Total pages in book: 34
Estimated words: 31462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 126(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
As soon as Sky turned off the engine, Nolan unbuckled his seat belt and opened his door.
“Wait!” Sky cried out as he reached for the box in the rear. “You can just wait here. I won’t be a minute or two.”
“Do you think it’s dangerous?”
Sky glanced out the windshield and winced. “No…”
Nolan couldn’t tell if that was a statement or a question. Didn’t matter. “Then I’m going with you.” He climbed out of the car before Sky could argue with him. The witch gave a huff as Nolan closed the door.
His heart gave an excited thump. Apparently, now that the issue wasn’t vampires trying bite him, control him, or kill him, he found magic exciting. Maybe he should consider writing a paranormal romance series with all this good fodder Sky and his friends were giving him. He’d tried his hand at fantasy—he’d had a blast with it—but had never thought about writing witches and vampires.
“Nolan! You don’t have to go. This won’t take a minute,” Sky repeated as he closed his door and came around to where he was standing on the sidewalk.
“I know. I want to go with you. Besides, you might need my help getting through the crowd. I promise, I’ll go back to the car if you think it’s not safe.” He even held out his hand for Sky’s keys.
With narrowed eyes, Sky fished his keys from his pocket and slapped them into Nolan’s open palm. “Don’t you dare leave me here with these crazy people.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
And he honestly wouldn’t.
Since Sky had entered his life at Phoenix, each day had become an adventure. Even if they were just sitting around his kitchen, picking at the food on their plates, they had the best conversations. It didn’t matter if Nolan’s life was incredibly mundane compared to the strangeness of Sky’s, the witch hung on his every word. He’d listened to him bitch about his ex. That in itself earned him beauçoup brownie points.
The thing was that Sky’s life was so very different from his own. He needed to see and experience these unexpected events firsthand if he was going to have any hope of understanding Sky’s life. If he understood it, just maybe he could find a place in his life.
It also didn’t hurt that he felt safe when he was with Sky. He could try these new, weird things and always know that Sky would be there to keep him safe.
As they approached the house, the sounds of the neighbors whispering reached them. Everyone was speculating all kinds of crazy ideas, from toxic waste to drones to aliens. Someone might have said magic, but it seemed to be losing out to toxic fumes and aliens.
“Has anyone called the police yet? Or the fire department?” a woman demanded in a sharp voice.
“Called 9-1-1 and they accused me of making a prank,” an old man near her growled. “I told the lady to go ahead and send a cop after me for the prank. Let them see the alien cloud for themselves.”
“Shit! We’ve got to hurry before the cops show up.” Sky grabbed his arm with one hand and tucked the box he was carrying tighter against his chest as he picked up his pace to a very brisk walk.
Several people shouted out to them warnings about not going into the house, while others demanded to know what was going on. Sky ignored them all, and Nolan followed his lead as they charged up the concrete stairs to the wooden front-porch stairs.
“He’s got a nice house,” Nolan murmured.
“Mn. He runs a landscaping design company. Hugely in demand. Won awards for it.”
Sky briskly knocked on the front door. The moment he lifted his hand away, he leaned forward with his ear nearly pressed to the wood as if trying to hear movement in the house. But there was no need for that. Almost as soon as Sky stopped knocking the door was ripped open and they were greeted by an entirely purple man.
“Mad?” Sky choked out.
It was surprising he could get even that much out. Nolan’s own tongue was dead in his mouth, unable to form a single sound as he stared at the figure who was the same shade of deepening purple as the cloud hanging over the house.
“Hurry! Hurry! Get in here! But don’t step where it’s purple. Just stand on the clear spaces.”
Nolan reacted to Maddox’s frantic tone and walked behind Sky into the house when he really should have taken Sky’s initial advice and returned to the car. There was one large patch of brown wood in the center of the hall and another after it. Sky moved into the first square and then hopped into the second, giving Nolan room to enter the first.
The door slammed shut behind him, but he barely noticed because his eyes were locked on the purple…everywhere.