Year of the Rat (Changeling Sisters #4)

Sneak Peek: Chapter 2 - Blackout

***WARNING****

*This sneak peek includes major spoilers for the Changeling Sisters Series #1 - 3*

~Miguel~

The labyrinthine subway network beneath Seoul was impressive. Subway trains hurtled like screaming silver bullets down dark tunnels, ruthlessly intent on reaching their destination. They were the reason I'd reluctantly stopped driving my jeep. Two hands were necessary when trying to herd my girlfriend's son Young Soo to his taekwondo class. However, not even a subway ride was fast enough to outrun a Young Soo tantrum.

"Jeonhwa," he insisted for the umpteenth time, pulling my sleeve.

"Yah," I growled, trying to sound as stern as Yu Li when the little brat refused to finish his kimchi. "You ate injeolmi." I held up his hands where they gleamed with powdery sweetness from the rice cake. "There is no way in hell you are touching my phone."

"Jeonhwa juseyo!" Young Soo cried and had the nerve to dive for my pocket.

I pinched his bony fingers and was about to teach the punk first grader the meaning of a right angle, when I saw a nearby ajumma glare at me. Yes. Foreigner abuses cute schoolboy on train would make a catchy headline.

I settled for giving Young Soo a friendly headlock until he twisted out of it and huffed, staring off at the blurred stream of neon-lit advertisements. I sighed and scrolled through my messages, trying to remember what my parents had done with five hyper-charged Alvarez kids before the invention of smartphones.

Yu Li was calling. I slid the bar to answer, but all I heard was static. Then the call dropped. No bars. We must be farther underground than I thought.

Young Soo's hand crept toward my pocket again and tugged. Wishing I could transform right then into a demon wolf like my sister, Citlalli, or hell, a lightning-breathing dragon like my half-sister, Raina, I whirled around, preparing to unless Miguel Madness.

Until I caught a glimpse of his pale face staring dead ahead. Slowly, I looked up.

The cheery commercials advertising Sugar-Free Aloe Vera Juice had vanished. In their place were disconcerting black screens, which were somehow darker than the subway tunnel. All at once, every channel up and down the train turned to static.

I leaned closer to the TV. Something moved behind the gray fuzziness. Abruptly, all of the screens went blank, and then a stream of characters ran across:

Welcome to the Red Night.

The screens dissolved into static once more. Yet the thing behind them moved closer.

Shouts of alarm began to ring up and down the subway. I turned and saw one businessman get to his feet, pointing at thin air.

Another message:

Scurry, scurry, little mice.

My hand closed around Young Soo's. "Vamonos," I whispered, so rattled that I switched back to my first language. Young Soo got the drift. We inched, slowly and cautiously, toward the emergency door release ring. I heard a faint screech that sounded like braking. I realized we were slowing down.

More screams. A group of women recoiled from a window at the far end of our car, crying about a ghost, and the dread in my heart deepened. My hand closed around the cord.

A final message:

Wait too long and the Lords of Walking Death shall find you.

The curtain of static parted. I covered Young Soo's eyes and averted my own gaze.