Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 62637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62637 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Bannik turns his head slowly, cranes it like he’s truly examining me; his eyes burn blue, he doesn’t even blink, and all I see in the reflection of his face is my own, like a mirror being held open to me. “We watch.”
“What? Why are you watching me?”
He takes something from his pocket and jerks it across his palm, two drops of blood fall to the dirt. “I have no reason to ask this, Creator, but can you please show her just once… the stars beneath her darkness?”
The earth beneath me starts to rumble, and singing erupts around me like I’m in my own fairytale. The darkness above slowly falls to a mist around me into tiny fireflies. When I blink up, I see the stars.
“Look.” Bannik points. “He never truly forgot about you, little fox.” His laugh is soft, softer than I imagined it would be. “Do you think a god would leave a mere note under the pillow for you? He is a god, Kitsune. He doesn’t do things by half measures, and by my estimation…” His smile is beautiful and wide, almost like this moment is as much for him as it is for me. “He created this the day he left to return home just in case something happened.”
“What? What did he create?” I’m panicking, staring at the stars, wondering, waiting.
“Only the god of the skies can manage to puzzle together constellations…” He sighs in relief. “Watch.”
His hand waves in front of us, pushing more of the dark mist back, and in the middle of the sky, I don’t just see stars… I see a constellation of them.
In the shape of a fox.
“Look to the stars,” Bannik says again. “And until he returns, I’ll do what he asked me to do.”
“He’s gone?” I whisper. “To do what?”
“Find a way to gain your tails, return your bead, right what’s been wrong… he’s gone to the Abyss.”
I jump to my feet, but Bannik pulls me back down. “Let me go!”
“It’s his destiny.”
“And yours?”
Bannik’s quiet for a few seconds, then locks eyes with me. “He gave me my purpose back.”
“To be annoying?”
He grabs my hand and squeezes it. “To watch.”
“Who?” My throat’s so thick it’s hard to breathe.
“You know who.” He nods. “Maybe I won’t mess up this time.”
“He could die.”
“We all could. Immortality is a joke.” He grunts and falls to his back, staring up at the sky. “Until then, you should watch your stories, your memories. After all, they’re held in the stars themselves, and now that your memory is free, now that he sacrificed his eye, you will see all.”
Bannik points to the sky.
I immediately burst into tears.
Soon footsteps sound.
Someone else sits. I think it’s the werewolf, Mason. He leans back and points up. “I always favored the fox constellation.”
“Bullshit, you favored the pinecone one.” Alex’s voice reaches us.
Mason sits closest to Bannik and gives him a nod, then reaches for his hand and squeezes before releasing it.
One by one, the immortals, the council, all lay down and stargaze, and in one final move that has tears streaming down my face, Cassius walks in front of us and waves his hand overhead.
Soft snow begins to fall.
And overhead, the fox constellation starts to run.
Directly into the outstretched arms of the god of the skies.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
継続は力なり
Keizoku wa chikara nari
“Continuance is power.”
~Japanese proverb
Horus
It’s dark.
Dirty.
I’m chained to the wall; I have just enough chains to make it to the edge of the cave and back. I wait for the judgment to come.
Sariel is in the corner sitting upright against the cave wall like it’s a vacation in Mexico, and he’s taking a siesta, his eyes are closed but he doesn’t sleep, nobody can. He gave up everything to get Bannik and me out of this, and now I’m back and joining him.
Apophis is most likely going to have a field day with things she thinks she can take from me. I have the bead, after all. I just hope I can trick her into gaining the tails and leaving with the bead and my life.
No pressure.
“Tough road you’ve decided to take,” Sariel says, eyes still closed. His jet-black hair isn’t even messy; it’s tied back in a braid that runs down his spine. He’s wearing dirty jeans, boots, and a black tank top that already has a rip in it. Blood trickles down his arms.
His wounds are fresh.
Clearly not self-inflicted either.
“I can do this. For her, I can serve this sentence.” I repeat this every day, and every day Apophis, my jailer, approaches and asks for the bead.
“Give it over.” She holds her hand out. She smells of snake and dirt.
I despise her and keep my eyes trained on the ground.
“Give me the bead, and I’ll set you free.”
“I want her tails,” I counter. “Show me her tails, and we’ll talk about the bead.”