Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 147891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
“Mum, you don’t think it’d be best if the ladies stay outside the wall?” Killian asks after peering in. “Me and Row can find Caz, kill that Decius character, and bring him back.”
Maeve sucks her teeth and walks past him. “Not on your life. You forget that before I ever had you, I was a leader of The Watchwomen. The only reason I stopped taking part is because I met your father, got pregnant, and ended up with you three.” She slips through the entryway, disappearing into the darkness. Killian works his jaw but goes right after her, as well as Rowan.
“The Watchwomen?” I ask, glancing at Juniper.
“Yeah. They were a group of women back in the day who sought their own peace and justice,” Juniper explains. “They mostly went after men who assaulted or raped women and children. If they heard about it, or someone came to them for help, they killed the man. It was a whole thing before I was ever born, but my mother told me all about her missions.”
“Oh.” A thought crosses my mind. “But what about…Tom? That teacher who…” The teacher who molested Juniper.
Juniper raises her chin, nearing the entryway. “I made her promise not to go after him.”
“Why?” I ask as I follow her.
“Because karma is a beautiful bitch and she’s twice as powerful.”
This, I suppose, is true. Caz took care of it and blew Tom to smithereens.
“Come on. You ready?” Juniper is already stepping through, so I nod, following after her. As soon as we’re on the other side of the barricade, we’re immediately swallowed in darkness. Silvera brushes against my side, fully aware something isn’t right about this place. Ahead, there is nothing but dense fog and curving tree branches hovering over a slim footpath ahead. Maeve, Killian, and Rowan are already on the path, venturing deeper into darkness with flashlights and guns aimed ahead. Everything inside me goes against moving forward, but I stay by Juniper’s side, my feet moving while my mind revolts.
The deeper we go, the less light there is. I look back, and the light from our entry point is turning into a speck.
“Did Caz tell you what he did to Tom?” I ask, aiming for a distraction.
“No. But Rowan did. I rather admire the idea of that wretched man being blown to bits instead of shot in the head.”
“Wait.” Killian stops abruptly, raising his gun, and I freeze in my tracks.
Rowan’s gun has a red laser on the end, and he swings it left when a tree branch snaps. Maeve and Juniper stand behind the men, shoulders hunched, eyes wide, fingers wrapped around the triggers. I reach for my Trench tree dagger, though I’m not sure it’ll stop whatever’s in this forest.
“Up ahead,” Killian says in a low voice.
I peer over his shoulder, and ahead are dark figures hanging from sloping trees. At first glance, the figures look like people hanging from rope by the throat, and I’m instantly reminded of the story Maeve told. The general lost his mind, sought a Mythic to murder his fleet. There is Mythic energy in this place—dark energy that hums in the soil beneath my feet. I can feel it.
When Killian raises a flashlight, pointing it at one of the silhouettes, I see that it’s not a person, but a thick bundle of branches wrapped in pale moss. Some of the moss drips onto the floor of the forest, and the branches they hang from creak and moan, almost in warning.
“They look like people,” Juniper whispers.
“Probably were,” Rowan mumbles, visibly shuddering.
Killian lowers the flashlight, moving ahead again as Maeve says, “Try not to touch them.”
We carefully move through the path, weapons in hand, avoiding the hanging moss. A twig snaps again, followed by a heavy crunch, and Killian and Rowan swing their guns, pointing the barrels to the right this time. “That’s the second time. Something’s out here,” Rowan breathes, and my heart drops.
When several seconds tick by and nothing appears, they face forward again, picking up the pace this time. I stay close to the group, gripping the handle of my knife tighter, relieved when I spot the light of an opening ahead.
“Not far to the cliffs,” Killian murmurs.
I can taste the salty ocean, hear the waves crashing. There’s water on the other side of this forest and light. My heart beats faster the closer we get, but then Juniper lets out a bloodcurdling scream and her gun goes off, the fired shots echoing through the forest.
Killian grunts, and his gun is knocked out of his hand. He’s shoved to the ground, and a pair of dark hands grip him by the ankles, dragging him away. Maeve gasps when something wraps its arms around her from behind and yanks her back, just as dark as the hands that grabbed Killian’s ankles. Then it takes Juniper too.