Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 132582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 663(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
I don’t think much can shock Faye, but I’m worried that if I tell her about Caz and all of Vakeeli, this’ll tip her mind over the edge. There’s only so much a person’s mind can accept before they completely lose it.
“Okay, so let me start by telling the truth,” I say. “I didn’t go to a hotel to get away.”
Faye shifts in her seat, her eyes rounding out, waiting for me to continue.
“The truth is that…” I stop, shuddering a breath. My heart is beating so fast—my pulse is in my ears. “I…was in another world, Faye.”
Silence wraps around us, and we both stare at each other. The only thing we hear is the indie pop music playing from the bookstore, and the murmuring from those in the shop, clueless of our conversation.
“Another world? What do you mean by that?” she asks, blinking slowly.
“I mean literally in another world. I was…transported there. There was this purple light that took me there, to this other universe, and there was this guy who I’m apparently Tethered to, which means we’re basically soulmates. And his world he’s in is way more violent and darker than ours, and it’s not like Earth, you know? The food and technology are different, and they have guns—so many guns. And there are wolves who are connected to us, and I can actually still see him through my wolf. My wolf protects me, and his protects him. And time is different there—it moves faster there than here, apparently because I spent nearly a week there, but only two days passed here, and they have this water that keeps them young, and some guy—he tried to take advantage of me, but Caz stopped him and now I’m back.”
I suck in a breath, release it, then clamp my mouth shut as I lift my gaze to Faye’s. Her eyes are still wide, and she doesn’t blink. She just stares at me, not as if I’ve lost my mind, but as if she’s trying to digest everything I’ve just told her.
“Faye?” I whisper. She probably thinks I’m insane. It does sound insane hearing it out loud. I’m not sure I’d believe anyone if they told me this. Not without proof.
She lifts a hand in the air, then slumps back in her seat, finally blinking. Her gaze drops to the desk; she’s still processing.
“I know it sounds crazy,” I continue. “But it really happened. I wouldn’t make something like this up.”
“I believe you.”
“You do?” I look into her eyes.
“Yeah.” She nods. “I—I mean, sure it sounds outrageous, but…surprisingly, I believe you.” She smiles and shakes her head. “Wow, I always knew there was more to the world than this.”
I let out a sigh of relief.
“So…how did you get back?”
I explain everything to Faye about Beatrix and the chant, and about how our Tether works.
“A Cold Tether?” she repeats after I say it.
“Yes.”
“I’ve never heard of anything like that.”
“Me neither. But it’s real, and apparently when we’re together for too long, it can kill one of us.”
That causes her to frown. “That doesn’t sound right.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean if you’re meant to be someone’s soulmate, it shouldn’t kill you to be together. This can’t be a Will Smith and Charlize Theron in Hancock situation. Clearly the universe created this Tether for a reason. Why would it create such a bond just for it to result in death?”
“That’s what I’ve been asking myself.” I scratch the crown of my head. “Something just seems off about it, but I don’t know how to do research on something that doesn’t exist here.”
“Then that means you need to go back and find out more about it, right?”
I flinch as I look at her.
“What?” she asks. “What’s wrong?”
“I—I don’t know if I can go back there, Faye. That place is dangerous. Plus, the guy, Caz? He can be a real asshole.” But man, do I want that asshole. I want him so bad it hurts. Literally.
“Well, how else are you supposed to find answers?”
“I don’t know.” I chew on my bottom lip. “What if I’m wrong, and I go back and it ends up killing him this time?”
“Well, you have to find out how this Tether thing works. Maybe there’s a way you can go there and not be around him. Then you can figure it out.” She taps her chin. “Wait…if it’s as dangerous as you say, and he’s such an asshole, why do you want to figure it out so badly? Wouldn’t that make you want to forget about it?”
Her question punches me right in the stomach. I draw in a breath, ignoring the thoughts swimming through me. Sure, Caz is an asshole, but I care about that asshole. I care about him more than I want to admit, and it’s strange because I hardly know him. I know some things, but not enough that I should care for his well-being, yet if something happens to him, I feel like it’ll break me. If he’s unhappy, I’m unhappy, and I can’t shake that feeling, no matter how hard I try. I may not be able to hear him right now, but I feel him. I feel his pain, like a dull ache in my chest that won’t go away, no matter how much I stretch and no matter how many ibuprofens I take. It’s still there, and it lingers, proving that we are one. We’re connected and we need each other, no matter how we feel about it.