Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84072 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
And I could have sworn the entire house… groaned.
Chapter Four
Benjamin
“It’s happening,” Jasper said in a low voice behind me. I tucked my trembling hands into the pockets of my trousers. The last thing I needed was for him to see the effect she had on me. He’d use it like an emotional weapon that I had no shield against.
“Possibly.” I shrugged like I was bored with the conversation and turned around. “We have no proof other than the house responded to her and the library, horny thing that it is, wanted to strip her naked.” Angling my head, I contemplated it for a moment, then shrugged. “Or maybe that was just my thoughts? I get confused, you understand.” I flashed him an easy smile.
He did nothing but subject me to a stony glare and shove his glasses back up his pale face.
He was rarely pale.
Always at the peak of health.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Weakening a bit?”
“If that’s not proof, I have more.” He turned and started ascending the spiral staircase.
With a grunt, I followed him up the creaky stairs, careful to stick to the middle as always. Strange when your house, more often than not, wanted you injured just so you could feel the pain but have the reminder that you couldn’t die.
Bastard.
“Should have set fire to you too,” I grumbled, and one of the stairs heaved as if I weighed a million pounds. “Try it; see what happens.”
“Talking to the stairs again, I see,” Jasper said in exasperation. “You know what happened last time.”
I grinned. “Best day of my life, hacking them with a chainsaw.”
“The stairs were not amused,” he reminded me. “Don’t fight something that can fight back, Benjamin. You know the rules.”
“Fuck the rules.”
The house shook.
“Sometimes it’s like working with a child, swear to the gods.” Jasper made it to the second level, and I followed, an eerie sensation washing over me as I noticed that every single one of my pictures were no longer covered.
The entire second floor looked pristine, as if we’d just had Merry Maids stop by. Lights flickered at the end of the hall.
The large floor-to-ceiling mirror shimmered from its spot near the guest room.
“Only one way to find out.” Jasper moved ahead of me as if to shield me from my own fate, but even as I walked, I knew what I would see: my future, and it always looked so damning.
So much the same.
A constant circle.
I was on a merry-go-round that never allowed me to hop off.
A reel that continuously played in a haunted theater.
I waited until I was at the end of the hall to finally lift my head, and I wondered why it always shocked me.
My expression stared back at me, and then right before my eyes, my reflection shifted. Gone was the dark hair, replaced by an emerald green that fell in braids nearly down to my waist. My amber eyes flickered from dark to near purple, and my skin looked effortlessly perfect. I looked like the day it happened—the same age. Which meant only one thing: it was happening again.
“Call the mayor.” I sighed. “Regardless of how I feel about her, she needs to protect the town—again.”
“Business as usual.” Jasper nodded. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
He wasn’t. Sorry that was. He would come out of this perfectly fine. Luna wouldn’t because why else would the house respond? Why else would she crash on her way to the town if she wasn’t being chased by one of them? Or being haunted by one of them?
Shit.
My reflection winked and then gave me a smug smile.
I flipped it off and turned around as the dark laughter filled the hall.
“Where are you going?” Jasper barked.
“Out.” I bit back another curse as I grabbed my cell phone and keys and, in a blur, made it to my Rover and drove.
I sped past my own house and down the old dirt road that led to the rocky shore, and of course, I knew what I would see when I got there.
The orcas.
Not just one.
But all seven.
A chill raced down my spine as I heard the jumble of thoughts coming from them.
“She’s here!”
“He’ll be free!’
“This is the one!”
I almost wished I couldn’t communicate with them or hear their thoughts. I needed someone to be just as negative as me right now.
Instead, they were swimming around in glee as if the town wasn’t in danger, as if I wasn’t a murderer.
“You’ll see!” One of them nearly shouted the thought at me as he rounded the corner. Of course, it would be the youngest, Megistiast.
I hiked to the farthest point and found the worn rock, sighing as I ran my hands over all the tally marks.
Twelve white marks stood out against the old rock, and I was suddenly transported back to the first time.