Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 88849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Kellan never looked away, but drifted closer to me. He lifted a hand and cupped the side of my face, holding it gently. “I’m not.”
But I saw something else. He was scared of them, but not for himself. “You’re scared for me, aren’t you?” I was breathless when I asked that.
He shook his head and a wall slammed down in his eyes. The rope that connected us went slack. It was still there. I didn’t think even Kellan could make that connection go away now, but it was so loose it was almost as if there was no connection. Then I tightened it and watched how he stiffened in shock. “Didn’t know I could do that, too, huh?”
He grinned before turning away. I let him go, releasing my hold on the connection and followed him into the kitchen where I sat. “When are we going to see this messenger?”
“She’s coming to us.” He was rummaging through a cupboard with his head shoved inside. His voice came out muffled.
“What?” I sat up straight. “But you just said this place was safe for you and me. If she comes then she knows where it is, where we are.”
“She’s an ally. We’ll be safe with her. Trust me that you can trust her.” Kellan kept shifting through things, moving things aside.
“What are you doing?”
“I thought some food was here. We need to eat a little bit.” Then he pulled back and shook his head. “I’ll have to go into town and get some things. There isn’t any good food here for us.”
“Town?” Where was the closest town? I just remembered trees.
“I’ll have to drive there, too. It’ll be an hour before I get back.” Kellan sounded frustrated, but within seconds he was gone. And I was left alone in a magical house and trees that were alive surrounding it. I knew I wasn’t only human, but I felt very helpless in that moment.
After a few more minutes of sitting there, still feeling shocked at the turn of events, I stood to grab my bag and headed to one of the higher floors. I wandered around, studying all the bedrooms, and settled on one in a back corner. It had its own bathroom and windows on both sides. The bed was a king size on top of a sturdy wooden base and headboard. It was a simple bedroom with quilts to make it look homey for the human eye, but warm for the demonic body, especially on colder nights. I knew Kellan would appreciate the quilts, but then I remembered the entire house was given to him. Of course, he’d appreciate them; they were probably put there just for him.
I looked through my bag, saw two changes of clothes, and then started poking in the closets. After finding clothes upon clothes, in my size and his, I wasn’t sure why Kellan had even bothered to pack bags. However, I was glad he’d thought to pack a book. At least, I could read something if I got really bored.
Checking my phone, I saw that he’d been gone for an hour. I figured that he’d be back soon so I headed into the shower. Afterwards, I dressed in some clothes from the closet, a comfortable pair of black running pants and a loose gray top. Heading back down, I started poking around for a liquor cabinet. There had to be one. Kellan wasn’t much for drinking, but I knew he enjoyed some on occasion. It seemed the appropriate thing to do in our first night at the sanctuary.
I pulled out a bottle of wine. With two large glasses in hand, I turned for the kitchen for a bottle opener, but as soon as my foot took one step forward, the house started to shake. At first it was the floors, then the walls, then the roof. Everything was shaking. Furniture started to glide across the floor, moved by the waves of shaking. I dropped the bottle and glasses onto a couch and then I stopped feeling the movements. My eyes caught sight of a chandelier in the foyer, saw that it was still shaking, and then I looked down. I wasn’t shaking because I was floating in the air; much how I had been the night I’d turned Matt into a zombie. Just like then, I started to fall, but I caught myself. My eyes shut, and I concentrated in my mind. Stay! I barked at myself, but I started falling again slowly.
“Stop thinking, and it will happen.”
The voice wasn’t Kellan’s, and my eyes snapped open to see an elderly woman in the corner. Her hair was silver, pulled over her shoulders to rest below her ribcage. She was dressed in a black cloak with white trim. Both of her arms were folded over each other, and the white trim moved when she opened her arms to me. “Child, you radiate the same ferocity of your father.”