Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 43912 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43912 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 146(@300wpm)
I must have fallen asleep, because it is something o’clock when Justice wakes me up by sitting down on the bed beside me, one of his wings extending out to cover me.
“Are you feeling any better?” He asks the question almost kindly. I yawn. It is late. I am used to being a night owl, but I have been up all day as well as all night, and that is a bit much for anybody.
“What do you want, Justice? You’ve been lying to me since we began. You said you forgave me for killing Rage. But it was only because you knew you were going to bring me back here and imprison me in this time capsule for the rest of my life? No. Not going to happen. Your secrets were safe with me, but I am not safe with you.”
“I am sorry you are angry with me, but keeping our secret is imperative. I could never allow you to continue on in the world, knowing what you know, seeing what you have seen. There is more at play here than you understand. You’re in deeper than you know, metaphorically and literally.”
My thoughts flick to Tessie. She has also seen and known. I hope she has the sense to stay well away from that spider, Order. He no doubt has plans to snatch her up and keep her quiet too.
“New York is safe from the moth predator that stalked the streets, and we are safe from the humans who might inadvertently tell our secrets,” Justice says.
“If Order has fucking touched Tessie…”
“Don’t worry about Tessie. Worry about yourself. Or rather, don’t worry about yourself. There is a role here for you. A place. You can be of use here, and that is all you have ever wanted.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I want you to stay here as a liaison between us and the world, not merely a prisoner, but an ally. We need humans we can trust, and there are precious few of those. You can go out, perform interactions in person, and…”
“Be an errand girl for mutant monsters.”
“Sure, if you want to put it that way. But it would be better if you considered yourself a very privileged holder of a secret that has been kept for decades. You have no idea how you will be transformed here.”
“Chief’s expecting me back at work on Monday. There’s no way I’m staying here to run errands, buddy. I came for the funeral.”
“Since when does the killer attend the funeral?”
That question lands like a flying sidekick to the gut. It momentarily knocks the wind out of me.
“Surprisingly often, actually. But I can see your forgiveness isn’t quite as forgiving as you pretended it was.”
I am pissed. I do not like being lied to or lured. It’s just ironic that Justice doesn’t want to keep me captive here. He wants me to stay here as his ally and he’s willing to imprison me until I Stockholm around to his way of thinking.
These mutants were not raised with any sort of generally accepted social values. He doesn’t see anything wrong with what he is doing. This just makes sense to him. He’s got me where he can control me and the rest, in theory at least, is time.
“I forgive you completely. But what I choose to do with you now is to change the life you were living, to keep you for myself, and to give you the chance to be part of something far more important than you can imagine. We are not random freaks. We are relics of an age of heroism. We are still able to do good, and you can help us.”
“I already have people I help.”
He sighs. “Will you not see sense?”
“Probably not. No. Not what you think is sense.”
“Stubborn girl,” he sighs. “That is part of why I love you.”
“Love me?” I laugh. “You don’t love me, Justice. You want to keep me. Love has the balls to let what it loves go. You’re just another greedy fucker with an obsessive attachment.”
Justice has the nerve to look hurt.
He’s really not going to like what happens next.
I tried making a simple escape once. That didn’t work. I can’t just run away from Justice. I have to incapacitate him. Fortunately, I didn’t just lie down in my prison bedroom and fall asleep without making preparations. I let him see me pick up the leg of a chair I removed earlier and hid under the baby blue bedspread.
“What do you think you’re going to do with that?” He smirks at me, both pairs of arms folded over his chest as if I am the most pathetic, yet amusing thing he has ever seen.
I do not wield it against him. Instead, I hold it like a backhanded spear and drive it into the very center of the television as hard as I can. The screen shatters and there is a bright flash of fire and light of the kind that stun-locks his moth brain.