Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99201 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 331(@300wpm)
It’s still fresh in my head, filling it up with images of my city. My beautiful city. Turned black and charred that summer.
It recovered.
But no one ever forgot what I did.
Or how I did it.
I became queen that day. Declared myself such and put crowns on my head. Many, many little crowns perched upon the tines of my antlers. I was too young to understand that I was being used by the royal alchemist, Lyrica, and the Alchemist Guild. Still, it doesn’t excuse what I did. What I agreed to. And how I kept the Fireday threats going year after year. Continuing a tradition that started out as a way to free the chimera of human expectations, but turned into a way to subjugate them instead.
“Callistina!” He’s still calling for me.
Vinca was supposed to be my new life. My good life.
But it was just another Caretaking Ceremony.
Just another way to be exploited.
All Vinca really was, when I think about it with rational detachment, was a nightmare. Two long, dark decades of misery and suffering. Mine. Theirs. Everyone suffered.
“Callistina.”
I look to my left and there he is.
Eros. The man who did that to me.
The god who ruined me.
CHAPTER FIVE - EROS
“Didn’t you hear me calling you?” I growl this at Callistina. I’m angry because I’ve been looking for her all afternoon. Someone said they saw her walk into the fog. And what do I care if she wanders into the nothingness? I don’t. I really don’t. But she’s not getting out of this curse that easy. If I have to live with it, so does she. So does everyone.
Callistina, as per her usual self, is indifferent to my anger. Which makes me hotter.
But then I notice that she’s covered in ash, her mangy coat is black, and she smells like sulfur. “What the hell happened to you?”
She’s lying down in the fog, most of her body covered by swirling grayness. And she doesn’t get up, or try to explain, or do anything, actually, except close her eyes and sigh. Like I’m not even here.
“Callistina. What’s going on?”
Nothing from her. It’s like I’m not even here.
And now what do I do? I’ve found her, but she obviously didn’t want to be found. I look over my shoulder, back the way I came. There’s a swirling gap in the fog, like a pathway, that shows me the way back. But I can tell it will close up soon. The fog doesn’t stay still for long.
I lean down, slide my arms underneath Callistina’s body, and pick her up.
She’s frowning as I stare down at her face. But that’s the only reaction she gives me.
“It’s OK,” I mumble. “I’ve got ya.”
And then I take her into the fog, back the way I came.
When I exit the forest that surrounds Savage Falls it’s late in the day. Much later than it should be. Like I’ve lost time. The sun is nearly gone—the sunset completely over—and people and monsters alike are walking the sidewalks or hanging out in front of the diner and the bar.
They watch me as I approach, holding the insane queen in my arms, but no one says anything. They don’t really talk to me. They avoid me, actually. Maybe out of fear, but the more believable explanation for this shunning is that they just don’t like me.
Or Callistina, for that matter.
So they don’t say anything when I push past them and go inside.
I take her upstairs to the apartment and when I set her down on the couch, she doesn’t even open her eyes. Just folds herself up and pushes her face into the cushions.
“What’s wrong with you?” I don’t know why I bother asking. She’s not gonna answer me. And she doesn’t. It’s a dumb question, anyway. Callistina used to be a queen and now she’s… this. Human, but not really human. Something in between.
She’s not adjusting to the change very well. And left to her own devices, she’s going to fade. Like an old god without a cult.
I pause here to consider my options with her. It’s a complicated puzzle. But my options aren’t complicated at all.
Either I take care of her or I let her go.
I go into the bathroom, start filling it up with hot water, and dump a bunch of bubbles under the tap as I do this. Do I know who Callistina is or what motivates her? No. Not in the least. But she takes a bath every day in this tub. She fills it with bubbles, and slides under the water, and she stays in there for hours sometimes.
It’s the only way I can think of to snap her out of this surrender right now. If I walk away from her, she might leave again and go back into the fog. She won’t die. I don’t think. But she might disappear and I’m just not sure I’m ready for her to disappear.