Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147649 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
“Pie.” I jerk her back. “Pie, look at me.”
“Huh?” She doesn’t look at me. Her eyes are only for him. She starts pulling towards him again, not even aware that she’s doing this.
“Pie!”
“Like I said, Pell.” The devil’s glowing red eyes are trained on me now. “She’s my woman. She has always been mine. Even before I plucked her out of her world as a small child and pulled her into this one.”
I’m lost here. I don’t know what he’s talking about. But it doesn’t matter. I’m sure whatever worldview-altering revelation he’s got planned for me is coming, no matter what happens next. But that doesn’t mean that Pie and I have to stick around for it.
I growl at him. “Get back, devil. We’re leaving.” And the whole ballroom shakes and quakes from the power of my voice.
The devil laughs. The ‘Ball and Chain’ song makes a skipping sound, like the needle just jumped across the record. A lamentation about ten years and a thousand tears blares from the gigantic speakers protruding from the ceiling, the hard-luck song starting over from the beginning.
The teenage girls scream and move back. The teenage boys, though? Nah. They start pounding their fists and walking towards us. Closing in, like it’s me and Pie against them.
“Keep going!” the devil yells. “More! Please!”
“More what?” I ask this out loud, even though I’m not really asking.
But the devil answers. “The voice, monster! The voice is crushing your curse.” Then he winks at me. “And your walls. Pretty soon there’ll be nothing left and I’ll just be able to walk right in.” His joy morphs into disappointment. “But I can’t wait for ‘pretty soon.’ I have business to attend to. So step away from my little dessert and let her do her job.”
“Which is what?” This time I don’t try to use the voice, but it comes out even stronger than before. One of the many, many sparkling chandeliers falls and crashes onto the black and white checkered floor, shattering shards of glass in all directions.
Now the girls aren’t just screaming—they’re running. An instant later they realize there is only one door and it doesn’t belong to them, it belongs to us. So try as they might, they cannot get the door open.
The devil laughs. And in this moment, all I feel is regret. Regret that Pie and I ran out of that bar back in Granite Springs. Regret that I didn’t kill Russ Roth when I had the chance.
I know—like my brain understands—that this is not Russ Roth. This devil is some… distant relative, maybe. But it doesn’t matter. It’s the bloodline. Hopefully, it ends with the curse. I am by no means happy that the sanctuary is crumbling from my own voice. But if I can take out that eros bloodline in Granite Springs, maybe it’ll be worth everything I lose.
“You really don’t know who she is, do you?” The devil laughs again. “You think she’s… this?” He makes a motion with his hand, indicating Pie, who is still trying to tug her hand out of my grip. Still leaning towards the devil at the top of the room. I hold tight. There is no way I will let go. If she gets across the room to him, I will be going with her.
“I know who she is.” I don’t. But I’m putting together some clues. “She’s a royal beast.”
The devil’s eyebrows knit together just for an instant. If I wasn’t studying him so closely, I might’ve missed it. But I didn’t miss it. He’s troubled by my words. “You think you’re clever, do you? But I know better. You don’t know who she is any more than you know who you are.”
He’s probably right about that. “Well, here’s something I know that you don’t. ‘A ball, a night, a swirling light. Fireflies in their flight. Make a path, lead us there, through the door escape the snare.’”
Every word rocks the ballroom. Chandeliers sway wildly and a few even crash to the ground. Pandemonium ensues, people running and screaming. Not just the girls this time.
And then the fireflies up near the ceiling gather together in a great swarm, their light bright like the sun. Bright enough to make everyone cover their eyes and turn their heads. Even the devil.
But not me. I blink through the blinding whiteness, tug hard on Pie’s hand, and then follow the fireflies as they create a path to the door at the back of the room.
The devil roars, his voice powerful like mine. I look over my shoulder, stunned. Because I wasn’t expecting that. And if I’m being completely honest, his voice is more terrifying than mine.
More chandeliers crash to the floor, shards of glass skittering across the tiles. A few slam into Pie and me, making her gasp. But the pain must wake her up out of the devil’s stupor, because she stops fighting me and turns, now running with me.