Total pages in book: 207
Estimated words: 196971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 985(@200wpm)___ 788(@250wpm)___ 657(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196971 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 985(@200wpm)___ 788(@250wpm)___ 657(@300wpm)
On our last night he woke us up. He told us we're going to our new home. He carried us one by one into the truck. This time I'm sure it's a truck. And the thirteenth boy...he didn't have to be carried. I could hear him get up all on his own. So he must be a lot older, like fifteen or sixteen.
He drove for a long time after that. I know it was long because I fell asleep. Then he woke us up again and made us walk. Then he told us to stop. That's when he took our eyes just before pushing us into the hole.
When I woke up, it was just like he said.
I wasn't hungry anymore.
ZARI DID HER BEST TO contain her emotions as Martin finished recounting the last minutes of his life. She felt angry and frustrated, but more than anything she felt helpless, knowing by now that there was truly nothing she could do to put a permanent end to such evil.
The bad would always exist with the good; that was just how life was, and you just had to keep doing your part, which - in this case - figuring out if there was more to the story about the missing thirteenth boy.
After assuring Martin that he could go back "home" and play with Elsa, she turned back to Alexandru and found her Master had already jumped down into the grave and was now crouching down on one knee to slowly run his fingers over the soil.
"Devil's apples..."
Zari, startled to hear Alexandru seemingly murmur the words to himself, couldn't help asking, "You know about it?"
"I should think you would, too," her Master answered rather enigmatically as he swung himself back up on the ground.
"Well, I don't, actually." Zari couldn't help frowning as she watched Alexandru brush off the dirt from his hands. "When Martin used the same term, I had no idea what he was talking about. I didn't even know they were just another word for mandrakes until I got to AGNEX's library to look it up." She saw the way Alexandru's gaze had suddenly narrowed at her and felt uneasy. "Is it really something I should know about?"
But Alexandru only continued to look at her, and she tried not to squirm.
"I met with your boss earlier..."
Her eyes widened. Of all the things she had expected him to say, it was definitely not that.
"He tells me you had tipped him off some months ago, and both of us know that only means you had one of your visions."
Zari could feel herself going pale, and she had to bite her lip hard to keep it from trembling. She had tried so, so hard not to think of that, and she still didn't want to think of it.
Please don't make me say it, Master.
She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to cry, but the moment she found herself in his arms, it was all over, and the tears rushed faster down her cheeks when she felt him brush his lips against her hair.
"Then I shall be the one to speak of it."
No!
She tried to shove him off at that, but of course he was too strong for her, and his arms were so tight around her that she couldn't even free her hands to cover her ears.
Please, Master—-
But Alexandru had already begun to speak.
"I remember that one night you were crying and drinking yourself to sleep, asking me if I'd hate you if doing the right thing meant you'd risk losing me forever."
Please stop—-
"It was not easy getting a message to you from where I was at that time, but I eventually found a way, and you received my answer, did you not?"
I don't want to talk about it!
"I'll take that as a yes, which means you know..." And at this, Alexandru's tone became sober for a moment. "I would never hate you. No matter what you did, pet, I would never be able to hate you."
Zari was sobbing hard now and doing her best to get away as she pounded his chest with her fists and tried kicking him in the groin. While his strength was more than enough to restrain her, the sound of her pain had him breathing hard, and he had to force himself to go on and finish what he had to say.
"You never told me what your vision was about, but I think I know what it is now."
It doesn't matter what I saw!
"You saw someone working for AGNEX open a Devil's Door in New York."
Shut up!
"You saw this result in death if you didn't do something about it."
I'm not going to let it happen!
"But if you did something about it..."
Zari sagged against him.
"You saw something else, didn't you?"
Zari's fingers curled desperately against his chest. Please...
"Tell me." And this time, Alexandru spoke as a Master to his pet. "Tell me what you saw."