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)
I look back at our options. “Maybe it doesn’t matter?” I walk over to the nearest door—Pell kinda tugging me back by my hand, but not enough to deter me—and then I just pull it open.
There is nothing on the other side.
“Well, that’s not ominous.”
I shoot Pell a ‘no duh’ look. Then I open another one. Also darkness. Then another. Just black. Pell and I do this for all the doors nearby and find that they are all just… nothing.
Then he puts up a hand. “Don’t panic. I think this is good.”
“How the hell is this good?”
“I think these doors need a spelling. And this is good because if we use the door and assign a spelling and a destination to it, then no one else can use it.”
“I don’t think it works that way.”
“Which part?”
“The part about how no one else can use it.”
“If the doors close behind us, then how can they follow?”
I think about this. It’s all very confusing. And the rules surrounding the doors and rings are a lot like the rules of Saint Mark’s Sanctuary. In other words, none of it really makes sense. There isn’t much logic happening. It’s just a mishmash of… whatever. Like the rules just get made up as we go.
Pell is looking at me like he can read my mind, his yellow eyes a little bit narrowed, his fangs showing, but not in a growl. “Moves and countermoves,” he says.
“Maybe,” I reply back. “But then again, maybe not.”
He looks up at the ceiling and then looks at me. “The song is getting louder. We need to make a decision.”
“Well.” I turn to the door nearest me. “It’s all the same, one or another, I suppose. So it doesn’t matter which door we choose. Where do we want to go?”
“Back to my tomb. That’s the only safe place.”
“All right. Let me—” Well, I was gonna say ‘think’ so I could come up with a spelling. But I don’t even get the full sentence out before the spelling is just spilling past my lips.
“A monster man and pretty girl.
The path they take a twisty swirl.
Into a world where they have been
A who, a what, a where, a when.”
Pell looks confused. “Where does that—”
But that’s as far as he gets. Because the door opens of its own accord and we are pulled through like we’re being sucked up into a twister.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN – PELL
The song is still playing in my head, but when I open my eyes and find myself looking up at a canopy of trees, it fades. And when I take in the fact that I’m lying on the forest floor, even the echo of it disappears completely.
My smile is immediate and my words come out in a laugh. “Pie! You did it!”
She moans next to me. We’re still holding hands so I bring hers up to my lips and kiss her fingers. Then I roll over and touch her cheek. “Wake up, Pie. We made it. We’re back in the tomb.”
She moans again, her eyelids fluttering for a moment.
“Come on, Pie. Wake up.” We’ve never come through a door this way. It felt like we were caught up in a tornado or something. And I have no recollection of actually coming through the door. Just a vague sense of wind and then darkness.
But we are here. And here is most definitely a forest.
I look around, taking a moment to orient myself as Pie takes her time waking up. I don’t recognize any of the trees, but… there are a lot of trees in my tomb. Tons. And it’s not like I make regular rounds or anything. I usually stick to the same places.
“Pell?” Pie moans out my name.
“I’m here, Pie. You’re OK. It was just a weird trip through the door.”
She opens her eyes, kinda breathing heavy. Then she sits up. I sit up too and place my hand on her back.
This is when I realize she’s naked. And a wood nymph chimera again. Her long blonde hair is even longer in her monster form. It goes all the way down to her waist.
“Where the hell are we?”
“In my tomb.”
“No.” She tries to get to her feet, but can’t quite make it.
“Just rest for a moment. You’re disoriented.”
She doesn’t listen. Not uncommon. So I just get up off the forest floor with her and hold her steady by the elbow.
After a deep breath she scans the forest. “This isn’t your tomb, Pell.”
“How would you know?”
She throws me some side-eye, as well as a smirk. “I don’t recognize these trees. And where are the doors? And the keys? Nope. The spelling was off. Well”—she tilts her head a little as she looks at me—“no. Maybe not off. And it’s not like I actually had anything to do with it. That spelling was… automatic. It said…” She pauses to think back. “‘A monster man and pretty girl. The path they take a twisty swirl. Into a world where they have been. A who, a what, a where, a when.’ That’s not your tomb. That’s… who the fuck knows where. Whoever is controlling my spelling just basically threw us into the magical ether.”