Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
I was only vaguely aware of his voice.
A voice that grew louder with the commands he kept issuing.
Because I was held.
Caught in the shattered gasp that rode on the thrumming atmosphere.
Volatile.
Flammable.
Explosive.
Because a girl stood just inside the room.
Frozen.
Eyes the same color as mine stared back.
Jet-black hair and pale-white skin, and a face forever imprinted in my dreams.
“Aria.”
Chapter Sixteen
Aria
Shock pinned me to the spot as I stared at the man who had to be an apparition.
An appearance of the impossible.
A dream that had come to life, manifested before my eyes.
Ragged breaths heaved from my lungs, my mind at war with disbelief and a crushing hope that I was terrified to put my faith in.
Time stopped as we stood there . . . just . . . looking at each other, and I had to wonder if I’d succumbed.
If this was eternity.
If the man who’d wrapped his hands around my throat with the wicked gleam in his eyes had actually snuffed out my life and my spirit was now instead convincing me of an alternate reality.
Of this.
The cognizant piece of me understood my heart still beat, and I hadn’t been able to keep my hands on the vile, depraved monster long enough to bind the darkness I could feel seeping from his soul.
But I’d drawn blood. I’d known it. Had felt his hatred burn so hot as he’d stumbled back, crashing into the wall and sending a tray scattering across the floor as he spat his toxic vitriol like barbs that couldn’t catch.
Now a dull hum buzzed in my ears, my feet heavy and my knees weak, as I looked at the man who seemed to be caught in the same moment as I.
One second set to “pause,” where only he and I existed.
Muted light from the hall spilled over him. His hair was a shock of white. Face hewn in severe cuts and harsh angles.
But it was the pale-gray eyes I’d only dreamed of seeing in this realm that made me feel as if I were looking at my truth for the first time.
A deep, toiling sea.
Fathomless.
Boundless.
“Pax?” His name whispered from my mouth in a tumble of confusion. As soon as the sound hit the air, time sped up again, whipping back to the here and now.
Shouts echoed down the hall. A desperate intensity vibrated the atmosphere and spun it into mayhem.
“I told you, on your knees. Now. Don’t make me fire this thing.”
Jenny had scrambled upright on her bed, and she clutched her blanket to her chest as if it were a shield. Terror coated her being, her eyes wide in the darkness that covered the room in a cloak of shock.
“Aria, what’s happening? Oh God, what’s happening?” Panic wisped from her words, and she gaped at Pax, shocked to find the man from my drawing standing in our doorway.
“It’s okay, Jenny. Don’t be afraid,” I told her—because somehow, I wasn’t. “Remember that you’re good and amazing and you’re going to be okay.”
Pax’s attention whipped down the hall as the voice continued to carry: “On your knees! It’s the last time I will warn you.”
Then those gray eyes were back on me, and he stretched out his hand. “Aria, we have to hurry.”
The sharp edge of his voice knocked me out of the stupor, and every molecule in my body snapped into action.
Running forward, I took the hand he had extended.
Energy streaked at the connection.
Staggering.
Light flashed behind my eyes and surged through my body when we touched. A shock wave that shot through me and shook me to the core.
But we didn’t have time to stand there and process it.
Pax pulled me out into the hall, and his head swung in every direction as he calculated how to get us out of this.
Shouts and yells came at us from every side. A security guard stood at the head of the hall. His Taser was drawn, his stance one of protection, though I could physically feel him shaking with the horror of what was happening.
Three people were behind him, peering out from the barricade he’d created with his body. An older woman whom I didn’t recognize, plus two nurses working the night shift, Jill included.
My stomach lurched when the vile man who’d sneaked into my room climbed to his knees, trying to get the rest of the way to his feet.
He swayed with the wickedness that oozed from his being, and I could almost hear the Ghorl raging in his mind, their commands for him to get up, to finish the job, to end me, as he wheezed, “You bitch. Little whore.”
Pax lifted his free hand. A hand I hadn’t realized was holding a gun. He brought it down hard at the base of the man’s skull. A crack echoed through the air. The monster gave, his body jerking before he fell flat against the floor.