorus in response, and she went to her room, closing the door behind her.

Rain pelted the window like machine-gun bullets. Outside it was hot and wet, but here it was air-conditioned cool, just the way she liked it. She wanted to go straight to bed, even though it was just after ten, but she also needed to talk about what had happened to her today. She logged on to the In The Dark Places messageboard.

The Dark Princess said …

Hello? Anyone on?

Mad Hatter99 said …

Princess! Where u BEEN, girl?

*snuggles up closer for a hug*

The Dark Princess said …

Been busy with school n stuff. Having a REALLY strange day.

You seen BAC recently?

Mad Hatter99 said …

Me too! U missed the convo yesterday. What u think of Tuesday’s ep?

She was on earlier. Had some role-play stuff going on. Y?

The Dark Princess said …

Just need to talk to her. Nvr mind. Too sleepy to wait up. Nite nite x

Mad Hatter99 said …

Nooooooo! Don’t leave me!

Amber logged out of the messageboard and lay back on her bed. Taking off her clothes was far too much effort. Brushing her teeth seemed a ridiculous waste of energy. She could barely keep her eyes open. She heard her parents and the others talking, but couldn’t make out the words. There was laughter. Excitement.

Her phone rang, buzzing against her hip. With numb fingers, she pulled it from her pocket and held it to her ear.

“It’s me,” said Sally. “Just got a call from Frank. Two cops came into the Firebird ten minutes ago asking about you.”

Faint alarm bells rang in Amber’s head. “What’d they want?” she asked groggily.

“You,” said Sally. “They said you attacked those guys from earlier. Did you? They said one of them’s in the hospital.”

Groaning, Amber sat up. “Did Frank tell them my name?”

“Of course he did, Amber. They’re cops. What happened?”

The doorbell rang. Amber hung up, slipped her phone into her pocket while she stood. The room spun for a moment. When she was sure she wasn’t going to fall over, she walked with Frankenstein feet to the window.

There was a patrol car in the driveway.

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THE CHATTER IN THE house died away, replaced by a new, unfamiliar voice. A man’s voice. Official-sounding. Amber wished she wasn’t so tired. If she could only get her brain in gear, she’d be able to explain herself. She was sure she’d be able to make the cops understand. She took a few deep breaths to clear her head, and walked unsteadily to her door. She opened it. If they wanted her to emerge with her hands up, they were going to be disappointed. She was far too tired to lift her arms.

From the sounds of things, the others had stayed in the dining room, and Bill and Betty had taken the cops into the living room to talk. Amber stayed close to the wall as she moved, in case she needed the support. She got to the family photo in the hallway – the only framed photograph of the three of them – and stopped. From here, she could look across the corridor, through the open door.

Two officers of the law stood there in full uniform, talking to her parents. The cops were saying something, but Amber couldn’t focus enough to make out the words. She didn’t know why she felt so tired. They all stood in the centre of the room, watching each other. Amber shuffled her shoulder along the wall, then stopped again, concentrated on what the cop was saying.

“…just need to speak to her, that’s all.”

“Amber’s not feeling well at the moment,” Bill said. “Maybe if you come back tomorrow she’ll be strong enough.”

“Mr Lamont,” the cop said, “I understand what you’re doing. Please don’t think I don’t. Your daughter may be in trouble and you want to protect her. I get that. I do. But you’re doing her no favours if you don’t let us speak to her.”

Despite her drowsiness, Amber felt her insides go cold.

“My husband isn’t lying,” Betty said, sounding upset. “If you’d just call Chief Gilmore, I know he’ll vouch for us and for Amber. Whatever you think happened I just know didn’t happen.”

“We’re not calling the Police Chief, we’re not even calling this in, until we’ve had a chance to speak with Amber,” the cop said. “We have two young men who swear that she assaulted them.”

“One sixteen-year-old girl assaulted two men?” Bill said. “And you’re taking them seriously? You’re actually wasting your time with this nonsense?”

“We’ll get this whole thing cleared up if you’ll just let us speak to her.”

Bill put his hands on his hips and shook his head despairingly. Betty looked at him.

“You are such a perfectionist,” she said. The upset she’d briefly displayed had disappeared.

“I just like it when things are neat,” said Bill. “This … would not be neat.”

“I’m sorry, what wouldn’t be neat?” one of the cops asked.

But Bill and Betty ignored him.

“This is a special day,” Betty said. “A wonderful day. For sixteen years, we have waited for this day. What’s happening now is a minor inconvenience. That’s all it is.”

“Mrs Lamont,” one of the cops began, but Bill talked over him.

“It’s already in the system,” he said to his wife. “Already logged.”

“No, it isn’t,” Betty answered. “That one said they haven’t even called it in yet. Gilmore will make it go away. He’s done it before, and for the money we’re paying him he’ll certainly do it again. You might have to drive their car into the marshes later on tonight, just to confuse their colleagues, but why not?”