Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45901 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45901 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
I blinked my eyes and looked around. I was sitting slumped over in a sturdy wooden chair. Someone had zip-tied my wrists to the arms of the chair and my ankles also had zip-ties in them—they were fastened to the chair’s thick wooden legs.
“What in the Hell?” I muttered. My brain still felt like it was full of fog and my head was throbbing.
“Not quite Hell, but close,” the voice said.
I looked up at last to see who was speaking and was surprised to see Mr. Price standing there in front of me. We were in an empty apartment with no furniture and no air conditioner—I was already starting to sweat, I thought, feeling miserable.
“Mr. Price, what are you doing?” I asked, frowning up at him.
“Whatever I want, Miss Ward.” He gave me an evil grin over the rims of his reading glasses. “Whatever gives me pleasure and satisfies my hunger.”
“What?” As the fog in my brain began to clear, I began to feel panicky. It didn’t help that when I moved my feet I heard an ominous rustle. Looking down, I saw that the chair I was sitting on was right in the middle of a large, clear sheet of plastic. “What the Hell are you talking about?” I demanded. “What is all this?”
“This, my dear Miss Ward, is the last thing you’re ever going to see,” he told me, grinning maliciously. “Because you’re going to meet your end in this room—but not until I’ve had my fill.”
I had no idea what he was talking about, but there was no way I was sitting there waiting to find out.
“Help! Help!” I screamed as loudly as I could. “Help, I’ve been kidnapped! Help me! HELP!”
Through it all, Mr. Price simply stood there watching me with that same smirking grin on his narrow face.
“Shout as long and as loudly as you want,” he told me when I finally stopped, panting for breath. “This building is abandoned. Nobody can hear you and come to interfere with my fun.”
“With your fun?” I was beginning to get a bad feeling—a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. “What are you talking about? Why…why did you bring me here?”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he said. “Are you frightened yet? Because you should be.” His long nose twitched and he leaned closer to me and inhaled deeply. “Ah yes—now I smell the terror. Good, good…more! It’s delicious!”
“What?” I sounded like a broken record, but nothing he was saying was making sense to me. How could he smell and taste my fear?
He was right though—I was terrified. My heart was pounding and my palms were clammy with sweat. Why would he bring me to an abandoned building and tie me to a chair and put plastic on the floor like an episode of Dexter unless he meant to kill me? There was no way he was letting me go—I was trapped here and I couldn’t get loose!
Just as all this was racing through my head, I noticed something strange. There was a line of what looked like nearly invisible vapor flowing from me—right from the center of my body. And it was drifting up towards Mr. Price. Not drifting, exactly—he had his mouth open and it almost looked like he was sucking it out of me.
Oh my God—he is sucking it out of me—is that the terror he was talking about?
It was so weird and also scary. But it would have been scarier if I hadn’t spent that last three weeks going back and forth to Hidden Hollow. By now, I was beginning to recognize magic when I saw it.
“Ahh, so tasty!” Mr. Price said, smacking his thin lips.
“What are you doing to me?” I demanded. “And how the Hell are you doing it?”
“What? Feeding on your emotions? Quite easily, Miss Ward—you see, it’s my nature to feast on the negative emotions of others. And up until recently, yours were quite tasty and nourishing.” He scowled. “Until you fell in love.”
He spat the words like they tasted nasty and he wanted to get them out of his mouth.
I shook my head.
“I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t. Never fear, we have time so I will explain. You see, I’m a special kind of Creature I’m sure you’ve never heard of. I live by extracting pain, fear, sorrow, shame—all those tasty negative feelings—from humans like yourself. And for ages, you’ve been my main meal ticket! All the sorrow you felt every time I was cruel to you…all the anger you suppressed…and most of all, the delicious shame that overcame you every time I pointed out your weight issues.” He made a smacking sound with his thin lips. “Delectable! Shame is my favorite!”
“Oh my God, you’re a Sin Sucker!” I exclaimed, remembering the term Tark had used.
Mr. Price lifted his eyebrows in obvious surprise.