Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“Wait—he has a beast in him? Like what kind of beast?” Hanna wanted to know.
Sam shrugged.
“As far as I can tell, he turns into a kind of werewolf creature during the full moon. Or he would if he’d let himself. He’s been suppressing it for ages and now he’s afraid that it wants me and if he gets too near me, it will get out and, er, hunt me down.”
“Oh my God!” Hanna exclaimed for the third time and looked really alarmed. “Maybe he was right to leave, Sam—that sounds really dangerous!”
“I don’t know—I kind of like big, scary animals.” Sam sighed. “Anyway, it’s a moot point now. He went back up to the Mother Ship and he’s not coming down again.”
“But that leaves you without a Protector, since you sent his replacement away,” Hanna pointed out. “What are you going to do about that stalker guy who keeps making those awful remarks on your Social Media?”
“Ignore him,” Sam said firmly. “He’s like all the rest of the freaks out there—all talk and no action.”
“What about what Aunt Luna said, though?” Hanna protested. “You know she felt like you were going to be in danger.”
“Maybe she was having feelings about R’orn’s Beast,” Sam said, shrugging. “I don’t know. But I do know I’ve had enough of being followed around and treated like a porcelain doll. I’ll be fine—I got myself some pepper spray—the really heavy duty kind. Look.”
Opening her purse, she pulled out a small black canister with a skull and crossbones and a notation that said, Two Million Scoville Units! on the side.
“This will stop anyone in their tracks,” she told her sister firmly. “And I’m keeping it with me at all times. I’ll be fine.”
Hanna sighed deeply.
“I sure wish they made some kind of psychic pepper spray. I could really use some right now.”
Sam frowned, already on the alert.
“Why? Is there a spirit bothering you? Tell me where he is—I’ll give him a piece of my mind!”
Hanna shook her head, her long, golden brown hair swishing over her shoulders.
“It’s not a spirit you could see or communicate with, I’m afraid,” she said in a low voice. “It’s not a ghost. I think…I think it’s something else. A Dark Entity, as Aunt Luna calls them.”
Her voice had sunk almost to a whisper and her eyes darted around the room in a hunted way, as though she was afraid that the thing that was terrorizing her might hear her talking about it and come to hurt her.
“Oh, Hanna!” Sam scooted closer and put an arm around her little sister. Even though Hanna was taller than she was by half a foot, she still felt protective of her. Back when they were in school together, she’d gotten into so many fights protecting her sister when people called her a “freak” for jumping at the spirits she always saw. Only Sam could see them too and she was quick to defend her sister when anyone threatened her.
But this was a threat she couldn’t help Hanna with. She could see ghosts, but only Hanna could see the darker spirits that sometimes stalked her. And she seemed to have a hard time defending herself against them, though their Aunt Luna had taught her some tricks.
“He mainly comes at night.” Hanna’s eyes looked haunted and for the first time, Sam noticed she had dark circles which she’d tried to cover with concealer.
“Did you try smudging your room?” she asked. “Drawing a circle in salt around your bed?”
“Yes and yes—none of that seems to bother him.” Hanna made a shooing gesture with one hand. “It’s not that big of a deal—he just likes to scare me and give me bad dreams. That’s all.”
“Is he touching you? Hurting you?” Sam demanded.
Her sister shook her head, but not very convincingly.
“He’s trying but…but I’m okay,” she said at last.
“You ought to go up and stay with Aunt Luna for a while,” Sam told her. “You know she says the spirits of the departed Kindred aboard the Mother Ship are almost all happy and content. And maybe that thing couldn’t follow you up there.”
“Maybe…” Hanna said doubtfully. “Look, let’s change the subject. I don’t like talking about him—I think he can hear me when I do.”
“All right. But let me know if things get worse—or go up to Aunt Luna. You know she’ll get Uncle Bruin to send a ship for you. He’ll do anything for her,” Sam said.
“I know.” Hanna got that dreamy look in her hazel eyes again. “I wish I could find a man who would treat me the way he treats Aunt Luna.”
“Well, maybe you can. If you go up to the Mother Ship you might meet a Kindred. Preferably one who doesn’t have a huge Beast inside him,” Sam said dryly.
But Hanna shook her head.
“No—they’d just think I was a freak, like human men do. And how can I blame them? It’s hard to explain that you can see things nobody else can without sounding weird and crazy. Even Mom and Dad didn’t believe me. You know they talked about putting me in an institution?”