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)
And anyway, the bar door opens and Pell walks through. He looks around, taking in the scene. I look around as well, noticing that we’ve got several hundred monsters and nymphs taking us up on our offer. The nymphs are already packed onto the flatbed and the rest of the monsters are lined up behind it. Gonna walk back, I guess. Pell yells, “Tomas. Let’s go home.” Then his gaze finds mine and he smiles, coming towards me with an open hand. I take it and we turn to walk back to the Jeep.
“What happened?” I ask.
“Nothing.”
“But the door?”
“He didn’t want the door.”
“What did he want?”
“Nothing.”
“What?” I look over my shoulder at Eros and find him staring right at me. I turn back around, unable to meet his gaze. “Why not?”
“Says he’s had a change of heart.”
“But—”
“Forget about him, Pie. He doesn’t matter anymore.”
And that’s all Pell has to say about Eros.
Jacqueline and I have a tearful goodbye. She says she will be on her way out of here soon, after she packs up her things in the apartment over the diner. She blows kisses to the small kids, who are sitting in the cab with Tomas, and waves to the older ones on the flatbed with the nymphs.
On the way out of town we have to drive by the bar again. Eros is no longer standing out front, but in the shadows of the open door I think I see Callistina.
I should’ve offered her a chance to go back, but I couldn’t even look at her. That’s not my sister. Maybe she was never really my sister. Not in the affectionate sense.
So I just… let her go.
Just like Tomas let Madeline go.
We drive back to Saint Mark’s, Tomas following close behind in the truck, the rest of the monsters walking. And when we get to the ruins, we lead them into the tomb and start making lists of where everyone wants to go.
This is when I notice that Nysta is not here either. And for a moment, I almost ask Pell to take me back to town so I can straighten things out with her.
But there’s way too much to do and too many other people to worry about, so I just let that go too.
I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I didn’t.
After almost an entire day of sorting things out, we are finally ready to send people home. The hardest part was putting them all in groups to make it all more efficient. But the part that took the longest was me writing each spelling for each door.
There are lives at stake. So this was important and I took my time.
In the end, we use all the virgin doors but three. Pell puts on the ring, I say the spelling, and after the group walks through the door, Pell takes off the ring, hands it to Tomas, and he puts it in the new chainmail bag.
After the last group walks though, we pause and all three of us kind of monkey-walk in place. Drooping a little. Feeling sad.
Because this is it.
We don’t get the happy ending. We don’t even get to go home. Because we don’t even have homes.
Pell puts up a finger. “I would just like to say… that none of this is our fault. Regardless of what we’ve done over the years, we didn’t ask for this life. We just did the best we could with what we had.”
Tomas nods, makes pouty lips. “Wise words, Pell. Wise words.”
I don’t think I quite understand what we’re doing. I mean, I get it. We’re walking through the doors and never coming back. It’s going to be the end of us and the world we created.
But it hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m just on autopilot.
However, I am anxious to get it over with. “Now what?”
“We seal up the bag. Tomas, are they all in there?”
Tomas pats the bag. “All accounted for. Except the three left and the ones already in use.”
“Should we take them off and put them in the bag?” I ask, as we all three look at each other.
Pell nods. “We should seal them all up together. There’s no way to seal the last three, but we need them to walk through the doors, so”—he shrugs—“that can’t be helped.”
We slip our rings off and drop them into the bag.
“OK,” Pell says. “Now we need to seal it for real. Get ready, Tomas.”
“I’m ready,” Tomas says.
Pell clears his throat and starts the spell:
“Rings and bags are hard to tame.
They must be sealed with dragon’s flame.
Blackened iron, ammolite.
Nuts and bolts and smote and smite.
I have done all the steps.
Take these rings, remove the threat.
God Portunus, god of keys,
We beg you for your expertise.
Close the doors, seal them tight.
Nothing there, all is right.
Tame the rings, keep them hidden.
Never once again be bidden.”