Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 123779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 619(@200wpm)___ 495(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 619(@200wpm)___ 495(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
Feeling awkward, I just nod.
Brenna surprises the hell out of me when she closes the distance between us and pulls me into a hug. Her voice is strained as she whispers, “We missed you at the funeral.”
“I was there.”
I’m still stunned that she’s hugging me.
Maybe they threw something in her elixir so she would be nicer to me.
“Where do we need to go next?” Raighne asks, and I pull away from Brenna.
“I’m not sure. The man sounded Irish, but they could be anywhere in the world. I couldn’t see anything except for the guy.”
I’m so frustrated with my visions, or should I say, the lack of details in them.
“Where are we now?” I think to ask.
Jason gives me an incredulous look, but answers, “Maastricht. In the Netherlands.”
“We need to leave this house,” Finian says. “We can be traced via the waterfall.”
“You’re right,” Raighne agrees. “We have to find a place far from here where we can stay tonight and take it from there.”
I glance at Jason. “Do you know of a motel where we can go to?”
“How far away are we talking?” he asks.
“At the very least, an hour,” Raighne answers.
Jason nods. “We can take my station wagon.” He looks at us. “It will be a tight fit, though.”
“We’ll make it work.” I start to feel nauseated and place a hand over my stomach. “Can I have some water?”
“Sure. We should probably pack something to drink and eat for the road.”
I follow Jason to the kitchen and take a bottle of water from him. After drinking some, I say, “Thank you for understanding. It will all be worth it in the end.”
I hope I’m right and not lying to him.
He packs some snacks, sodas, and bottles of water into a bag, then nods at the door. “Let’s go.”
When we join the others, I try to avoid getting too close to Raighne as we leave the house.
Reaching the station wagon, I say, “I’ll sit in the back with Brenna and Finian.”
There’s a frown on Raighne’s face as he gets into the front passenger seat, and I make sure I sit behind him so he can’t see me if he looks over his shoulder.
“How did you all find me?” I ask when Brenna scoots into the backseat, sitting between Finian and me.
“When you shift, you leave a trace behind. We just followed it,” she says.
Jason starts the engine, and I rest my exhausted head against the window, but then my eyes catch Raighne’s in the side mirror.
He looks concerned, and the moment I feel his warmth, I shake my head and close my eyes.
I don’t know for how long we drive, and I have no desire to glance around the foreign country.
A dull headache begins to throb behind my eyes, and I feel restless and agitated. The patch must be wearing off because my ribs start to ache with every breath I take.
“Can we please stop somewhere?” Brenna asks.
“Do we need to?” Raighne questions as he glances at her. “We’ve only been on the road for thirty minutes.”
“Yes. My bladder is only so big, you know,” she mutters.
“We’ll stop at the next gas station,” Jason replies.
We drive for another thirty minutes or so, and by the time Jason pulls over at a gas station, I need to use to restroom as well.
We all pile out of the station wagon, and Raighne says, “We leave in ten minutes.”
“The place where we’ll stop for the night is only another ten minutes or so away,” I hear Jason tell Raighne.
“Is that the map?” Raighne asks.
I glance over my shoulder and see Raighne looking at the cell phone in Jason’s hand.
Damn, I forgot about cell phones and all the luxuries here on Earth. I didn’t even miss any of it.
I follow Brenna into the restroom and pick the nearest open stall. I quickly relieve my bladder before digging another painkiller patch out of my bag. Peeling the old one off, I toss it in the bin. I stick the fresh one onto my thigh, hoping it will start working soon.
When I step out of the stall, Brenna’s washing her hands. She glances at me and asks, “How are you feeling? I mean…after the thing with Adeth.”
Her question and concern catch me totally by surprise. Who would’ve thought she, of all people, would care about me?
“I’m fine,” I answer. “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, right?”
“Yeah.”
She looks at me for a moment before leaving the restroom.
While I wash my hands, my eyes latch onto my reflection in the mirror, and I notice dark circles forming under my eyes.
I swear I hear music playing somewhere, then my eyes turn from green to gray, and everything blurs.
Soft voices are harmonizing perfectly together. The melody is hauntingly beautiful, and I just stand and listen as they sing.
When the song comes to an end, I see a man and woman sitting on a small stage in a bar.